The climate crisis and the movie"Titanic" have at least one thing in common: They've been the subject of passionate debates for decades. In an online survey, Americans named Leonardo DiCaprio the most trustworthy famous authority on climate change and other environmental issues. The National Research Group, a Hollywood consultancy,The firm asked adults ages 18 to 64 to name the public figure or celebrity they trusted the most on sustainability.
"I think that really speaks to how in an era of strong political polarization, celebrities are one of the few unifying forces in American culture," Fergus Navaratnam-Blair, the research director of the National Research Group's global marketing team, told Insider."They can bring people together in a way politicians, and even scientists, cannot. Science has also become so politicized not just because of climate change, but also because of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Navaratnam-Blair said there were pros and cons associated with celebrities playing an influential role in the climate discourse. If Hollywood stars get people talking about the crisis, that can be a good thing. But celebrities often consider how advocacy will affect their personal brand, so they may shy away from taking a stand on climate policies that are controversial so they don't risk alienating fans. Endorsement deals can also raise conflicts of interest.
For his part, DiCaprio's environmental activism dates to 1998, when he launched a foundation that reported awarding at least $100 million in grants as of 2019 to global projects aimed at combating the climate crisis and biodiversity loss. That year, DiCaprio's