Before the flood, how the climate disrupts the environment

Leonardo DiCaprio is part of that large group of activist artists who travel around the globe to witness first hand what is going on, to see and touch the devastating effects of climate change and to understand, with the help of experts and politicians, what can be done to solve the serious environmental crisis that the world is going through.

The documentary "Before the Flood - Point of no return" was released in 2016, directed by Fisher Stevens, and shows that the environmental devastation we are talking about is much more real than is already perceived and that it will soon be much closer to the "untouchable" lands than one can imagine.

From New York to Canada, Leonardo DiCaprio and the havens destroyed

" Havoc " is an English word meaning "chaos, devastation, destruction, disarray" . It is a term that we hear several times during the documentary, from several people.

As we hear of catastrophic developments, points of no return and dramatic environmental transformations .

In his participation and narrator of this change, Leonardo DiCaprio visited various places, primarily the city of New York, during the 2014 Climate Leaders Summit .

Here the actor spoke with Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations from 2007 to 2016, who named him Messenger of Peace on climate change.

The second destination is the Great Canadian Oil Sands, a company that works in the oil sector using the bituminous sand procedure, in the northeast of Alberta.

This area of ​​Canada was once covered by vast forests, which have now given way to dark soils and white smokestacks .

Farewell to the North Pole, catastrophes for the environment

DiCaprio's third destination is the most impressive: we are among the vast expanses of extreme ice north of the Arctic Circle, from Baffin Island in Canada to Kangerlussuag, in Greenland.

Here the rapid melting of ice clearly shows how quickly the climate is changing.

The actor talks to a local guide who tells him that while once the ice was blue, hard and resistant, now it looks like an ice cream, the consistency has completely changed.

" In 2040 it will be possible to navigate within the north pole and in the summer the Arctic Ocean will no longer be an expanse of ice, the excessive use of fossil fuels causes it to melt.

The disappearance of the Arctic would determine the change in currents and climatic cycles, with consequent floods and droughts from catastrophic developments. It would be the most dramatic environmental transformation ever in history . "

This was stated by Dr. Enric Sala, resident explorer for National Geographic.

And Greenland is destined to disappear if temperatures continue to be those recorded in the last decade. Just in these hours, the world has before its eyes the images of the gigantic Iceberg heading towards a small village, it is yet another confirmation that the melting of the Arctic ice can only be a danger to man.

USA: Florida and floods

The United States suffers the negative consequences of climate change especially along the coasts. Miami Beach is one of these and one of the most threatened: on sunny days, suddenly you see flooded with water, sea water rising and coming out of the manholes and flowing through the streets.

Here electric pumps have been installed and the roads have been raised, this will make you gain around 40 or 50 years, then you will have to think about other situations.

In the United States the climate issue has become a real topic of political confrontation, as can be understood from the latest developments, and there are those who say that climate change is a " hoax ", a "hoax" and invests to divulge these negationist positions .

Emblematic in this sense is the story of Professor Micheal Mann who maintains that continuing this way " We will end up leaving a devastated planet to our children, there is nothing more immoral ".

China and India, between protests and change

In China much of the industrial development has repercussions on the environment and on the existence of people .

Here, when air toxicity levels are high, schools are closed ; there are many protests and demonstrations of people in the country against environmental damage caused by companies and the media do their part to help them.

Now some large companies are moving to invest in renewable energy and the transition is already underway .

In India, there are serious energy problems and continuous blackouts occur .

Here only a small part of the population has the right to energy and can afford electricity: just think that about 30% of Indian families do not yet have access to electricity.

The Pacific: the sinking islands

Leonardo DiCaprio's journey continues between the islands of the South Pacific, where the sea level is rising to the point that in a few years they will disappear, sinking in crystal clear waters.

Crystalline yes, but if we continue like this, also without fish and full of non-disposed plastics, with irreparable damage to the coral reef and to those who benefit from it and sustain it.

Not only that, the actor also got to know and visit the Sumatra river forest, where oil palm growers are burning hectares of green to make way for plantations.

Can we change in time?

The 2015 Paris Agreement was a landmark event. The great men of the planet gathered to try to stop this devastation, making sure that the signatory countries could take concrete and rapid actions to limit CO2 emissions .

The foundations were therefore laid to resolve a global problem, perhaps the ongoing overheating process will not be completely stopped, but the most catastrophic aspects can be curbed .

This if certain policies and the powerful of the planet will allow it. No coincidence that the last visits of the well-known actor are in the White House and the Vatican