'You can either make history or be vilified by it': Leo DiCaprio lectures UN on climate change (but no mention of his four homes, private jets and renting the FIFTH biggest yacht in the world from an OIL billionaire)

  • Leonardo DiCaprio has positioned himself as one of the highest-profile climate change activists in the world
  • He told the United Nations today: 'You can make history ...or be vilified by it'
  • DiCaprio, worth an estimated $220million, flew to France twice, London, Tokyo and several trips between New York and Los Angeles
  • The A-list star drives a Toyota Prius and an electric car and bought an eco-friendly apartment building in New York
  • However, even if he took only commercial flights his plane travel spewed 40million metric tons of carbon into the air 

With his speech in front of the United Nations today, Leonardo DiCaprio cemented his reputation as one of the world's highest-profile activists on climate change.

'You can make history ...or be vilified by it,' he dramatically told world leaders.

After marching with 400,000 others on the streets of New York this weekend to demand tough regulations to cut the amount of CO2 being pumped into the air, DiCaprio opened a UN climate change summit by urging the world to crack down on polluters and 'put a price tag on carbon emissions.' 

But the 39-year-old Hollywood star's own jetset lifestyle reveals a double-standard on the issue of climate change.

In his speech to the UN, he said: 'This disaster has grown beyond the choices that individuals make.'

MailOnline can report that DiCaprio took at least 20 trips across the nation and around the world this year alone - including numerous flights from New York to Los Angeles and back, a ski vacation to the French Alps, another vacation to the French Riviera, flights to London and Tokoyo to promote his film Wolf of Wall Street, two trips to Miami and trip to Brazil to watch the World Cup.

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Jetset lifestyle: Leonardo DiCaprio is seen here getting off his private jet in Nice, France, in May - one of the nearly two dozen trips he took this year

Jetset lifestyle: Leonardo DiCaprio is seen here getting off his private jet in Nice, France, in May - one of the nearly two dozen trips he took this year

Leader: DiCaprio has fashioned himself as one of the most high-profile climate change activists an today urged world leaders at the United Nations to cut global carbon admissions

Leader: DiCaprio has fashioned himself as one of the most high-profile climate change activists an today urged world leaders at the United Nations to cut global carbon admissions

Activist: DiCaprio participated in the 'People's Climate March' in New York this weekend, but refused to answer questions about how his own lifestyle impacts the environment

Activist: DiCaprio participated in the 'People's Climate March' in New York this weekend, but refused to answer questions about how his own lifestyle impacts the environment

And those were just the trips where he was spotted in public.  

Additionally, DiCaprio owns at least four homes: two apartments in New York and mansions in Hollywood and Palm Springs.

He also recently sold an estate in Malibu for $17million. 

And this summer, he spent his World Cup vacation on the fifth largest yacht in the world, a 482-foot behemoth owned by Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan - a billionaire oil tycoon from the UAE.

A rep for DiCaprio declined to comment for this story. 

DiCaprio has tried to stay green in other parts of his life. He owns a $4million apartment in an eco-friendly apartment building in Battery Park City. 

He drives a Toyota Prius and a $100,000 Fisker electric sports car.  He's been spotted riding a bike around New York. 

In 2007, he produced and narrated the 11th Hour, a documentary about climate change and other threats to the planet. 

He also represents several environmental charities and has thrown his star power behind Formula E, a new racing circuit that uses electric cars, instead of roaring gasoline-powered vehicles. 

However, his jetsetting - both for business and pleasure - means that he he's producing a lot more CO2 than most people.

When PJTV reporter Michelle Fields confronted DiCaprio about his lifestyle, he refused to answer and Ms Fields was quickly pushed out of the way by a minder

When PJTV reporter Michelle Fields confronted DiCaprio about his lifestyle, he refused to answer and Ms Fields was quickly pushed out of the way by a minder

Expensive toy: DiCaprio rented the Topaz, the fifth largest yacht in the world to sail around Brazil for his World Cup trip. It is owned by a UAE oil tycoon

Expensive toy: DiCaprio rented the Topaz, the fifth largest yacht in the world to sail around Brazil for his World Cup trip. It is owned by a UAE oil tycoon

DiCaprio, seen here in 2009, is known to fly in private jets on many of his trips

DiCaprio, seen here in 2009, is known to fly in private jets on many of his trips

Despite flying around the world on private jets, DiCaprio has been spotted in New York - seen here in August - riding public Citi Bikes around town

Despite flying around the world on private jets, DiCaprio has been spotted in New York - seen here in August - riding public Citi Bikes around town

Even if he flew on a commercial jet for all of flights, his carbon footprint so far in 2014 would be a minimum of 40million metric tons of CO2 spewed into the atmosphere, more than twice the average American output for an entire year.

That figure only takes into account his flights and assumes that he flew exclusively on commercial airlines . The A-list star is worth an estimated $220million, according to CelebrityNetWorth.com, and it is known to frequently charter private jets.

