Leonardo DiCaprio has long been one of the United States’ most high-profile climate change hysterics. For decades now, he has pushed the topic in his public persona as well as in his movies.

That doesn’t make DiCaprio a bad actor. On the contrary, I think he’s been a pretty great one over the course of his career, and unlike many on the left, most on the right are able to compartmentalize someone’s professional abilities and personal politics. That says a lot about the emotional maturity possessed by each side, but I digress.

DiCaprio has been in a bit of an ongoing feud with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a figure that has caused great consternation among the American left for years now. The Daily Wire reports that the two got into back in April.

DiCaprio had issued a series of tweets on April 28 in which he first stated, “The Tapajós region of Brazil’s Pará state is the target of industrialized illegal mining” then followed by urging people to vote, tweeting, “Brazil is home to the Amazon and other ecosystems critical to climate change. What happens there matters to us all and youth voting is key in driving change for a healthy planet.”…

…The day after DiCaprio’s tweets, Bolsonaro mocked DiCaprio on Twitter, writing, “Thanks for your support, Leo! It’s really important to have every Brazilian voting in the coming elections. Our people will decide if they want to keep our sovereignty on the Amazon or be ruled by crooks who serve special foreign interests. Good job in The Revenant.”

DiCaprio trying to meddle in Brazil’s elections didn’t sit too well with Bolsonaro. I’ve also been assured that foreign inference in the electoral process is the antithesis of “democracy,” but that rule never seems to apply to the left (i.e. Barack Obama’s meddling in Israel). Funny how that works.

Regardless, another dust-up occurred on Tuesday after DiCaprio attacked Brazil for deforestation. Bolsonaro was again quick to respond.

How extensive is deforestation in Amazonia, one of the most important places on the planet for people & wildlife? According to this map from @mapbiomas, the region has faced an onslaught of illegal deforestation at the hands of extractive industry over the last 3 years. pic.twitter.com/BLxUC3S3z7

— Leonardo DiCaprio (@LeoDiCaprio) July 26, 2022

– You again, Leo? This way, you will become my best electoral cable, as we say in Brazil! I could tell you, again, to give up your yacht before lecturing the world, but I know progressives: you want to change the entire world but never yourselves, so I will let you off the hook. https://t.co/FxCnqhFv6D

— Jair M. Bolsonaro (@jairbolsonaro) July 28, 2022

My thoughts on this are pretty simple. I think it’s fine to say that deforestation is a bad thing. Clearly, in a perfect world, the Amazon would remain an untouched ecosystem. Heck, in a perfect world, all ecosystems would remain pristine. But we don’t live in a perfect world. Instead, we live in one full of billions of people that must use resources to sustain themselves.

DiCaprio’s crusade absconds from that fact while exposing his own rampant hypocrisy in the process. Why should poor Brazilians have to change their meager lifestyles when Hollywood actors aren’t willing to make even the smallest sacrifices of their own? DiCaprio owns a yacht. He lives in a mansion. He has a private jet. His life choices on an individual basis are far more damaging to the planet than your average Brazilian just trying to survive in the jungle.

Further, even if you think Brazil needs to change its policies, it is still a sovereign nation, and much of the Amazon Forest lies within its sovereign borders. How they deal with it is their choice to make. The funny thing about progressivism is that its adherents pretend to hate colonialism while at the same time they believe they should have global influence over the policies of other nations. Brazil and its residents don’t owe DiCaprio anything.

In short, if activists like DiCaprio want to be taken seriously, they should start by taking action in their own lives. The fact that they continue to not do so is evidence that they either don’t believe their own propaganda or are so selfish that they don’t care enough to make even the smallest of changes. Neither is the way to build credibility on the international stage.