I always think it’s kind of fun when life imitates art. In this case, it appears that Jason Momoa has taken his role as Aquaman, protector of the seas, to heart.
In the self-titled movie, ‘Aquaman,’ Momoa’s character was contently living his angsty life of badassery when he was reluctantly forced into a role where he had to challenge the king of Atlantis for the crown, and hijinks ensued. One of the themes of the film was that the undersea peoples were sick and tired of the “surfacers” poisoning and polluting the oceans. They wanted to go to war with the rest of the land dwellers to make them stop their evil ways. This was punctuated in one poignant scene when the Atlanteans used some unspecified magic to throw thousands of tons of trash and boats up on the world’s shorelines. “See, it’s not fun when it happens to you, is it!”
Momoa has taken an active role in speaking out regarding our climate crisis. To that end, he recently delivered a six-minute address to the United Nations regarding the ongoing polluting of our oceans. He noted that it’s more than just trash in the seas, it’s an ecological disaster:
“The oceans are in a state of emergency. Entire marine ecosystems are vanishing with the warming of the seas. And as the waste of the world empties into our waters, we face the devastating crisis of plastic pollution.”
He later challenged the world leaders, insisting that the crisis is upon us now:
“Change cannot come in 2050, or 2030, or even 2025. The change must come today.”
Momoa shared the video on his Instagram feed, commenting:
“For those who couldn’t watch it live, watch me fumble through my very honest and direct speech. No BS. Nothing sugar coated, just straight from the heart. We’ve been half assing our global efforts to reverse the climate crisis and this can’t continue. We have to change now. For the future of our planet, and Small Island Developing States, the wave of change is coming. Aloha J”
