Actor Leonardo DiCaprio spoke out about the need to save the shrinking Great Salt Lake in a social media post Tuesday.
The actor, who frequently uses his Instagram to post about a variety of environmental issues, took to social media to urge his followers to sign a petition from the Sierra Club’s Utah Chapter asking the state to protect the lake.
The Sierra Club, along with four other conservation groups, are suing Utah over its management of the Great Salt Lake, the Deseret News reported.
“A group of conservation organizations including the @UtahRiversCouncil, @sierraclub, @utahphysicians, @americanbirdconservancy, and @centerforbiodiv are calling on the Utah government to do more to prevent the Great Salt Lake from drying up as the result of upstream water diversions,” DiCaprio’s post reads.
“According to a recent @sltrib story, the Great Salt Lake supports more than 10 million migrating birds that are in jeopardy of a massive die-off, along with brine shrimp and other wildlife that depends on the lake. Even more, as the lakebed dries, it turns into a toxic dust that could potentially poison the millions of people who live along the Wasatch Front if nothing is done,” the social media post continues.
DiCaprio then told his followers to visit the link in his bio to the Sierra Club’s petition “to ask Utah’s political leaders to set an example by protecting and restoring the largest saline ecosystem in the Western Hemisphere.”
The water levels of the Great Salt Lake hit a historic low of 4,188.5 feet in November 2022.