MATHILDE
Featured this month as our Ocean Hero: Mathilde Borregaard Gajhede, a 23-year-old university student and Nordic Ocean Watcher, whose dream is to one day be able to sail full-time!
Mathilde grew up with a holiday house by the coast in the Northern part of Jutland, which she describes as her absolute favourite place on earth.
You walk about 100 meters from the house and your feet are in the water. Being so close to the water at all times definitely brings calmness and I can’t imagine ever not living by the ocean. I think growing up in Denmark you will always have some sort of connection to the ocean whether you want it or not.
Giving back to the ocean
Our Ocean Hero believes in small daily initiatives and in ‘acting when you see it’, so that plastic doesn’t end up in the ocean. Mathilde spends her free time as a volunteer for Nordic Ocean Watch, working as a Social Media Coordinator, hoping to be able to further spread awareness about the issue of pollution and thereby create change. She sees herself as a ‘hands-on’ person’, and ready to help spread the word about living sustainably.
Mathilde told us that getting into sailing a few years ago really strengthened her connection with water.
We’re really at nature’s mercy out there and honestly I don’t know why the ocean should treat us well if we don’t do the same. That’s probably the point I began taking ocean conservation a bit more seriously.
The ocean plays a rather huge part in her life. She believes that the ocean brings quality and plays a big part in what she thinks is her own purpose in life. As she told us, she has a strong need to be close to the water on a weekly basis, and does so often with her buddy - her boat ‘Freja’.
Since I’m planning to actually live on a boat and sail for a living, I will need some water to put my boat in!
Challenges ahead of us
Mathilde feels that the biggest challenge we are facing today in order to save the ocean is our own human behaviour - behaviour change is the hardest thing to achieve. As she puts it, many of us think we are entitled to the good life we are living, but if we don’t start taking care of the planet we won’t be here for that much longer. Another challenge she sees is being able to put pressure on the governments to do better, as together we stand so much stronger.
First ocean memories making a difference
Either some of my very first memories by the ocean playing in the sand as a kid near our summer house or my very first sailing trip when I realized how cool it is to actually be out there on the water and moving completely by nature’s forces.
Mathilde’s own Ocean Heroes are all her co-volunteer workers at Nordic Ocean Watch and in general people who fight for the cause, whether it is in an organisation or just in one’s personal life. She would like to thank the ocean for giving humans life - and for being proof that the world is so much bigger than us and what we can see. She thanks the ocean every day for always bringing calmness no matter what is going on in her life.
Feeling small in a big world can oftentimes help a bit when everything is a bit overwhelming I have found…Anyone who makes a difference for the ocean - big or small - is an Ocean Hero to me!
#Tavaha
Mathilde thinks that ‘Tavaha’ is the most simple way to put it: there’s not much to say about it - we just need to take care of the ocean - that’s it! Her three #tavahatips are:
If you see it pick it up - might seem like a small thing to do but if everyone does it we will make a difference
Get involved with organisations that support the goals
Enjoy the ocean and research to be reminded why it actually is important to take care of
Follow Mathilde and her sailing adventures through her Instagram profile: @mathildegonesailing