INSPIRATIONAL PEOPLE

 In this chapter we shall look at some inspirational people around the globe who have been and are strong warriors in the fight of climate change and a sustainable environment. We can learn a lot from their lives and follow their research, teachings, methods into a better world for our future. 

GRETA THUNBERG, SWEDEN

In August 2018, Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, 15, spent her school days outside the Swedish parliament calling for stronger action on climate change by holding up a sign reading "Skolstrejk för klimatet" (school strike for climate). Her image went viral and later that year, she addressed the United Nations Climate Change Conference, which sparked multiple school protests around the world. 

Her global influence has been dubbed the "Greta Effect" and she was named Time magazine's person of the year in 2019. She has received widespread recognition for her straight-talking manner, both in public and to political leaders around the world.

She is an inspiration to many, her age and elder. And those younger look up to her to follow her footsteps in taking climate action. 

THE LATE WANGARI MAATHAI; ENVIRONMENTALIST, NOBEL PRIZE WINNER. KENYA

The late Wangari Maathai had great persuasive powers working as Kenya’s assistant minister for the environment. Wangari single-handedly talked the Mexican army, French celebrities, Japanese geishas and thousands of schools to plant trees. She spent most of her life planting saplings. She was the founder of the Green Belt Movement, an initiative through which billions of trees have been planted and millions of more others pledged.

Wangari succeeded in putting deforestation high on the African agenda and made tree planting an act of change in which everyone must engage.

An inspiration many young environmental activists who continue her work in the country. 

CHRISTIANA FIGUERES, COSTA RICA

As head of the UN climate change convention, Christiana Figueres brought together the biggest voices in government, finance and technology, NGOs and activists to deliver the historic 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. She persuaded 195 countries to commit to keeping a global temperature rise this century below two degrees Celsius. 

She's also the founder of the Global Optimism group, a platform which works with organizations to make their systems more sustainable. Her new book, The Future We Choose: Surviving The Climate Crisis, focuses on changing people's consciousness towards climate change and offers 10 actions which include building gender equality. Her goal is to halve our emissions by 2030.

DR JANE GOODALL, UK

In the early 1960s, 26-year-old Jane Goodall travelled from England to what is now Tanzania and ventured into the little-known world of wild chimpanzees. Equipped with only a notepad, binoculars and a passion for wildlife, Goodall opened the world's eyes to humankind's closest living relatives. 

Her incredible field research spans over 60 years and has redefined species conservation to include the needs of both local people and the environment, as well as showing the world how to protect chimpanzees from extinction. 

In 1977, Dr Goodall founded the Jane Goodall Institute, an international community that drives conservation. She's now an activist who speaks about the plight of wild chimpanzees and the environmental crisis, urging us all to take action.

ISATOU CEESAY, THE GAMBIA

Known in The Gambia as the "Queen of Plastic", Isatou Ceesay has been empowering women there to recycle plastic waste, the country's biggest pollutant, for 17 years. 

Along with four others, Ceesay initiated a recycling project called One Plastic Bag in 1998 near her native village, which aimed to educate communities on the necessity to reclaim waste and turn it into revenue. Every week, members of the Women Initiative The Gambia (WIG) produce craft wallets, bags and balls for children using the reclaimed plastic bags which they cut, knit and sew. The group has amassed more than 2,000 members in 40 different communities throughout the country with many communities now opting to use paper bags in local stores.

ELLEN MACARTHUR, UK

Having become the fastest solo sailor to circumnavigate the globe in 2005, Dame Ellen MacArthur saw firsthand the negative impact of marine waste. She launched the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in 2010, which aims to reinvent traditional methods of production and consumption and create sustainable alternatives. 

In 2018, the foundation launched its New Plastics Economy Global Commitment in collaboration with UN Environment to eliminate plastic waste which saw big-name companies such as H&M Group, L'Oréal and Unilever commit to limiting or eradicating their plastic packaging.

PAUL WATSON, CANADA 

Watson was an early member of Greenpeace International (founded in 1971). During his years with the organization, he often employed daring and innovative tactics to defend wildlife from hunters, such as positioning his inflatable Zodiac boat between a pod of sperm whales and the harpoon of a large Soviet whaling vessel or forcing sealing ships to a halt by standing on the ice in their path. He also was known to handcuff himself to a pile of seal pelts being hoisted up onto a sealing vessel. 

Watson shared his passion for animals and the environment through his involvement with numerous other organizations, including Defenders of Wildlife, Friends of the Wolf, Fund for Animals, the Royal Society for the Protection of Animals, and the Sierra Club, of which he was director (2003–06).

WILLIAM (BILL) MCKIBBEN, AMERICA

Bill McKibben is an American environmentalist, author, and journalist who has written extensively on the impact of global warming. 

 Bill McKibben is also a Schumann Distinguished Scholar at Middlebury College. In 2007, with six Middlebury College students, McKibben set up Step It Up 2007, which organized more than 1400 climate change demonstrations across the United States. He now leads a similar campaign on a global basis with the group 350.org, and in 2011 he led the fight to stop the Keystone Pipeline project.

ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR

Angela Merkel is quite vocal in matters of climate change and an advocate of green living on a global stage. She stands among the few with a grasp of what failed humanity means and an avid player remaining to hammer out the 1997 Kyoto global warming agreement. Under her leadership, Germany is spearheading climate change policies. The country wants 40% cuts within 13 years without resorting to nuclear power.

MARINA SILVA, BRAZIL

Marina, a Brazilian environmentalist, spent most of her childhood collecting rubber from the Amazon forest. She demonstrated against the destruction of wrought by illegal loggers. Under her watch deforestation has reduced by over 70% with millions of reserves given to traditional communities.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has." 

- Margaret Mead