Leonardo DiCaprio in a scene from the global-warming documentary “Before the Flood.” Credit National Geographic
Have you seen it? Let us know if the reviewer got it right:
Review: In ‘Before the Flood,’ Leonardo DiCaprio Sounds the Climate-Change Alarm
Even if you subscribe to the view that a problem isn’t a problem until a Hollywood celebrity tells you it is, “Before the Flood” feels out of phase. It’s a documentary in which Leonardo DiCaprio sounds the alarm about global warming, something that could not possibly have escaped anyone’s attention in recent years and is at this point probably beyond discussion: Either you think climate change is real or you don’t, and the battle lines aren’t likely to be shifted by an earnest movie star.
The film, by Fisher Stevens, follows the usual bearing-witness template of the celebrity-with-a-message genre. Mr. DiCaprio, acting in his capacity as a designated United Nations Messenger of Peace, visits melting ice fields, flies over a bleak petroleum landscape, pats an Indonesian elephant, and so on. But anyone who has paused even briefly on a nature or science program on television has seen such images repeatedly, often with faces just as famous as Mr. DiCaprio’s.
This film promises early on to set itself apart by detailing specific things individuals can do to mitigate the environmental damage, but those suggestions end up being disappointingly few. Carnivores should eat less beef and more chicken, we’re told, because raising cattle damages the planet more than raising chickens does. Stop buying products that use palm oil (whose production degrades rain forests), if you can figure out which those are. Stop electing climate-change deniers.
And yes, those things might help incrementally. Yet they come after Mr. DiCaprio’s globe-hopping has pinned the problem on corporate and political interests that seem vast and entrenched. The film wants to spur individual changes in behavior, but there’s a fair amount in it that might discourage you from even trying.
Organikos 
Heard about this the other week and definitely on my to do list. I disagree with eating less beef and more chicken simply because of the ethical standpoint – chickens are the most abused of all farm animals. There are no laws that protect farm animals from rampant cruelty, this has come to light more in recent years due to undercover animal rights groups investigations. There is no way to humanely process animals for human consumption so in addition to this and the fact that animal agriculture seems to be the leading cause of negative changes in our environment, I have always advocated in support of a plant-based lifestyle; this is the only viable option that is able to purely sustain life on earth. I am also an advocate for (more) Palm Oil awareness. I just learned as revent as last year and more work needs to be done to reach the masses. It’s cumbersome for the uninitiated but learning to read labels and becoming familiar to make better choices is a wise choice, not just about Palm Oil but other issues as well.
Thanks for sharing – we always appreciate hearing your point of view!
Reblogged this on AwarenessHelps.com.