Kristal Ambrose, also as known as Kristal Ocean, is a young woman who has always lived in the Bahamas, 700 islands, some completely inhabited and others very popular due to the international tourism. When she was a little bit younger, she came upon a turtle trapped in plastic, she managed to release it and in that moment Kristal realised how the marine ecosystem was in such awful conditions. She has always dreamt of becoming a marine biologist and the desire of helping the planet took her to visit a floating island of garbage.
What she saw was shocking: bags, containers, straws, disposable crockery, rubbish free to float and to pollute the environment. She was bewildering and alarmed therefore Kristal decided to set up in 2013 the organization “Bahamas Plastic Movement”.
Kristal is focused to teach the new generation the respect for the environment by involving kids in her new project “Junior Plastic Warriors”, a initiative based on volunteer camps and recycling workshops. Kristal allowed young people to develop a certain sensitivity to the environment and to engage them in the fight against the climate crisis, just as Greta Thunberg does. «I think that connecting them creates that inspiration, that passion» says Kristal « for them to wanna fight to protect what’s theirs and their future».
Today Kristal is studying in Sweden to specialize on the issue of the impact of garbage in seas and oceans. Her dream is to return to the Bahamas, her homeland, to continue her campaign against the plastic pollution with more skills and knowledge. Thanks to her constant commitment she was one of the winners of the Goldman environmental prize but besides her work done to save the planet, she had to face daily a culture based of racial and class prejudices, in a land where environmental activism until now had always been led by the white class. In the end her battle became the battle of everyone and that thanks to her determination and her ability to involve children and young people.
Alice Corvi, 3AL
