People investing in the sustainability of the planet

One is what one has been, what one comes from, and what one has lived. One is, too, what one wants to be. The survival of the planet depends on the decisions we make towards sustainable development. We still have time to be the change we want to see. What if we start to be that which beats within us? What if what beats within us is the way for us to make a better world?

Let's take care of the land we come from, heal the sea and what it gives us, reuse what already exists to give it a second life, learn to see what pollutes the planet and transform it into something good for it.

Have hope, combine our efforts, work together. They say the world is what we make it. What if we started there?

Here are some inspirational examples of people investing in the sustainability of the planet. Like Alex, an IT specialist who left his job to work in vehicle conversion. At first, it was just a hobby. He converted a petrol vehicle into an electric one with his own two hands, and what began as a hobby turned into a project promoting electric mobility.

This is no small matter. One third of global pollution is from the transportation of motor vehicles. Alex says that the way to pollute less and curb climate change is to recycle the billions of vehicles already in existence and make them electric. "If my small contribution to the world is that even just 1 % more vehicles are electric, I'll take that!" he says.

Like Alex, there are other people hungry for change towards a more sustainable model who are investing in the planet by reusing things that have already been manufactured. This is what Gemma and the Galician redeiras (net menders), who create bags, chairs and other objects from abandoned fishing nets, do. Not without reason — waste we throw away in nature represents one of the biggest pollution issues facing the planet.

The work of redeiras is not stable. As Rosa, one of the project participants, says, there may be work one month and then nothing for the next three. Gemma's sustainable project to recycle fishing nets offers them more opportunities.

Gleaning, although now a rare concept, has always been done. This is a rural activity where people with few resources go and look for what's left after harvest. However, it has been lost with the arrival of our consumer society, where sustainability seems to be less and less of a priority.

Mireia and her team have given gleaning a comeback. They are a group of volunteers who work in the field and gather misshapen fruit. Foods that, although not perfectly shaped, are suitable for consumption.

"People feel bad about food being thrown away, but what we need to understand is that we are all part of the problem and the solution", Mireia says. Watch the video below and find out how we can harness what the earth gives us to make a sustainable world.

When Fernando thinks of the sea of his childhood, he pictures clean, clear and healthy water. Now as an adult, this picture has changed. After studying and working for a few years away from his native Malaga, Fernando returned home and found that all those ecosystems had degraded. He then began filming documentaries to show the world what had happened. He also created the NGO Equilibrio Marino to recover damaged ecosystems and promote coexistence with healthy seas and oceans.

"Working to care for the environment is hard, but doing things that influence the next generations is very important." Fernando, like all the heroes of our stories in this article, is investing his effort and his life so that we can all enjoy a better planet.