--- description: Leonardo DiCaprio pushed a conversation about climate change forward. title: How Leonardo DiCaprio Got People to Care About Climate Change image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d61490fe75d3fe8/69887f7be20a877734a8fc0f/leonardo-dicaprio-oscars-speech.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # How Leonardo DiCaprio Got People to Care About Climate Change by [Ashley Hoffman](/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 5, 2016 7:28 PM CUT  Leonardo DiCaprio accepts the award for Best Actor at the Oscars on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Leonardo DiCaprio accepts the award for Best Actor at the Oscars on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif.Chris Pizzello—AP by [Ashley Hoffman](/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 5, 2016 7:28 PM CUT It seems like [Leonardo DiCaprio](http://time.com/4239786/oscars-2016-leonardo-dicaprio-acceptance-speech-best-actor/ "undefined") got a bunch of people to talk about the Earth more after he accepted the award for Best Actor at the Oscars in February. In his acceptance speech, which he finally got to make after years of [looking gracious](http://time.com/4238968/leonardo-dicaprio-oscars-reactions/ "undefined") every time he didn’t win, DiCaprio demanded action on climate change, and it caused a significant spike in online conversation about climate change online, a [new study](http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0159885 "undefined") published in the journal _PLOS ONE_ finds. According to the research, the number of tweets about climate change following DiCaprio’s call surged after the speech. (While the media didn’t report on climate change any more than they already were after DiCaprio’s plea, tweets with the phrases “climate change” or “global warming” hit a record-breaking number.) “A single speech, at a very opportunistic time, at the Oscar ceremony, resulted in the largest increase in public engagement with climate change ever,” John Ayers of San Diego State University told [_The Washington Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/08/05/the-leo-effect-when-dicaprio-talked-climate-change-at-the-oscars-people-suddenly-cared/?utm%5Fterm=.1ca407e984d2 "undefined") about the findings, which also insists grassroots are needed in addition to celebrities with causes. In front of an audience of [34.4 million viewers](http://deadline.com/2016/02/oscars-tv-ratings-2106-viewers-chris-rock-abc-1201711309/ "undefined"), the actor used his role in _The Revenant_, about a man who has to survive extreme conditions in the natural world to segue into the matter at hand. --- > “” --- Researchers used Twitter searches, Google trends and Bloomberg Terminal archives to map the social media footprint of his speech, and determined that the actor was a more powerful conversation starter for climate change than the Paris climate negotiations in Paris or Earth Day. \[[The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/08/05/the-leo-effect-when-dicaprio-talked-climate-change-at-the-oscars-people-suddenly-cared/?utm%5Fterm=.1ca407e984d2 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4441219/leonardo-dicaprio-oscars-climate-change/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4441219/leonardo-dicaprio-oscars-climate-change/"},"headline":"How Leonardo DiCaprio Got People to Care About Climate Change","datePublished":"2016-08-05T19:28:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:48:22.366Z","description":"The actor's speech broke the record on climate change discussion on Twitter, one study finds","url":"https://time.com/4441219/leonardo-dicaprio-oscars-climate-change/","keywords":["climate change","climate","movies","celebrities","Leonardo DiCaprio","Science topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d61490fe75d3fe8/69887f7be20a877734a8fc0f/leonardo-dicaprio-oscars-speech.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d61490fe75d3fe8/69887f7be20a877734a8fc0f/leonardo-dicaprio-oscars-speech.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Leonardo DiCaprio","caption":"Leonardo DiCaprio accepts the award for Best Actor at the Oscars on Feb. 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif.","creditText":"Chris Pizzello—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4441219/leonardo-dicaprio-oscars-climate-change/","name":"How Leonardo DiCaprio Got People to Care About Climate Change"}}]}] ```