Leonardo DiCaprio: "Ice on Fire" |
As
you may have heard, celebrities have been using their clout to get out
the message on climate change -- inviting the question, frequently, as
to whether they're a hindrance or a help to that cause.
If
there's any area where star power seems to be put to the most effective
use, it's the documentary, where attaching names like Leonardo DiCaprio
and Arnold Schwarzenegger helps projects that might evaporate into the
ether get on the media's radar.
DiCaprio weighs in this week
with "Ice on Fire," a better-than-most film on the topic that gets
beyond the dire warnings to contemplating what can actually be done to
help turn, or at least significantly curb, the tide.
For his part, Schwarzenegger plays the same role on "Wonders of the Sea," a project exploring the oceans made in conjunction with Jean-Michel Cousteau, the seafaring explorer and son of the legendary Jacques Cousteau.
For his part, Schwarzenegger plays the same role on "Wonders of the Sea," a project exploring the oceans made in conjunction with Jean-Michel Cousteau, the seafaring explorer and son of the legendary Jacques Cousteau.
At this point, subtlety isn't part of the strategy, and the time for parsing sentences and pulling punches appears to be over.
Climate
change, DiCaprio says near the outset of "Ice on Fire, "has changed
life on Earth as we know it. ... The impact of our actions are starting
to hit home. Scientists' predictions are now coming true sooner than
expected."
In "Wonders,"
Schwarzenegger notes that the film and others like it "should be
required viewing for decision makers everywhere." Cousteau adds in
regard to the threat to reefs and sea life, "The ocean survives without
us. We don't survive without the ocean."
Arnold Schwarzenegger: Trump wrong on climate change
Still, there are rays of hope in each
film, predicated on the notion that society and governments can be
rallied to act, and soon, employing some of the cutting-edge technology
on display. Wisely, "Ice on Fire" directly connects a spate of natural
disasters directly to the climate crisis, while dotting the globe -- to
Norway and Iceland, Colorado and Alaska -- to hear from scientists and
researchers exploring means of addressing the issue.
A
nagging challenge for climate change has been not only the denialism
among key quadrants of the political class but difficulty getting the
public to focus on the problem. Celebrities, in that regard, are a way
of cutting through the clutter, but not without the baggage of images
that include privileged lives and private jets.
DiCaprio, it's worth noting, is no debutant when it comes to the fight, having previously visited five continents for the 2016 documentary "Before the Flood."
Others are taking action as well, including Robert Downey Jr.'s announcement of the Footprint Coalition,
an initiative intended to seek high-tech fixes to save the planet,
which inevitably evoked flattering comparisons to his Avengers
character.
It's unclear, frankly,
just how sticky serious policy questions are when sold through the prism
of celebrity, or what percentage of the audience drawn to an issue by
DiCaprio or Downey is apt to become a serious convert to the cause.
The
passion of something like "Ice on Fire" is crystal clear, as is its
message that the clock is ticking. Whether that can melt through layers
of apathy -- what DiCaprio refers to in the press notes as "inaction and
complacency" -- enough to move the needle, well, that remains the great
unknown.
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