Inspiration

Anne Mäusbacher

For me climate heroes are every day heroes such as Anne Mäusbacher.
One beach cleaner even won the UN champion of the Earth Award! Afroz Shah!

I believe that one person really can make a difference if you welcome others and get them to all work together! Have a vision and don’t let go of the wish for a better world!

Thank you Anne for fighting for a better world and for simply being amazing. For being one of the kindest people I met in the conservation world. Thank you for running an amazing educational Programme for kids! Kids for the Ocean.

You are my climate hero!

Find more infos about Anne Mäusbacher here.

Claire Sumners - Zero Waste Maman

Claire Sumners - change maker - ocean hero - mother
The world has lost some rayons of light.

Claire Sumners! I’m sad my ocean friend has passed away. You have poured your heart into building a community Surfers Against Sewage that cared about our oceans and made this world a better place with all your tips of how to live a zero waste life. Your legacy will live on and will make this planet better each day! Your passion, cheerfulness and happiness always shined through. You are a hero!

My thoughts are with her close friends, husband and young children, who have lost a wonderful person.

I’m thinking of you and I will miss you in this community! Sending lots of love x

Mark Benecke

Huge thank you to everyone who signed, shared and spread the news for the EU STOP THE SHARK FIN TRADE campaign! You are ALL amazing!

Big shout out to Mark Benecke who has been an incredible support over the past 12 months to protect our incredible keystone species! He is incredible! Fighting extinction is not always easy but seeing like minded hearts around is such a motivation.

Last week we had a quick chat of which I (very spontaneously) decided to draw him so we can use it to get more signatures in! Never done a change maker so fast but given the urgency - it was important!

Thank you Mark!

Find out more about his work here.

Weldon Carl Wade

Something special for someone special Ocean hero!
I was very honoured to be asked to draw Weldon. An amazing change maker.

Commission work // amount will be donated to support conservation work in Bermuda

DIVER, EDUCATOR AND ADVOCATE FOR OCEAN SUSTAINABILITY
PADI AMBASSADIVER™

'My name is Weldon Wade and I have been extremely active in the Bermuda diving community for over ten years, am unapologetically dedicated to its growth and I continue a unique and exciting journey. I am the first and only Bermudian certified freediver, SCUBA diver and closed-circult rebreather diver, the founder of an ocean conservation organization called Guardians of the Reef and leader of a few ocean focused projects.'

Coralie Balmy

“All people who protect the ocean are heroes!” ~ Coralie Balmy
3 Olympic Games , One World Record, Adidas x Parley Amabassador, Fondatrice de COCO AN DLO @begreenocean I wanted to start the new year with drawing a friend!

Coralie Balmy, so glad we met last year at the change now summit. We connected as we share the love for competitive swimming and the love to protect our oceans! 💙 Especially working with kids and raising awareness of plastic pollution.

I read a parley interview with Coralie and loved her response! So inspiring and I wanted to add her to my change maker series! She’s a huge inspiration. Not just as an athlete but also for a ocean work!
Parley:
Who is your ocean hero?

Coralie:
« My ocean hero is someone who has a total harmony in their way of life with nature — so all the people who directly or indirectly protect marine life. I don’t have someone in mind particularly, just the ocean lovers. »

Read the full interview here:

Alice Cimino

This is for our wonderful wonderful Alice!
Thank you for everything you do to protect sharks. A truly amazing human!
One person CAN make a difference!

〰〰〰

Baby sharks in a pot?
Is this OK? No it's not!

Never buy a white shark's tooth
It's so uncool, to tell the truth.

Sharks should not be in a shop,
Add your name to make it stop.
~J.R

Alice Cimino, founder of OceanKin Conservation, was shocked to discover the sale of shark products in the form of spiny dogfish shark (vulnerable species) preserved in bottles, as well as the sale of non fossil shark teeth, of some endangered species like the Mako sharks.
Sharks are in massive decline and these souvenirs are unnecessary!

Alice has created a change.org petition which is now at 51.000 signatures! Please support her amazing work! Visit OceanKin Conservation to sign the petition.

*My illustration is not for sale. I created it to spread a message of someone I admire and to give me and others inspiration to continue the fight against climate change and ocean pollution.

AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

“This is not an elitist issue, this is a quality of life issue.
You want to tell people that their concern and their desire for clean air and for clean water is elitist? [...] People are dying! They are dying! [...] Climate change was real starting as far back as 1989, when NASA was reporting this and the private sector knew way back in the 1970s[...] we did not prepare our country for what we knew was coming, so now it’s coming all up at the end!...”
- AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at a committee in response to the push back of the Green New Deal last year in March 2019.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez comes from a working-class family. Her Puerto Rico–born mother cleaned houses when she grew up and she never imagined going into politics. Her father died of cancer when she was only a sophomore at University. In the "TIME" interview Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said, her father's last words were: "Hey, make me proud!" With 29, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the youngest woman ever to serve in the United States Congress.

World Ocean Day inspired me to continue my change-makers and to spread each of their messages. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a huge inspiration. Powerful, warm-hearted and strong.
The way she fights for people. The way she fights for justice! She understands the urgency to act on climate change before it’s too late.

*My illustration is not for sale. I created it to spread a message of someone I admire and to give me and others inspiration to continue the fight against climate change and ocean pollution.

Lilly Platt

"[...]
I believe each place each, each country, each continent
has a vital and important role to play to keep this planet alive and running.
[...]
South America is the lungs of the Earth.
Asia is the brain of the Earth.
Africa is the heart of the Earth.
The ocean is the soul of the Earth.
[...]
It's a living thing. Please treat it like one."
~ Lilly Platt

Part of her speech at the UN World Ocean Day
Lilly‘s a global environmental activist and fights #plasticpollution!

*My illustration is not for sale. I created it to spread a message of someone I admire and to give me and others inspiration to continue the fight against climate change and ocean pollution.

Tom Szaky

“We vote multiple times a day for the future we want based on the things we buy."
~ Tom Szaky, CEO and founder of TerraCycle and driving force behind Loop

“Garbage is the only industry that one day will own all of your possession. Knowing that everything you buy will be waste one day, we can vote by making choices of what we buy.
The consumer product companies are mirrors of our desires - if we change our desire - the companies will start making different products. Everything you are buying Is what you’re voting for to exist. You buy one and two more will be made and that’s the word you create.
We are creating our future, if we acknowledge that, everything can change.
We have to fundamentally change our habits. People need to be positively inspired and take actions in small steps.“

His book "The future of packaging" is perfect for anyone working in the packaging design industry. Tom Szaky is a huge inspiration and he has given the word purpose a new meaning. 'Make purpose the center and don’t let it go." I'm sure with his positive and down-to-earth character he will make a huge difference to our future. One of my most favorite change makers.

*My illustration is not for sale. I created it to spread a message of someone I admire and to give me and others inspiration to continue the fight against climate change and ocean pollution.

Pat Smith

A few years ago Pat Smith went to see „A plastic ocean - we need a wave of change“ at her local cinema with her son and it shocked her to the core. While researching #plasticpollution online she came across a quote by Lily Tomlin “I always wondered why somebody doesn’t do something about that. Then I realized I was somebody.” ~ Lily Tomlin
“It was me who had to act! I am somebody, .... we are all somebody! We can all do something!
Start your own revolution! We have to act!”
~ Pat Smith aka „action nan“, Founder of a final straw Cornwall

Pat Smith aka „action nan“ is a mom, grandmother, business woman, beach cleaner and environmental activist!

My relationship to Pat is a very special one! The is an inspiration to us all!

*My illustration is not for sale. I created it to spread a message of someone I admire and to give me and others inspiration to continue the fight against climate change and ocean pollution.

Natalie Fée

„Our actions matter and every small step we take towards solving the problems we face counts.“
~ Natalie Fée, Author of How to Save the World for Free, Award-Winning Environmental Campaigner and Founder of City to Sea

For me, one of the most important changemakers is Natalie Fée.
She's an award-winning environmentalist, author, speaker and founder of City to Sea, a UK-based organisation running campaigns to stop plastic pollution at source. One of their campaigns is ReFill: Europe’s leading free tapwater initiative. Ditching single use plastic water bottles and switching to refill. According to data from non-profit beach clean organizations such as #2minutebeachclean and the marine conservatory society, plastic bottles and bottle tops are consistently in the top ten items sound on beaches in the UK,..., Source: How to Save the World for Free, by Natalie Fee. Number 1 Amazon best-selling book.

I admire her for her amazing work. A true inspiration! I’m very excited to see more of her campaigns to fight plastic pollution! So thankful for everything she does!

*My illustration is not for sale. I created it to spread a message of someone I admire and to give me and others inspiration to continue the fight against climate change and ocean pollution.

