IZZY
Starting the new year with the ocean hero of our hearts, nominated as NOW’s Ocean Hero for January - Izzy is just 8 years old! She’s been a true source of inspiration for the NOW community with her clean-ups and the responsibility she feels towards taking care of the environment and our oceans. Izzy is part of the NGO LINK Environmental Ambassadors.
GUESS WHO!
Izzy was born in the UAE, then moved to the US, and since 2018 she and her family live in Denmark. “I have been collecting litter from the streets and along the beach, along the coast and around lakes since I was 3 and I got my first litter-picker. I was born in Dubai (where you do not see much litter) and spent every summer in Gilleleje in the summer house where I would walk along the coast with my litter picker together with my mum, my brother or grandparents and collect litter. I was surprised to find so much. I continued litter-picking over the years and when I moved to the US, I liked to walk along Carnegie Lake in Princeton, where I would collect loads of trash thrown in nature. Now I walk every week around Charlottenlund and Klampenborg mostly, finding all sorts of litter. During the summer I continue to walk in Gilleleje.”
LOVE FOR THE GREAT OUTDOORS
Izzy finds pleasure being and playing in nature, as well as exploring biodiversity. Her sense of responsibility to look after nature comes from an appreciation for the importance of the different species she encounters when spending time outdoors.
“I love being in nature and I love all the bugs and animals that I find. I do not want them to eat the litter thrown in nature and I want to have a clean planet so I do not mind picking up what I find. I have also been lucky to find money so it is not all trash. Nature is amazing and I spend so many hours playing around. I grew up in a “sandbox” (Dubai), so I do think I appreciate nature even more because of that.”
EVERY LITTLE COUNTS
To take care of the ocean and the environment, Izzy believes that every little thing counts, and that everyone can make a difference - be it by creating a cleaner environment, or encouraging our families to live a more sustainable lifestyle. As she tells us, “We reduce, reuse, recycle and replace. We have trash bins which are separated into metal, paper, glas and so on. We do not use disposables in our household or at least we have almost eliminated it.”
Izzy loves spending time at the beach in Gilleleje, adores swimming in clear blue waters and loves caring for and observing the living creatures she finds in the ocean. She believes that the biggest threat to our environment is plastic pollution.
“This is based on what I find most of myself. We could try to get rid of single use plastic and replace it with more sustainable solutions. This summer we found two dead seals on the beach and a bird which might have died from eating plastic in the ocean.”
#TAVAHA
She is thankful to the ocean for all the unique experiences it offers, and for giving us the opportunity to observe its underwater life. Thus, to Izzy, #Tavaha also means giving back by protecting it. “It means we all have a responsibility to keep the ocean clean so the fish and corals can live a litter free life.” When we asked her who are her everyday ocean heroes, Izzy said, “I am only 8 year old so I do not know so many people but I would say my mum and every one who helps take care of the ocean in their own way.”
Her three #tavahatips are:
Avoid using disposables
Clean up after yourself after you leave the beach
If you see something pick it up
Follow Izzy’s clean-ups, as well as the work of other inspiring Young Environmental Ambassadors, by following @leadenmark