By Shar Olivier, MEM, LEED-AP
Global Business Development Manager/Director of Sustainability and CSR, IIL

Sunday night saw the victory of famed Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio at the 88^th annual Academy Awards.  He said his first Oscar was not “taken for granted,” and Mr. DiCaprio had more to say about the realities of Climate Change.

He is one celebrity that has put his money where his mouth is, from the coral reefs of Belize to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mr. DiCaprio is a champion of the Environment.  In his speech Sunday he made some important points.

• He cares deeply about “man’s relationship with the natural world,” a key theme in his latest film The Revenant
• He stressed that “Climate Change is real, is happening right now, and is our most urgent threat.”
• He urged us to ‘work collectively to support Leaders, and not just of huge corporations”
• And said we must reject the “politics of greed.”

These are salient and courageous public statements that are supported by [all of] us from the Sustainability community.  It is projected that by 2035 the global climate temperature will be 1.5C higher than 100 years ago.  This is not just an environmental problem, it directly effects all human systems, how we run our businesses, and the economic stability of the world markets.

Mr. DiCaprio has expressed with urgency, what IIL is working toward with our clients every day.  We strategize and create programs that help our clients mitigate Climate Change and greenhouse gas emissions, while raising standards around air and water quality, by educating the global work force about these realities, and how their work impacts our world.

We build solutions that account for Human Rights and Fair Labor practices across the globe.  We help our clients realize their relationship to the communities in which they operate and assist them in executing ground breaking programs that work today, in real time.  These programs realize these and other Corporate Social Responsibility goals, as well as Environmental Sustainability goals now.

As Mr. DiCaprio so eloquently stated, “we can no longer take our Natural World for granted,” and the clock is ticking.