Rio Olympics have used the visual of sea level rise to get people’s attention.
By Rakesh Agrawal, ‘Ridh
When the Rio Olympics begins with a truly spectacular show at Rio, Brazil, just a couple of days ago, it had a segment on climate change that staged the perils of sea level rise on vulnerable nations and Ed Hawkins’ compelling visual spiral indicating global warming made it truly charming.
It was a big hit on social media that also added the Leonardo di Caprio’s speech about climate change at the Oscars . This “Rio Olympic Effect†and “the DiCaprio Effect†resonates with the public on this issue of climate change that although scientists have been warning for decades, but most policymakers had ignored.
Now, even the visitors to the Rio Olympics are taking a note of it as they were taking photographs in front of the Olympic Rings at Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
A new paper published on August, 2 in the open access and peer-reviewed journal PLOS|One explored “the DiCaprio Effect.†And found that after Leonardo DiCaprio’s 2016 acceptance speech at the Oscars, tweets including the terms “global warming†or “climate change†increased by 636%. DiCaprio’s star power was effective. The public will listen to the opinions and viewpoints of celebrities even though they may not be experts on the subject of climate, vaccination, or genetically modified foods.
DiCaprio is well educated on the topic of climate change and his remarks align him with scientific opinions.
Now, the Rio Olympics have used the visual of sea level rise to get people’s attention. The well-intended Americans are already noticing it as they can see sea-levels rising and hitting people in places like Miami, New York, New Orleans, San Francisco, and other major coastal cities. It is important to understand that climate change impacts more than sea level and polar bears. There are implications for national security, agricultural productivity, global water stress, diseases, and so forth. Hopefully, while voting for the presidential election, they will keep this in mind will not vote for the candidate who had termed climate change as a hoax.