Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation Awards $20M in Largest-Ever Portfolio of Environmental Grants
20 September 2017
Popular
Leonardo DiCaprio/Getty
Environmental activist and Oscar-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio announced that his foundation has awarded $20 million to more than 100 organizations supporting environmental causes.
This is the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation's (LDF) largest-ever portfolio of environmental grants to date. The organization has now offered more than $80 million in total direct financial impact since its founding in 1998.
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<span></span>DiCaprio announced the news Tuesday at a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/john-kerry">John Kerry</a>-hosted <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/">climate change</a> conference at Yale University.
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"We are proud to support the work of over 100 organizations at home and abroad," DiCaprio
<a href="https://www.leonardodicaprio.org/leonardo-dicaprio-foundation-awards-20-million-in-environmental-grants/" target="_blank">said</a>. "These grantees are active on the ground, protecting our oceans, forests and endangered species for future generations—and tackling the urgent, existential challenges of climate change."
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The new grants cover six areas: climate change, wildlife and landscape conservation, marine life and ocean conservation, innovative solutions, indigenous rights and the
<a href="https://www.leonardodicaprio.org/projects/california-program/" target="_blank">California program</a>.
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The
<em><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/leonardo-dicaprio-before-the-flood-2062971522.html">Before the Flood</a></em> documentarian also urged a shift fossil fuels to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/">renewable energy</a>.
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"There exist today many proven technologies in renewable energy, clean transportation and sustainable agriculture, that we can begin to build a brighter future for all of us," he said. "Our challenge is to find new ways to power our lives, employ millions of people and turn every individual into an advocate for clean air and drinkable water. We must demand that politicians accept climate science and make bold commitments before it is too late."
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As reported by <a href="http://mashable.com/2017/09/20/leonardo-dicaprio-foundation-climate-change/#UpxQrnO_JqqZ" target="_blank">Mashable</a>, during DiCaprio's remarks at the conference, he called out the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a> administration for its <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-denier">refusal</a> to acknowledge climate science, especially as a string of climate-related <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/national-guard-chief-highlights-climate-change-as-pruitt-touts-denial-on-tv-2487495543.html">natural disasters</a> tear across the country.
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"We have watched as storms, wildfires, and droughts have worsened, and as extinctions have become increasingly frequent. And some of us have also listened as the scientific community sounded alarm bells about climate change as far back as the early 1990s," he said.
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"Yet with all of this evidence—the independent scientific warnings, and the mounting economic price tag–there is still an astounding level of willful ignorance and inaction from the people who should be doing the most to protect us, and every other living thing on this planet."
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DiCaprio also lamented Trump's controversial decision to withdraw the United States from the
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement">Paris climate agreement</a>.
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"We watched as this White House pulled us back from the Paris climate agreement, the landmark blueprint for containing global emissions and slowing the increase in global temperatures, and we listened as they said that the powerful forces of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma did not change the President's mind about climate change," he said.
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"I still believe that the United States has the potential to lead the world on this issue. We can only hope that the president begins to see it too, before it is too late."
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Watch DiCaprio's interview with the former Secretary of State below. DiCaprio appears at the 8-minute mark:
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Leonardo DiCaprio Just Gave $1 Million Toward Hurricane Harvey Relief Efforts
01 September 2017
Climate
By Phineas Rueckert
The list of celebrities pitching in to help out the victims of Hurricane Harvey is growing.
And the most recent star to contribute to the relief effort is no stranger to helping out those in need.
Thursday morning, Leonardo DiCaprio pledged $1 million to the United Way Harvey Recovery Fund, Variety reported.
