“Cook Organic, Not the Planet” was one of the many signs carried by more than 300,000 participants in the People’s Climate March on Sunday that preceded the U.N. Climate Summit in New York City today. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)

Leonardo DiCaprio
NEW YORK CITY — President Barack Obama and other administration officials are making further U.S. commitments to address climate change in the midst of a city focused on climate change issues.

On Sunday, an estimated 300,000 people participated in a People’s Climate March through Manhattan, raising the full range of climate-related issues.

That evening, one of the participants, actor Leonardo DiCaprio, received an award from the Clinton Global Initiative for his environmental activism. In a speech at the ceremony, DiCaprio said it is his goal to “put environmental issues at the forefront of the human agenda.”

To an audience of business executives and philanthropists, he said, “Development giving and environmental giving can no longer be considered competitive.”

“Less than 3 percent of philanthropy goes to environmental activism” and even less to protect the oceans, said DiCaprio, who recently announced his foundation will donate $7 million to ocean causes.

“We do so much to protect our economy but so little to protect our homes,” DiCaprio said.