Leo is past mincing words. He's been fighting for the environment since at least 1998, when he founded the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. Since he has worked with organizations on a vast range of causes. He understands that the "business as usual" mentality that drives climate change is stubborn and harmful.

So on Tuesday evening, he once again got real about the future of the planet (go to 17:30 of the video above). He used his acceptance speech for a Crystal Award at the World Economic Forum (aka "Davos") to remind the audience that fossil fuels have to stay in the ground and that a 100% renewable energy planet can be achieved by 2050 if the necessary investments are made. 

Throughout his speech, he returned again and again to the the theme of corporate greed. 

Whether it's overfishing in the East China Sea, logging in Indonesia, corrosive agriculture in Brazil or energy extraction throughout the US, corporations too often put profit over the health of the planet. And it has to stop. 

Leo said that just 2 percent of the oceans and 12 percent of lands are formally protected from invasive commercial activity. In other words, 98 percent of oceans and 88 percent of lands are open to exploitation. 

This should be reversed. 

When ecosystems are destroyed, then the delicate balance of the Earth begins to collapse and the consequences become "unthinkable."

Leo wasn't all doom and gloom during his speech. He also spoke of LDF's recent investments in Indonesia to rebuild forests after the fire that raged across the island of Sumatra last year and the organization's efforts around the Seychelles Islands to create a marine sanctuary. 

But Leo's role as a firebrand is important. When other people criticize corporate greed, they usually get ignored. When Leo--one of the most celebrated actors in the world--criticizes corporate greed, people listen. Maybe this attention will motivate more global action. 

He can't do it alone, though. Global citizens everywhere have to campaign for the planet. 

You can help Leo save the planet by going to TAKE ACTION NOW to call on Britain to create new marine sanctuaries.