Christian Sardet

“Without plankton there would be no fish.”
~ Christian Sardet, CNRS Research director and author of “Plancton: aux origines du vivant”

Every breath we take is a gift of oxygen from the phytoplankton. Photosynthetic bacteria and protists produce as much oxygen as all the forests and terrestrial plants combined. (Source: Plankton-wonders of a drifting world) “When we breathe, with every other breath, we should thank plankton! Because half of the oxygen we breathe comes from plankton. The rest comes from plants and forests,” says Christian Sardet.

Christian Sardet, CNRS Research director and author of “Plancton: aux origines du vivant”. (English: plankton wonders of a drifting world) Co-founder and coordinator "Tara Oceans expedition". European award for the Life Sciences 2007 European Molecular Biology Organization - Grand Prix des Sciences de la mer 2013.
The plastic vagabond - a short film is especially great for very young children to understand plastic pollution!

*My illustration is not for sale. I created it to spread a message of someone I admire and to give me and others inspiration to continue the fight against climate change and ocean pollution.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

“It’s like some dystopian nightmare. A plastic planet.
[...]I feel embarrassed, I feel ashamed, I feel angry, I feel I’ve been lied to.”
~ Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, CelebrityChef, Autho and Campaigner on Food and Environmental Issues.

War On Plastic - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - Someone very forthright with his views and I adore it! HFW - one of my favorite change makers to fight plastic pollution.

*My illustration is not for sale. I created it to spread a message of someone I admire and to give me and others inspiration to continue the fight against climate change and ocean pollution.

Greta Thunberg

Greta Thunberg speech to world leaders at the UN Global Climate Action Summit in New York:
"Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money, and fairy tales of eternal economic growth.
HOW DARE YOU
For more than 30 years the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away, and come here saying that you're doing enough when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight. .... We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not.
Thank you."

~ Greta Thunberg, Swedish Environmental Activist

*My illustration is not for sale. I created it to spread a message of someone I admire and to give me and others inspiration to continue the fight against climate change and ocean pollution.

Emily Penn

“It’s about building an army.”
~ Emily Penn, oceans advocate, skipper and artist.

Emily Penn discovered plastic pollution on an international sailing expedition 10 years ago.
An army of change makers who fight plastic pollution. “We all need to find our role and work together”. “If we can shift our values more towards happiness and time and less to money and things!”

I’m so thankful for everything she does and she’s such an inspiration.

*My illustration is not for sale. I created it to spread a message of someone I admire and to give me and others inspiration to continue the fight against climate change and ocean pollution.

Dr. Sylvia A. Earle

“No ocean - no life
No ocean - no us”
~ Dr. Sylvia A. Earle, Oceanographer, National Geographic Explorer-In-Residence, Founder of Mission Blue

If you haven’t seen „Mission Blue“ on Netflix, Watch it! The broken oceans really touch me on such an emotional level. My tears were streaming down yet so thankful to see the wonderful work of Dr. Sylvia A. Earle.

Here’s my portrait of her! I hope it can do her justice.

*My illustration is not for sale. I created it to spread a message of someone I admire and to give me and others inspiration to continue the fight against climate change and ocean pollution.

Naomi Klein

“We are seeing the beginnings of the era of climate barbarism”
~ Naomi Klein, Author, Social Activist and Filmmaker

“They say I'm polarizing”

2014 I won her book on Goodreads « This changes everything » and for me she did change everything.

*My illustration is not for sale. I created it to spread a message of someone I admire and to give me and others inspiration to continue the fight against climate change and ocean pollution.

Sir David Attenborough

“Surely we have a responsibility to care for our blue planet. The future of humanity, and indeed all life on Earth, now depends on us.”

"We can't cut down rainforests forever, and anything that we can't do forever is by definition unsustainable. If we do things that are unsustainable, the damage accumulates - ultimately to a point where the whole system collapses."

~ Sir David Attenborough, Broadcaster and Natural Historian, author of A Life On Our Planet

Thank you for being my inspiration to fight for this planet!

*My illustration is not for sale. I created it to spread a message of someone I admire and to give me and others inspiration to continue the fight against climate change and ocean pollution.

Dr. Jane Goodall

Every individual matters.
Every individual has a role to play.
Every individual makes a difference.
~ Dr. Jane Goodall

Dame Jane Goodall, primatologist and anthropologist.

I haven’t done a portrait in years. So this is my best effort!
Not traced. Free hand ink drawing with a few dots...

I found my role!
My role is to follow my passion.
My heart.
To fight ocean pollution.
1,2,3, Who’s Cleaning the sea?

*My illustration is not for sale. I created it to spread a message of someone I admire and to give me and others inspiration to continue the fight against climate change and ocean pollution.