Hollywood Popular Artists

Mar 13th 2013, 20:52

2013 MTV Movie Awards nominee Leonardo DiCaprio is making progress in his goal to save the world, and your help is making a difference! After Leo helped launch World Wildlife Fund's Hands Off My Parts campaign, Thailand Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra promised to ban the Thai ivory trade.

The Hands Off My Parts campaign concentrates on stopping the poaching of elephants, tigers and rhinos. One of their goals is to stop the ivory trade in Thailand, because the country has a significant illegal trade going on there. Right now tens of thousands of elephants are killed each year so people can earn money from their tusks alone.

Leo and other supporters were encouraging people to sign a petition asking Thailand to change its laws. Avaaz.org joined WWF in gathering signatures and soon 1.4 million people had signed on. Leo also teamed up with WWF president and CEO Carter Roberts to write an editorial for the Bangkok Post asking Prime Minister Shinawatra for her help in ending the ivory trade. Later that day she agreed to the ban at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species conference.

While this is great news and an important step forward, it doesn't mean the fight against poaching is close to being over. As Leonardo can attest, it takes a lot of hard work to save the world. But when stuff like this happens, you see firsthand that your hard work can and will pay off.

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