10-Year Challenge Used to Start Debate on Climate Action

The Rondonia region of Brazil originally had over 200,000 km2 of rainforest but has become one of the most deforested places in the Amazon. Side by side images shows C. 2006 to 2018. #10YearChallenge pic.twitter.com/S0rGPDQ0ZJ

— DiCaprio Foundation (@dicapriofdn) January 17, 2019

If you've spent any time online in the past few weeks, you've surely come across the 10-Year Challenge. This viral fad, which has people posting side by side photos of themselves shot ten years apart, has been taking the internet by storm. Some people are seizing the opportunity to remind us of a different kind of evolution that's taken place over the past 10 years—changes that are much more important than a few wrinkles and additional pounds.

Around the globe, environmental organizations are taking advantage of the #10YearChallenge to show just how different our planet looks now versus then. And with the help of celebrity activists like Leonardo DiCaprio and Gisele Bündchen, the message is getting out there.

DiCaprio retweeted Greenpeace's 10-Year Challenge, which showed the grim reality of what one century has done to the Arctic, reminding his followers, “What will the Arctic look like in 10 more years? #ClimateAction becomes more urgent every day. It is my hope that both we, as individuals, and the organizations that represent us treat climate change as the urgent threat that it is.”

What will the Arctic look like in 10 more years? #ClimateAction becomes more urgent every day. It is my hope that both we, as individuals, and the organizations that represent us treat climate change as the urgent threat that it is. https://t.co/jqwCHF1RUP

— Leonardo DiCaprio (@LeoDiCaprio) January 18, 2019

DiCaprio's foundation, which focuses on environmental preservation, also highlighted deforestation as their contribution to the 10-Year Challenge. Striking aerial images of Brazil's Rondonia region shows the incredible difference in the Amazon rainforest over the course of a decade—and not for the better.

For her part, Gisele Bündchen paid homage to a project near and dear to her heart. She showed off the incredible progress her Agua Limpa Project has made in her native country of Brazil. After planting 40,000 trees on a river bank, the project has helped improve water quality and created a wildlife corridor since it began in 2009. Her post is a hopeful glimpse of what can happen when people take action.

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#10yearchallenge is a great opportunity to reflect. Have you ever stopped to think where you were 10 years ago? What were the dreams you had for yourself and for the world? What are you most proud of today? If you ask me, I would say that, besides creating and nurturing my own family, I´m also very proud of the Agua Limpa Project, that my family and I created 10 years ago to help to better the quality of the water in my hometown – Brazil. In the beginning it was challenging, but we had a dream and a deep desire to be helpful. 10 years later, I’m happy to say that we did it! We planted more than 40,000 trees on the river banks that not only improved the water quality and helped to preserve the area for the future generations but also created an ecological corridor that brought wildlife back! It´s incredible to see when we give Nature a helping hand, she does the rest and thrives. The more we take care of Nature the better she can take care of us. We are all connected. 🌱💧🌳🙏🏼 ☀️🌎 #10yearschallenge é uma ótima oportunidade para refletir. Você já parou para pensar onde você estava há 10 anos? Quais eram os sonhos que você tinha para si e para o mundo? Do que você mais se orgulha hoje? Se você me perguntasse isso diria que, além de criar e cuidar da minha própria família, também tenho muito orgulho do Projeto Água Limpa, que minha família e eu criamos 10 anos atrás para ajudar a melhorar a qualidade da água na cidade em que cresci. No começo foi desafiador, mas tínhamos um sonho e um profundo desejo de fazermos algo positivo. Dez anos depois, fico feliz em dizer que conseguimos! Plantamos mais de 40.000 árvores nas margens do rio que não só melhoraram a qualidade da água, ajudando a preservar a área para as futuras gerações, mas também criaram um corredor ecológico que trouxe a vida selvagem de volta! É incrível ver que, quando damos uma mãozinha a natureza, ela se encarrega do resto e prospera. Quanto mais cuidamos da natureza, melhor ela pode cuidar de nós. Estamos todos conectados.

A post shared by Gisele Bündchen (@gisele) on Jan 18, 2019 at 8:13am PST

But it's not just celebrities taking up the cause. Across the internet, people are sharing photographs of coral reefs, glaciers, and forests to hammer home the point that, as a planet, we can't wait any longer to take a stand against Climate Change.

Across the internet, people are using the 10-Year Challenge to raise concerns about the state of the environment and call for climate action.

Fact: The total world forest loss till date is 7.3 million hectares per year.
Fact: Trees are important constituents of the ecosystem by absorbing carbon.
Fact: Time to take #ClimateAction against deforestation before it's too late.#10yearchallenge pic.twitter.com/1jRlRszrhD

— Carbon Consulting Co (@carbonconsult) January 22, 2019

The only #10YearChallenge we should care about 🙏🏼🌍#ActOnClimate before we cause irreparable damage to our planet. #ClimateAction https://t.co/8WnT1q6M6A pic.twitter.com/CbR24ybubt

— The Oxygen Project (@TheOxygenProj) January 20, 2019

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The #tenyearchallenge we should be talking about! Climate change is real, people. Let’s clean up our acts and be better and do better. We have a responsibility towards this earth, the living beings that inhabit it and our future generations.

A post shared by IMAGES (@dawn_images) on Jan 16, 2019 at 7:45am PST

#10YearsAgoChallenge #10yearchallenge
Amazon rainforest in 🇧🇷 , Air in Beijing, 🇨🇳, Great barrier reef in 🇦🇺, Northern White Rhino are just a few examples how we've changed… the world. We should stop!
•@UNEnvironment @UN #SDGs #Sustainability #ClimateAction #Environment pic.twitter.com/Zddklgfz0B

— Felipe Alvear Zapata (@FelipeAlvear21) January 16, 2019