Carbon emissions for private jets vary, but by some accounts are more than 37 times higher than flying commercial. 

DiCaprio was the biggest star at this weekend's 'People's Climate March,' which drew 400,000 environmental activists to the streets of New York. 

Leo's Hollywood Hills compound includes two adjoining properties and a custom-built basketball court

Leo's Hollywood Hills compound includes two adjoining properties and a custom-built basketball court

Newest purchase: DiCaprio bought this six-bedroom mansion in Palm Springs, California, for $5.2million 

Riverhouse
66 West 11th St.

New York digs: DiCaprio has owned a pad in the eco-friendly Riverhouse building (left) in Battery Park City since 2008, but recently snapped up and adjacent apartment for $8million. He also Forked over $10million to buy an apartment in the health-minded Delos building on Greenwich Village (right)

On Tuesday, DiCaprio tweeted: 'Ran into this #climatechange pioneer at the @unitednations this morning. Thank you Vice President Gore.'

On Tuesday, DiCaprio tweeted: 'Ran into this #climatechange pioneer at the @unitednations this morning. Thank you Vice President Gore.'

He told a reporter from conservative PJTV media: 'We want to create 100percent clean energy, we need to make a transition in this country and we need to show leadership. 

'And that's what we're doing.'

However, when the reporter asked him about how his jetset lifestyle impacts the environment, she was quickly shunted away from the Wolf of Wall Street star by a minder. 

Today, he addressed the United Nations Climate Summit and told world leaders: 'My friends, this body - perhaps more than any other gathering in human history - now faces that difficult task. 

'You can make history ...or be vilified by it.' 

He urged them: 'We need to put a pricetag on carbon emissions, and eliminate government subsidies for coal, gas, and oil companies. We need to end the free ride that industrial polluters have been given in the name of a free-market economy, they don't deserve our tax dollars, they deserve our scrutiny.'

'YOU CAN MAKE HISTORY OR BE VILIFIED BY IT': DICAPRIO'S CLIMATE CHANGE SPEECH AT THE NEW

DiCaprio met UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon

DiCaprio met UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon

Thank you, Mr. Secretary-General, your excellencies, ladies and gentleman, and distinguished guests. I’m honored to be here today, I stand before you not as an expert but as a concerned citizen, one of the 400,000 people who marched in the streets of New York on Sunday, and the billions of others around the world who want to solve our climate crisis.

As an actor I pretend for a living. I play fictitious characters often solving fictitious problems.

I believe humankind has looked at Climate Change in that same way: as if it were a fiction, happening to someone else’s planet, as if pretending that Climate Change wasn’t real would somehow make it go away.

But I think we know better than that. Every week , we’re seeing new and undeniable Climate Events, evidence that accelerated Climate Change is here now. We know that droughts are intensifying, our oceans are warming and acidifying, with methane plumes rising up from beneath the ocean floor. We are seeing extreme weather events, increased temperatures, and the West Antarctic and Greenland ice-sheets melting at unprecedented rates, decades ahead of scientific projections.

None of this is rhetoric, and none of it is hysteria. It is fact. The scientific community knows it, Industry and Governments know it, even the United States military knows it. The Chief of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Command, Admiral Samuel Locklear, recently said that Climate Change is our single greatest security threat.

My Friends, this body - perhaps more than any other gathering in human history - now faces that difficult task. You can make history...or be vilified by it.

To be clear, this is not about just telling people to change their light bulbs or to buy a hybrid car. This disaster has grown BEYOND the choices that individuals make. This is now about our industries, and governments around the world taking decisive, large-scale action.

I am not a scientist, but I don't need to be. Because the world’s scientific community has spoken, and they have given us our prognosis, if we do not act together, we will surely perish.

Now is our moment for action

We need to put a pricetag on carbon emissions, and eliminate government subsidies for coal, gas, and oil companies. We need to end the free ride that industrial polluters have been given in the name of a free-market economy, they don't deserve our tax dollars, they deserve our scrutiny. For the economy itself will die if our eco-systems collapse.

The good news is that renewable energy is not only achievable but good economic policy. New research shows that by 2050 clean, renewable energy could supply 100% of the world’s energy needs using EXISTING TECHNOLOGIES, and it would create millions of jobs.

This is not a partisan debate; it is a human one. Clean air and water, and a livable climate are inalienable human rights. And solving this crisis is not a question of politics. It is our moral obligation - if, admittedly, a daunting one…

We only get one planet. Humankind must become accountable on a massive scale for the wanton destruction of our collective home. Protecting our future on this planet depends on the conscious evolution of our species.

This is the most urgent of times, and the most urgent of messages.

Honored delegates, leaders of the world, I pretend for a living.

But you do not. The people made their voices heard on Sunday around the world and the momentum will not stop. And now it’s YOUR turn, the time to answer the greatest challenge of our existence on this planet... is now.

I beg you to face it with courage. And honesty. Thank you.

 

 

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