DiCaprio & Manatees

DiCaprio & Manatees

by senior contributor Brendan Kownacki
Photo credit: Brendan Kownacki

“I will refrain from a whole bunch of puns about the movie Titanic and the ocean,” joked  Secretary of State John Kerry to an eager crowd packing the auditorium of the State Department. “See, I just got away with that………..”

Kerry knew that the policy wonks and activists on hand were happy to see him during the two day “Our Oceans” conference being held by the department, but that the upcoming speaker was easily about to steal his spotlight. 

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Secretary of State John Kerry

Cue Leonardo DiCaprio: The dashing actor and playboy who is memorable for his roles in The Wolf of Wall Street, The Great Gatsby and of course, James Cameron’s oceanic epic, Titanic. DiCaprio was on hand though to show a much more serious side though than anything to do with his films–he was invited to speak because of his dedicated commitment to the oceans and wildlife through the work of his group, The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation.

He said that his first splash into philanthropy came about when he was inspired to try and help save the Florida manatee and that since then, the plot has set itself. 

“I’ve learned that with each passing day, so many of our aquatic species are in jeopardy. Not because of nature’s unpredictability but because of human activity” he explained to a room filled with bureaucrats, legislators, military and scientists–and yet nobody could look away. 

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The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation at Department of State

The last week has been a major one in the ocean conservancy realm with policy announcements galore all in support of saving the oceans and every creature within. John Podesta, Senior Counselor to the President, announced last week during a conference that the administration was going to officially be re-opening the sanctuary nomination process to designate new protected marine areas and further, the White House announced that the President plans to take a large sector of the central Pacific Ocean and deem it off-limits to fishing, energy exploration and other possibly harmful activities. This would be the creation of the largest marine sanctuary in the world. 

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President Barack Obama

President Obama addressed the crowd via a taped video message prior to DiCaprio and was assertive in his dedication to this cause. “Like Presidents Clinton and Bush before me, I’m going to use my authority as President to protect some of our most precious marine landscapes, just like we do for mountains and rivers and forests.”

DiCaprio was clearly pleased to have the President in his corner on an issue he definitely feels passionate about and described the $3 Million dollar grant he made recently to the group Oceana to support their work protecting sharks and marine mammals and decided to raise the stakes further. “Today I am here to commit even more of my foundation’s resources to this cause. I’m pledging an additional $7 Million to meaningful ocean conservation projects over the next two years.”

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Leonardo DiCaprio and John Kerry

The tidal wave of applause said it all. But even that was not enough for the actor who spoke calmly and with a method to each statement. “I stand here today to challenge all of you to step up, to utilize your positions of authority to ensure the health of the oceans that are vital to people’s lives all around the world. Together we can solve this problem.”  And together we can. 

 Take a look at Secretary Kerry’s welcome and Mr. DiCaprio’s full remarks to the group:

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