As a kid, I was going to be a marine biologist or an actor. When I became successful as an actor, I said, 'Well, maybe I can lend a voice to this with an equal passion.' You realize how lucky we are and how destructive we've been and what little regard we have for the natural world.
Interpretation
Leonardo DiCaprio reflects on his childhood aspirations and how success in acting led him to advocate for the environment.
In this quote, Leonardo DiCaprio shares his early dreams of being either a marine biologist or an actor, emphasizing that his success in acting has provided him a platform to advocate for environmental issues with a passionate voice. He expresses a deep awareness of the ecological destruction caused by humanity and highlights the importance of recognizing our responsibility towards the natural world.
In practice
In a speech about environmental conservation at a charity event.
Mozambique is having an economic resurgence but still four out of 10 people there have HIV or AIDS...There's astounding conditions but what I was left with...was the power of the human spirit there and the fact these people have been through so much and they were still dancing in the streets
The best thing about acting is that I get to lose myself in another character and actually get paid for it. As for myself, I'm not really sure who I am. I change every day.
My career should adapt to me. Fame is like a VIP pass wherever you want to go.
I lived in Hollywood and, ironically, I didn't know you could just go out and get an agent and go on auditions and try and become an actor, I thought it was like a Masonic thing, like a blood line you had to belong to – until I was 13. Then I realised what you had to do. It is the one thing I know I want to do for the rest of my life.
As a young boy, I was obsessed with endangered species and the extinct species that men killed off. Biology was the subject in school that I was incredibly passionate about.
Mother Earth is hurting. And she needs a generation of thoughtful, caring and active kids like all of you to protect her for the future.
What if more and more parents, grandparents and kids around the country band together to create outdoor adventure clubs, family nature networks, family outdoor clubs, or green gyms? What if this approach becomes the norm in every community?
The tropical rain forests are a telling example. Once cut down, they rarely recover. Rainfall drops, deserts spread, the climate warms.
If you manage to stop the timber industry from cutting this forest, they'll cut that forest. If you stop oil drilling here, they'll go drill there.
Nature is indifferent to our love, but never unfaithful.
Plastic waste is now found in the most remote areas of the planet. It kills marine life and is doing major harm to communities that depend on fishing and tourism.
When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.
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