Actor Leonardo DiCaprio is getting in on the support of the Amazon Rainforest amid the ongoing wildfires. Thanks to the organization he founded along with Laurene Powell Jobs and Brian Sheth, DiCaprio has pledged $5 million to the emergency Amazon Forest Fund created by Earth Alliance.
Wildfires have been raging in the Amazon for more than three weeks.
“EarthAlliance, launched in July by Leonardo DiCaprio, Laurene Powell Jobs, and Brian Sheth, has formed an emergency Amazon Forest Fund with a commitment of $5 million dollars to focus critical resources for indigenous communities and other local partners working to protect the life-sustaining biodiversity of the Amazon against the surge of fires currently burning across the region. Join Us,” the actor wrote on social media.
“100 percent of your donation will go to partners who are working on the ground to protect the Amazon. Earth Alliance is committed to helping protect the natural world. We are deeply concerned about the ongoing crisis in the Amazon, which highlights the delicate balance of climate, biodiversity, and the wellbeing of indigenous peoples.”
Groups the money will aid include the Coordination of the Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon, Instituto Associacao Floresta Protegida, Instituto Kabu, Instituto Raoni, and Instituto Socioambiental.
Fires in the Amazon are reportedly due to deforestation and have intentionally been set by farmers and cattle ranchers to clear land.
“Deforestation is neither new nor limited to one nation,” explained CNN. “These fires were not caused by climate change.”
“The Amazon remains a net source of oxygen today. The Amazon is often referred to as Earth’s ‘lungs,’ because its vast forests release oxygen and store carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping gas that is a major cause of global warming.”
DiCaprio had previously wrote, “The lungs of the Earth are in flames.”
It is important to note, however, that the photo DiCaprio initially shared of the wildfires was a photo from years ago and not from the ongoing situation in the Amazon.