DiCaprio urges UN leaders to ‘make history’

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio said United Nations representatives have a “difficult, but achievable task” ahead of them in seeking solutions to climate change.

“You can make history, or you will be vilified by it,” DiCaprio warned Tuesday at the opening session of the UN Climate Summit.

{mosads}DiCaprio spent most of his short speech outlining the problems that climate change presents to humanity, but also called for some specific actions to solve it.

“This disaster has grown beyond the choices that individuals make,” he said. “This is now about our industries and our governments around the world taking decisive, large-scale action.”

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon named DiCaprio a U.N. “messenger of peace” last week and asked him to speak at the opening session. New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio and former Vice President Al Gore were among the other speakers.

Repeating previous statements he has made on the subject, DiCaprio asked policymakers to charge polluters for the right to emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. He also asked for the elimination of subsidies for fossil fuels.

“Clean air and a livable climate are inalienable human rights. And solving this crisis is not a question of politics, it is a question of our own survival,” he said.

DiCaprio declared that “humankind’s greatest challenge is now,” and urged leaders to take on the challenge.