For the Sea and Skye: A Mother’s Plea to End Plastic Pollution

I can’t help but think about the world my daughter Skye and her generation will inherit. From the moment I first held her in my arms, I instantly knew two things to be true: I will never be able to fully shield her from the world, but heck if I’m not going to try anyway. As a mother, and as a conservationist who has spent the last 18 years dedicated to ending plastic pollution’s chokehold on our planet, I fear for my daughter’s future as never before. And yet, at the same time, I have never been more hopeful.

When my daughter Skye was younger, she hated the fact that I had to often travel for my work. She once told me that she knew my job was to save the world, but she wished I would choose her instead. Now that she is older, she understands that as I head to Busan, South Korea this week for the final round of plastic treaty negotiations, my fight to end plastic pollution is very much about choosing her.

And so, to the world leaders, CEOs and the other powers-that-be, many of whom are parents, my message is simple. The world is watching. choose a future free of plastic pollution. Choose your children.