MAKING A DIFFERENCE
sawa starfish.Itwasa bitsadI hadto
seethemamongplastic.”
Itwasalsothetriggerwhichmade
heract.“Ithoughtweweren’ttak-
ingenoughactionandthatcould
change.Everyoneneedstodotheir
part,otherwisewe’regoingtolet
downourplanet.”
Sophietooktosocialmediaand
thelocalnewsmediatogethermes-
sageoutandtoaskforvolunteers
attheclean-upshehadplannedat
TahunanuiBeachinJulylastyear.
ToSophie’ssurprise,morethan
200 peopleturneduptohelp.“Iwas
expectingabouttenpeople,soit
wasa prettygoodturnout,”shesays.
Amongthe 200 kilogramsofrubbish
collectedwerecigarettebutts,plas-
tic and Styrofoam
packaging,andplastic
straws.“Itwasquite
horrible.I knewrub-
bish was there but
I didn’trealisehow
muchuntilwestarted
look i ng.”
Shemayhaveonlybeen 13 atthe
time,butyoungSophieranherfirst
eventlikea pro,contactingcompa-
niesthatproduceethicalproducts
andvegan-friendlysausagesand
foodforthebarbecueafterwardsto
thankthehelpers.
OncetheecobughadhitSophie,
it hithard.Forher14thbirthday,she
decided to celebrate with a ‘reverse’
birthdayparty– insteadofholding
a partythatwouldcreatewaste,she
decidedtodosomethingthatwould
reduceit:shehelda clean-upofthe
MaitaiRiver.
“Ilivequiteclosetotheriverand
I’veseenthewatergofromclear
todarkgreen.I thoughtitneeded
tochange,evenifitwasjustfora
day.”So,her‘party’pickedupthe
rubbishthataccumulatesalongthe
riverbankwhenthetidecomesin
soitcouldbedisposedofproperly
beforebeingsweptbackouttosea.
About 70 peopleturneduponthe
Wednesdaymorningtohelp,and
managedtofillanentireskipbinof
rubbishthatincludedbeerbottles
andcigarettebutts.
Ifthereisonething
everyonecoulddoto
helpkeeptheenviron-
mentcleanit isto“pick
upafteryourself,”says
Sophie.“I’mwalking
homefromschoolat
thisverymomentand
rightwhereI’mstandingI cansee
sevencigarettebuttsandfivezip-lock
tiesjustthrownontheground.
“Itcanbehardforfamiliestoafford
someoftheplasticalternatives,I
knowmeandmymumcan’t,butjust
notbuyingthingswrappedinplastic
willhelp.”Shesuggestsbuying‘nude’
fruitandvegetables,andusingmet-
al straws, reusable containersand“I KNEWRUBBISH
WAS THERE BUT I
DIDN’TREALISE
HOW MUCH”25