Leonardo DiCaprio's 11th Hour Charity Auction

I've never been a very big fan of Leonardo DiCaprio, the actor.  

A little too 'cute' for me...

The first five years or so after he started catching people's attention with Titanic, I rolled my eyes whenever somebody got excited about a movie he starred in. 

"Big deal," 

I thought.  

"It's just another movie in which everyone gushes about his cuteness, 

and blah, blah, blah..."

His roles became more interesting to me around 2002, when he showed up in Gangs of New York.  Unfortunately, it was hard for me to shake the "cuteness" of his character in Titanic.  So I've never been a big fan of Leonardo DiCaprio, the actor.

Leonardo DiCaprio the philanthropist, on the other hand, is another story. 

The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation is where he truly shines.  Take, for instance, his latest charity art auction at Christie's in New York, where he was able to raise

$33.3 million!!!

Dang.  Most of us don't even see that much in an entire lifetime, and yet he was able to raise that amount about a week ago in the foundation's 11th Hour Auction.

The 11th Hour, if you're not familiar with the documentary by that title (Narrated by DiCaprio), refers to the last moment in which we can get off of our butts and do something to fix the behaviors that are changing our climate.

Leonardo DiCaprio spoke at the 11th Hour auction, emphasizing the importance of action.

“Despite the significant efforts of organisations and individuals all over the world, our modern way of life has caused unprecedented devastation to our oceans, our forests and our wildlife,” he said, urging buyers to “bid as if the fate of the planet depends on us.”

“We are at the 11th hour, we are facing a tipping point of environmental crisis unprecedented in human history,” he said. (source)

And what happened?

The 11th Hour auction brought in far more money than pre-sale estimates assumed would be collected.

Like... 

                        double 

                                                      the amount.

Holy Crap!

Yeah, so... about not being a fan of Leonardo DiCaprio? 

Meow!

I may have changed my mind.



***By the way... if you haven't seen The 11th Hour yet, you can catch it online for free at Films For Action.