<p style="">He joins a <a href="http://variety.com/2017/biz/news/hurricane-harvey-celebrity-donations-reactions-kevin-hart-chris-young-1202540543/" target="_blank">growing entourage</a> of stars to donate to the victims of <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/hurricane-harvey-katrina-monster-storms-understanding-devastation-657079" target="_blank">one of the worst storms to make landfall in the U.S. since Katrina</a>, including Beyonce, Sean "Diddy" Combs, Ruby Rose, Rachael Ray, Ellen Degeneres, Fall Out Boy, Sandra Bullock, Kevin Hart, Dwayne Johnson, Kim Kardashian, Chris Brown, Nicki Minaj, DJ Khaled, T.I., Jack Antonoff, Chris Young, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Lopez, Alex Rodriguez and Selena Gomez. <br></p><p style="">In response to DiCaprio's donation, <a href="https://www.unitedway.org/" target="_blank">United Way Worldwide</a> president and CEO Brian Gallagher had high praise. </p><p style="">"Responding to Hurricane Harvey requires the best of all of us—and that's what this gift represents," he <a href="http://variety.com/2017/film/news/leonardo-dicaprio-1-million-hurricane-relief-1202543551/" target="_blank">said</a>. </p><p style="">Established Wednesday, the United Way Harvey Recovery Fund "will distribute 100 percent of donations for recovery in the affected areas, community by community, in the months and years ahead," <a href="https://www.unitedway.org/the-latest/press/uw-establishes-recovery-fund-to-benefit-areas-affected-by-harvey" target="_blank">according to a press release</a>.</p><p style=""><span></span>United Way, which is supported by nearly 3 million volunteers worldwide, is uniquely positioned to respond to Harvey. The organization has a network of 1,800 community offshoots around the world, <a href="https://www.unitedway.org/the-latest/press/uw-establishes-recovery-fund-to-benefit-areas-affected-by-harvey" target="_blank">23 of which</a> are located in the path of Hurricane Harvey.</p><p style="">It also has experience with long-term disaster relief. United Way responded to Hurricane Katrina in 2006 and flooding in India's Tamil Nadu region in 2015. </p><p style="">The <a href="https://www.leonardodicaprio.org/" target="_blank">Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation</a> is also no stranger to disaster relief. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/leonardo-dicaprio-donated-1-million-to-hurricane-harvey-relief-effort-2017-8?r=UK&IR=T" target="_blank">According to Business Insider</a>, the foundation donated to victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2010 Haiti earthquake and Hurricane Sandy in 2012. </p><p style="">"We support efforts to build climate resilient communities and protect vulnerable wildlife and ecosystems across the planet, and have supported disaster relief and victim funds in the past," Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation CEO Terry Tamminen said. "We hope others will step up and support the United Way and other organizations." </p><p style="">Both organizations have their work cut out for them.<br></p><p style="">In the past several days, Harvey has gone from a Category 4 hurricane at landfall to a tropical storm that is still currently making its way across the U.S. southeast. Along the way, it dumped <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/hurricane-harvey-katrina-monster-storms-understanding-devastation-657079" target="_blank">trillions of gallons of water</a> on the fourth most populous U.S. city, Houston, displacing 30,000 and killing at least 30. </p><p style="">The long-term impacts of Hurricane Harvey are still to be determined. </p><p style="">It's been estimated that only <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/how-hurricane-harvey-could-cause-long-term-devastation/538080/" target="_blank">one in six</a> of the 800,000 occupied housing units in Houston have flood insurance, which could create an imminent housing crisis for the city's most vulnerable residents. </p><p style="">"Most people who lose homes or have them damaged in Harvey won't have money to replace or repair them," the Atlantic <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/how-hurricane-harvey-could-cause-long-term-devastation/538080/" target="_blank">wrote</a>. </p><p>Furthermore, the National Flood Insurance Program expires in September and is <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/how-hurricane-harvey-could-cause-long-term-devastation/538080/" target="_blank">in danger of itself collapsing</a>. </p><p style="">In the wake of a storm of this size, public health risks also abound, the Washington Post has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/08/29/the-health-consequences-to-expect-from-hurricane-harveys-floods/?utm_term=.991947508014" target="_blank">reported</a>. <br></p><p style="">This includes the incidence of West Nile Virus increasing in the long-term as mosquitos breed and multiply in the stagnant water; post-traumatic stress disorder and depression; and mold exposure that can exacerbate allergic reactions.</p><p style=""><a href="https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/" target="_blank">Global Citizen</a> campaigns on public health, including pandemic preparedness. You can take action <a href="https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/action/g20-row-pandemics-petition/" target="_blank">here</a>. </p><p style="">DiCaprio's donation to United Way should remind us that although disasters last just a few days or weeks, the long-term impacts can be just as bad, and sometimes worse. You can donate to the United Way Harvey Recovery Fund <a href="https://www.unitedway.org/hurricane-harvey?utm_source=press-release&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=press-release&utm_content=harvey-fund" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p style=""> <em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/leo-dicaprio-hurricane-harvey-relief/" target="_blank">Global Citizen</a>.</em></p>
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