Climate Change Fight: How Leonardo DiCaprio Inspires Hollywood To Join The Struggle

It is a known fact that big Hollywood stars and personalities have the power to influence others: from the Kardashian lifestyle to calling the attention of equal rights - the opinions of celebrities somehow matter to their fans, which is why stars like Angelina Jolie, Emma Watson, and Leonardo DiCaprio speak in behalf their causes in front of world leaders.

Leo's call for action on climate change, in particular, has been heard, loud and clear, especially after winning the much-coveted Academy Awards trophy earlier this year. In a new study from PLOS One, it seems that the number of tweets regarding climate change surged after his speech. John Ayers of the San Diego State University spoke with The Washington Post in regards to the findings, sharing that "A single speech, at a very opportunistic time, at the Oscar ceremony, resulted in the largest increase in public engagement with climate change ever."

Leo's speech is not a call out of the blue - it is in fact also related to the film for which he won the Oscar. "The Revenant" is about a man who survived extreme natural conditions - quite useful to segue into his cause. In his speech, as quoted by Time, the actor said, "Climate change is real, it is happening right now, it is the most urgent threat facing our entire species, and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating."

So how did the study come to the conclusion that the actor had more power to get people to pay attention to the issue at hand? Ayers and his colleagues were said to have used a combination of media coverage searches using different engines to search data - comparing the spike of search regarding climate change at the time Leo spoke about it during the Oscars, to other key moments discussing the problem, including the Paris Climate Negotiations and the 2015 Earth Day - and indeed, the search increased a massive 636 percent during the awards show.

To put it simply, Ayers noted that it really does matter when celebrities speak out. Now if only people would actually take action to combat climate change, then maybe the world could see a difference.