Yesterday we posted a video of Leonardo Dicaprio's ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. We thought it was great he promoted climate issues. What did you all think?...
DiCaprio's Ice Bucket Challenge gathered A LOT of attention yesterday, with some calling it the most epic challenge yet, for its promotion of both ALS and climate issues.
DiCaprio filmed the challenge in Lake Athabasca, Canada, where he's currently learning about how the Canadian tar sands could be affecting the world's climate and also the lands of First Nations people.
He 'got dunked' together with leaders from the First Nations, and they followed with each of them challenging key players from the world’s biggest oil companies who want access to the tar sands including Dave Collyer president of Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, Mark Little of Suncor Canada, and Shell CEO Ben van Beurden. The final challenge was sent out to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who we all know isn't much of a climate change enthusiast.
At 1 Million Women we saw DiCaprio's video challenge as a wonderful way of promoting two important issues. However it was clear from some feedback, that a few believed he should have stuck to only promoting ALS, which is what the challenge is about.
This is a fair point, and we thought we'd delve into it a little further. I suppose it's like that old saying about multi-tasking, when if you're trying to do two things at once, are you really doing either of them justice?
In this case, I'd like to say yes. He didn't change the challenge, but cleverly made a politically charged statement about climate change issues through standing with First Nations leaders. Especially in the humorous nominations of petroleum hot-shot's and the Canadian Prime Minister, to take the ALS challenge next.
Leonardo DiCaprio also personally donated $100,000 to ALS research, so, I mean he didn't exactly hijack the cause. If you have the profile of someone like him, and the chance to support more than one worthy cause, I guess the question really is why not do it.
The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was viral before Leonardo took the challenge, however the tar sands is an issue which many people still don't know anything about. Perhaps this video created more awareness, which can only be positive.
So what do you think? did you like or dislike how Leo brought attention to both causes?
Let us know in the comments, as we are super interested.
If you missed it yesterday, here's the video...
Post by Leonardo DiCaprio .