Leonardo DiCaprio, Oscar-winning actor and environmental activist, regularly uses Instagram to encourage his fans to care about the planet. But recently, the comments in his published posts have been dominated by an unusual issue: the future of a Siberian lake, according to The Guardian.
Environmentalists from Russia have been posting messages in the actor’s account beseeching DiCaprio to help them with their campaign to save Lake Baikal.
Lake Baikal is a rift lake located in southern Siberia and is the largest freshwater lake by volume in the world. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996, the lake, also know as the “Pearl of Siberia” is currently threatened by “pollution, poaching, and development,” says WWF. Industrial pollution, mining, and agricultural runoff are some of the reasons Lake Baikal is endangered.
Messages from environmentalists urge the actor to help them save the lake.
“Save our Baikal! We ask you this fraternally on behalf of all of Russia,” read one message, translated by the BBC.
Founding his charity ‘Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation’ in 1998, DiCaprio has donated millions of dollars to numerous environmental causes, probably the reason why Russian environmentalists have chosen him to help save Lake Baikal.
One of the actor’s main concerns is climate change. In 2016, during his Oscar acceptance speech, he told his audience: “Climate change is real, it is happening now. It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating.”
