Long before Leonardo DiCaprio portrayed fictional astronomer Dr. Randall Mindy in Adam McKay’s dystopian comedy Don’t Look Up, he was heavily involved in environmental activism. In this case, art reflects life and life reflects art because the IRL DiCaprio is all about saving the planet. Reversing climate change and all its destruction is his passion because, like, what can’t the man do? 

Here’s an abridged history of DiCaprio’s environmental activism — may we all learn a little something from his advocacy. Or, like, at least experiment with veganism.

Photo by Rich Polk/Getty Images for Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation

The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation: In 1998 (one year after the release of Titanic), a 24-year-old DiCaprio met with Vice President Al Gore to discuss climate change and the impending environmental disaster. That same year, he founded the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation (LDF), which, according to Philanthropy News Digest, has awarded grants “totaling more than $100 million in support of projects across all five oceans and seven continents since 1998.” In 2010, the LDF donated $1 million to a Nepalese conservation project to preserve its wild tiger population. They’ve also supported efforts to protect the black rhino in Tanzania, the lowland gorilla in Central Africa and the snow leopard in Asia. 

Earth Alliance: In 2019, LDF’s staff and operations team were folded into a new initiative, Earth Alliance — a hybrid task force composed of the LDF, Emerson Collective and Global Wildlife Conservation — in order to take on present environmental threats. Obviously, the man means business.

Before the Flood:  In 2016, when the world seemed to flip inside out, DiCaprio narrated and produced Before the Flood, a documentary about climate change. It couldn’t have arrived at a more crucial time.

Photo by Bilgin Sasmaz/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

The Paris Agreement: DiCaprio was present when world leaders got together in 2016 to discuss the future of the Paris climate accords. According to FilmSchoolRejects.com, he was seen chatting with Ban Ki-moon, then secretary general of the United Nations. 

Photo JOSE LUIS MAGANA/AFP via Getty Images

The Peoples Climate March: Remember those iconic images of DiCaprio leading a crowd during the 2017 Peoples Climate March? He’s involved both on high levels of nonprofit organizations and on the street, marching with the rest of us.

Re:wild and the Galápagos:  In 2021, DiCaprio became a founding board member of Re:wild, an environmental organization dedicated to restoring the planet’s biodiversity. One of its current projects focuses on conserving the Galápagos and Latin America’s Pacific archipelagos. 

...And even more organizations: DiCaprio is also on the board of the Natural Resources Defense Council and the World Wildlife Fund, and he’s a global ambassador for the International Fund for Animal Welfare. That’s what we in show business call “going above and beyond.”

Brave Mission: Beyond his work on the ground and leading organizations, DiCaprio continues to support documentary efforts to illuminate pressing disasters, including 2021’s Brave Mission. The YouTube doc investigates how poaching and the illegal charcoal trade threaten gorillas and humans. 

Vegan initiatives: DiCaprio has put his money where his mouth is, investing in sustainable vegan brands like Califia Farms, Beyond Meat and Hippeas. Shifting our diets away from animal protein and toward plant-based eating could, according to researchers at the University of Minnesota, add up to 49% to the global food supply without expanding croplands (aka helping to slow destruction of the planet) as well as reduce carbon emissions and waste byproducts. Not a bad deal.

Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images

Public appearances: DiCaprio frequently uses his public speaking opportunities to illuminate environmental injustices, like when he won the 2015 Oscar for best actor for his role of Hugh Glass in Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s The Revenant. “Climate change is real, it is happening right now. It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species, and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating,” he said in his acceptance speech. “We need to support leaders around the world who do not speak for the big polluters or the big corporations, but who speak for all of humanity, for the Indigenous people of the world, for the billions and billions of underprivileged people who will be most affected by this. For our children’s children, and for those people out there whose voices have been drowned out by the politics of greed. I thank you all for this amazing award tonight. Let us not take this planet for granted. I do not take tonight for granted. Thank you so very much.” No, Leo, thank you.

Social media: Okay, so ending on social media might seem like a bit of a let down, but hear us out: As one of the most well-known and celebrated actors on the planet, people listen to DiCaprio. And because they look up to him, they pay attention to everything he has to say — or digitally, share. His online accounts are largely dedicated to illuminating climate threats to an audience who might be ignorant to the fact that planned drilling in the Okavango River Basin of southern Africa could be devastating to the area, or that Indigenous peoples’ climate leadership has stopped or delayed greenhouse gas pollution equal to 25% of US and Canadian yearly emissions. There’s a lot to be learned.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. You go, Leo! Keep fighting the good fight.