By Sonal Tulsyani
Staff Writer
Joaquin Phoenix won the 2020 Oscar for Best Actor after playing a leading role in Joker, but went viral for his acceptance speech.
Not only was it about giving back, but it was also about giving forward.
The efforts that people are making toward improving the environment by addressing global issues so that the world can sustain all of the people who live in it now and in the future.
Phoenix’s speech intends to get people to watch what they eat, drive, what they buy, buy it in, and how they live.
Phoenix doesn’t just touch on the topics of human rights, inequality, and animal rights. He also cited a specific example in the dairy industry.
“After all that the cows go through to make the milk, they lose their milk, they lose their baby, and the calf loses the naturally produced milk that is meant for them.”
According to Phoenix, humans basically took the milk that was made for calf, claimed it as ours and used it in our coffee.”
When you consider how many Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts stores there are, how many cups of coffee per day they sell and how much milk goes into all of those cups, that is a lot of milk that is being used and that is just from the big coffee chains.
That doesn’t even cover local coffee shops and places that sell other dairy products like butter, cheese, smoothies, milkshakes, ice cream etc.
The rise of consumption of dairy products has exhausted cows but that is just one animal, one organism, one living thing, and yet, as we are eating our cereal with milk that is not soymilk or almond milk, we are seeing them as a resource.
Phoenix calls the general public out on it with no fear and no qualms.
He also called himself out on his lifestyle, his mindset, how he treated other people and he apologized for it.
He strives to do better and to make things better to his full capacity and he is now asking for people to do the same.
In fact, he already inspired Lena Dunham to go vegan.
Not only does he ask people to work to improve this world and the future world, he expects people to meet the bar.
In fact, he expects that people will be able to meet the bar.
In his speech, Phoenix says, “And I think we fear the idea of personal change because we think we have to sacrifice something, to give something up, but human beings, at our best, are so inventive and creative and ingenious.”
Phoenix makes it known that anyone has the capacity to make a change in the resources we use or the way we fill needs has the capacity to.
The root of this change is motivation and drive are certainly two traits that Phoenix does not lack.
He also says, “And I think that when we use love and compassion as our guiding principles, we can create, develop, and implement systems of change that are beneficial to all sentient beings and the environment.”
He not only inspires everyone to believe in their ability to take positive actions but also to find their source of inspiration and drive and let it take it to a limit they have never reached before.
That is when people strive for their best. In order to make sure that the world will be a home to live in, and not a series of natural disasters to survive.
OSCARS
Phoenix accepts an award and a challenge to do better by the Earth and the climate.
