It doesn’t matter how many air miles eco-crusader Leonardo DiCaprio racks up in his private jet on his mission to save the planet. All that matters is that his intentions are good, one of his fellow celebrities, actress, Felicity Huffman has explained.
“I think Leonardo DiCaprio has probably done more for the environment than anyone. Does he fly privately? Probably but who cares? But he is doing amazing work, and really getting the message out there,” Huffman told the Daily Mail.
The former Desperate Housewives star was speaking with her actor husband William H. Macey at the 2018 Institute of the Environment and Sustainability (IoES) Gala Red Carpet in Los Angeles.
DiCaprio also received praise from Friends actress Courtney Cox, who said who told the outlet, “Celebrity can bring a voice to things that you wouldn’t necessarily be able to do otherwise. So he is using his voice in a wonderful way.”
“We are creating the mess that we are in,” Cox continued. “We need to raise the awareness as much as we can to fix the problem. That is what we do at events like this, so we can honor the people that are changing our world.”
DiCaprio himself would likely agree that he is better at raising awareness of the problem than he is at fixing it.
The Academy Award-winner has previously admitted that his “carbon footprint is bigger than most peoples.”
“The U.S. has been the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in history. And there’s no doubt that we’ve all benefitted from fossil fuels. I know I have. My footprint is probably a lot bigger than most people’s. And there are times when I question, what is the right thing to do? What actions should we be taking?” DiCaprio said in his National Geographic Channel documentary spacial Before the Flood.
“There are over a billion people out there without electricity and they want lights, they want heat, they want the lifestyle that we’ve had in the United States for the last hundred years,” the actor said. “If we’re going to solve this problem we all have a responsibility to set an example. And more than that, help the developing world transition before it’s too late.”
Indeed, DiCaprio’s carbon footprint is massive and MailOnline has helpfully catalogued a list of his environmental achievements.
In July 2015, he was lambasted for spending a week lounging on his super yacht in the Mediterranean, just after receiving another environmental accolade.
And in 2014, emails hacked from film studio Sony revealed he took six private flights in just six weeks which cost £138,000. This travel included two round trips from Los Angeles to New York, and one from LA to Las Vegas.
In the 2016 climate change documentary Before the Flood, which aired on on the National Geographic Channel, DiCaprio reflected on his carbon footprint.
He said: ‘The U.S. has been the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in history. And there’s no doubt that we’ve all benefitted from fossil fuels. I know I have.
He’s definitely not following his personal example, that’s for sure.