These stories celebrate success, uncover a spark of hope, share a new idea, or might just make you feel good about Planet Earth – this week with a focus on COP26.
Ashton and Zara are a brother and sister pollution-busting superhero duo from the UK. Together they founded the Hidden Plastic, an initiative that teaches other kids about our planet's plastic predicament and how they can be part of the solution.
Earth Optimism has partnered with Pelecanus on a podcast that highlights stories from interdisciplinary facets of the conservation community on the idea of possibilism. Here, Taylor Parker, who protects and restores habitats as a conservation social scientist and co-founder of Pelecanus, introduces his organization and the creation of The Possibilists.
Chanté Davis is a youth organizer with Sunrise Movement, the founder of a multifaceted and intersectional environmental campaign, as well as an OH-WAKE youth editor.
A childhood rooted in Costa Rica's resplendent nature has given Sara Cognuck a life full of passion for saving our planet – and showing others that they can also be part of the solution.
Member States of the UN have struggled to meet targets set by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in 2015. A student in Nigeria recognized this dire problem and how it affected her local environment and people in her community. But she didn't just wait for change, she took the initiative, and her solutions and enthusiasm have spread through Africa and beyond. Meet Oluwaseyi Moejoh, founder of U-recycle Initiative Africa, National Geographic Young Explorer, current law student, and all-around force for positive change and a sustainable planet.
Paine Makko is the executive director of the Ujamaa Community Resource Team (UCRT) and a committed advocate for Indigenous Peoples in Tanzania. UCRT is a non-profit environmental and social justice organization that aims to empower Indigenous communities and secure their rights to land and sustainability. Makko combines both her experience as a pastoralist and her educational background in social work and sustainable development to develop solutions that work for both people and the planet. In addition to supporting Indigenous groups as a whole, Makko is also passionate about female empowerment in conservation and Indigenous spaces.
Vatosoa Rakotondrazafy is a passionate advocate for conservation and sustainability along Madagascar’s coastline communities. After working on small-scale fisheries research supported by the United Nations Nippon Foundation, Rakotondrazafy joined the Madagascar Locally Managed Marine Area Network (MIHARI), an organization that aims to represent marginalized fishing populations and work with them to create locally managed marine areas (LMMAs). Through these LMMAs, local communities can manage and protect both their own fishery practices and biodiversity by combining their traditional knowledge with the support of conservation practitioners.
Let’s make this new, even-more-digital-than-before time we are in an opportunity to create a global, online conversation and remind our fellow citizens of planet Earth that there are so many things both worth celebrating and fighting for
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