Oscar winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio met US president-elect Donal J. Trump on Wednesday to discuss climate change and talked about pro-environment jobs to boost the American economy. Apparently, the meeting was a success and Trump has expressed his desire for a follow-up meeting in Januray, next year.
Terry Tamminen, CEO of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation (LDF), confirmed the meeting at Trump Tower in New York City, AP reported. DiCaprio and Tamminen gave a presentation to Trump, daughter Ivanka, and other members of the president-elect's team on how focusing on renewable, clean energy could create millions of jobs for the American public.
In the Press briefing following the presentation, Tamminen said: "Today, we presented the President-elect and his advisors with a framework - which LDF developed in consultation with leading voices in the fields of economics and environmentalism - that details how to unleash a major economic revival across the United States that is centered on investments in sustainable infrastructure." He insisted that "Our conversation focused on how create millions of secure, American jobs in the construction and operation of commercial and residential clean, renewable energy generation."
The "Titanic" star, who has been a staunch supporter of pro-green policies and has been an environmental activist in his own right, recently produced a documentary "Before the Flood" and recently gifted a DVD of the documentary to Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump. Trump had posted a tweet in 2012 claiming "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive." In other tweets he called global warming "mythical" and "nonexistent."
The meeting comes on the heels of Trump choosing notorious climate change denier Scott Pruitt, attorney general of Oklahoma, as the next EPA administrator. DiCaprio, on the eve of his film's launch in Toronto had said "We cannot afford to have leaders in office who do not believe in the modern science of climate change," adding "This needs to be at the forefront of every conversation in world politics."
Trump, alongwith Ivanka, also recently met former vice-president and environmental activist Al Gore. Ivanka, who plans to speak out on the issue of climate change, has possibly convinced her president-elect father that the dangers of climate change is real. DiCaprio's documentary, it is safe to say, has definitely helped the world and our future.
