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Leonardo DiCaprio: Politicians who don’t believe in climate change ‘should not be allowed to hold public office’

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Capping a day-long futurist fair and alternative music fest on the South Lawn of the White House Monday, President Barack Obama told actor Leonardo DiCaprio and atmospheric scientist Katharine Hayhoe “we’re really in a race against time” to curb the worst impacts of climate change.

The hour-long panel discussion, which was immediately followed the U.S. premiere of “Before the Flood,” a National Geographic documentary on climate change which DiCaprio starred in and produced, aimed to shift public opinion on an issue that even DiCaprio acknowledged rarely galvanized voters.

As he introduced Obama and Hayhoe, who directs Texas Tech University’s climate science center, the Oscar winner said he and director Fisher Stevens wanted their film “to be released before this upcoming election because after first-hand experiencing the devastating impacts of climate change worldwide, we like many of you here today realize that urgent action must be taken.”

“We must empower leaders who not only believe in climate change but are willing to do something about it,” DiCaprio said. “The scientific consensus is in, and the argument is now over. If you do not believe in climate change you do not believe in facts, or in science, or empirical truths, and therefore in my humble opinion should not be allowed to hold public office.”

Those lines, and others, drew loud applause from the crowd. And while the president endorsed the idea of “turning up the dial” to enact even more aggressive carbon cuts globally, he cautioned that incremental steps were essential to making meaningful progress.

Recalling that he often instructed his international climate negotiators, “Better is good,” Obama said he understood some activists’ frustration. “But if we get enough better . . . then that’s ultimately how we end up solving this problem.”

Noting that most Americans rely on their cars to commute to work as well as travel across the country, the president said, “We can’t overnight start having everyone start taking high-speed trains, because we don’t have any high-speed trains to take.”

The audience cheered the president’s initial reference to imposing a carbon tax, even though he cautioned it was “a while’s away” from being enacted. But Obama suggested Americans should be extracting natural gas through fracking, which many liberal activists oppose, because “the fact that we’re transitioning from coal to natural gas means less greenhouse gases.”

Neither Obama – who relies on the presidential aircraft and an extensive entourage to travel nearly every week – nor DiCaprio, who owns a yacht and routinely travels across the globe, addressed their own, considerable carbon footprints.

Stevens said in an interview that the film’s backers paid a voluntary carbon tax to offset the greenhouse gas emissions involved in traveling to China, India, Greenland, the Arctic, Indonesia, Micronesia and multiple cities in the United States and Europe. The money, which he said was in “the tens of thousands” of dollars, will support reforestation projects in areas such as Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico.

With many audience members sitting on red-and-black plaid woolen blankets throughout the lawn on a balmy evening and a warm-up performance by the Denver-based band, The Lumineers, the gathering felt at times like a genuine music festival. But the wonky crowd was clearly more focused on the panel discussion than many of the acts that had preceded it, erupting into loud cheers when DiCaprio made a reference to Obama’s broad use of the 1906 Antiquities Act to protect federal lands and waters.

Hayhoe, for her part, said people who are invested in cutting greenhouse gas emissions need to recognize that they will not win converts by lecturing people who are skeptical of their position.

“The biggest thing I’ve learned is facts are not enough,” she said, noting that being exposed to more scientific facts about climate change often creates greater political polarization.

There is still “plenty of time” to take action and avert the worst impacts of climate change, Hayhoe added. “My only concern as a scientist is it’s not happening fast enough.”

In addition to meshing with the White House’s climate agenda, “Before The Flood” shows the extent to which the National Geographic Channel has not shifted ideologically since being purchased by Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox. Both the documentary and the second season of “Years of Living Dangerously,” a climate series that debuted on Showtime, will premiere on Oct. 30.

Joe Romm, who serves as chief science adviser for “Years of Living Dangerously” wrote in a recent blog post, “I can personally attest that this season’s science-driven episodes are every bit as blunt about the urgent nature of the climate crisis as Season 1 was.”

“Before the Flood” was produced independently and later acquired by National Geographic, but Stevens said the channel’s executives were supportive of his and DiCaprio’s desire to air it before most voters head to the polls in early November.