Can Leonardo DiCaprio Save the Great Barrier Reef?

Is Leonardo DiCaprio, unwitting advocate of the Dad Bod, star of Titanic, known vaper, and lover of supermodels, the hero that the dying Great Barrier Reef needs right now? All signs point to yes, after the actor addressed the devastating impacts of climate change on coral at the Our Ocean conference in Washington last week.

In his address to the Our Oceans conference, DiCaprio—who is a fierce environmental advocate, despite his penchant for private jet travel—used the same serious actor voice that won critical acclaim in iconic films like Django Unchained and The Departed to express his concern about the serious coral bleaching events, which have blighted the Great Barrier Reef in recent months, and implored politicians to take stronger action on climate change.

DiCaprio spoke of how coral bleaching events, caused by unusually warm global ocean temperatures, had affected reefs around the world. "This year Australia's Great Barrier Reef suffered what is thought to be the largest bleaching event ever recorded," he said. "We are seeing similar effects around the world, in Hawaii, the Florida Keys, Madagascar, and Indonesia."

On a recent visit to the Bahamas—where he was filming Before the Flood, a documentary about climate change—the actor said the effects of coral bleaching "took his breath away," describing how there was "not a fish in sight, colourless, ghost-like coral".

"This is the state of the majority of reefs around the world, and it is a sobering reality," he said, doing that slightly squinty-eyed thing he sometimes does that has become the basis of a well-known meme.

If you're not willing to take the star of the Great Gatsby on his word, there are plenty of highly knowledgeable scientists willing to back him up on this claim. As VICE has previously reported, the Great Barrier Reef as we once knew it is gone forever. Almost a quarter of its coral is dead, and scientists doubt that complete recovery is even possible at this point. And as climate change continues, and the waters get warmer, things can only get worse.

In response to DiCaprio's speech, Queensland's Deputy Premier Jackie Trad has invited him to come and see the reef for himself. But scientists from the non-profit environmental organisation Great Barrier Reef Legacy have extended rival offers, saying that the recent Academy Award-winner, and founding member of the notorious Pussy Posse, should visit the reef in a less politically-biased context.

"Rather than being ushered and controlled by a government agency that has demonstrated it will do anything to put a spin in their favour, the reef needs to be first," the organisation's managing director John Rumney told the Guardian. The Great Barrier Reef Legacy now has a link on its website imploring the actor to get in touch.

A luxury charter company has also said it will put up $54,000 to help fund the actor's trip, and ensure he is kept in the manner to which he is accustomed while surveying the severe damage that climate change has inflicted upon what was once one of the world's most beautiful natural phenomena.

Despite his vast power, influence, (debatable) good looks, and acting talent, it's not a given DiCaprio will be able to save the Great Barrier Reef. Even if he does take up one the multiple offers he's received to visit, the Australian government has been reluctant to address the effects of climate change on the UNESCO-listed reef.

Still, it's worth a shot. If our politicians won't take advice from a man who literally crawled into an animal carcass in order to win an Oscar, will they listen to anyone?

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