Thursday night’s premiere of Before the Flood at the Paramount in downtown Charlottesville was a sobering look at how climate change is affecting our environment and what society can do to prevent the demise of endangered species, ecosystems, and native communities across the planet.
I was absolutely thrilled to see so many Betties and Better World Bobs (Betty’s male counterpart) of all ages, races, and religious creeds turn out for the film and panel discussion! Over 900 according to organizers the Local Energy Alliance Program and their many sponsors! (Cville REA, Generation 180, Southern Environmental Law Center, Latitude 38, Think Little, Wild Virginia, and more)
Whether you like his acting or not, the time, attention, and leadership demonstrated by Leonardo DiCaprio is admirable and inspiring.
We realize that Leonardo has at least three multimillion dollar homes and the movie industry has a super-sized carbon and water footprint (which the movie revealed when producers of “The Revenant” ironically had to move the set halfway across the globe because of record-high temps!) But Leonardo DiCaprio has admirably stepped up and invested his time, talent, and treasure in the fight against climate change. He has been an environmental truth teller and advocate around the world — who can forget his powerful speech at the UN climate change summit in 2014? And his foundation has to date given 61 million dollars to 65+ organizations around the globe!
Here are Betty’s TOP FOUR TAKEAWAYS from the film:
- Vote for people who support climate action!
- Eat less meat. America’s burger binge must stop. 70% of crop lands in the US go toward feeding cattle. Cattle produce loads of methane which is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Apparently one unit of methane is equal to twenty units of carbon dioxide!
- Ditch the palm oil habit. A thirst for the consumer product ingredient palm oil, found in a myriad of products like popcorn, is leading to massive deforestation in Southeast Asia and in particular the Orangutan habitat. Check out saynotopalmoil and join Betty in the 28-day no palm oil challenge and sign petitions to make companies like Starbucks and McDonald’s to commit to 100% procurement of sustainable palm oil by joining the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil.
- Besides the 3 R’s (reduce, reuse, recycle), we need the 3 L’s: large-scale leadership (from all sectors of life), local involvement, and lifestyle changes to reverse the affects of global climate change. We CAN do it with an uprising of folks just like you reading this right now! Betty is here to help. Download Betty’s Home Menu of actions and begin taking meaningful action.
Better World Betty is your local resource for going green. Check out our great resources if you have a question Ask Us at mailto:info@betterworldbetty.org.
Here’s to a Better world for all sentient beings on the planet,
BWB
More takeaways from the Global Citizen website
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
