Still work in progress – all suggestions and comments very gratefully accepted! 🙂
This page is dedicated to individuals who are making a difference. All the eco-heroes below have been nominated by someone in the ELT Footprint group. If you’d like to add someone, please let us know in the comments. Thanks!
1 Greta Thunberg
I don’t think anyone would disagree with Greta Thunberg taking the first place in this list. And there are so many resources to share, here are a few:
article in the Guardian (March 2019)
article in the Telegraph (August 2019)
article in the Newscientist (March 2019)
Greta’s TED talk (Jan 2019)
A list of speeches by Greta on the Fridays for Future site (the school movement she inspired)
A lesson for 11 year olds by Borja Uruñela
An interactive article on the British Council Learn English site for B2/C1
2 Xiuhtezcatl Martinez
Another inspiring teen eco-activist. Based in the States he is part of a group suing the federal government for their failure to protect the atmosphere.
https://www.earthguardians.org/xiuhtezcatl – this site gives a brief bio and details on some of the initiatives he’s involved in.
3 Sir David Attenborough
His documentary series The Blue Planet influenced millions of people all over the world. This is a link to a series of short texts spanning his life and career : Nine astonishing ways David Attenborough shaped your world.
4 Haidr el-Ali
The clip that we link to below contains a strong but simple message from an amazing man who is single-handedly replanting mangroves in Senegal. Haidar el Ali’s reforestation project has planted 152 million mangrove buds over the past decade! The link is to a short video from BBC Africa, that has been shared on their Facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=351151712490915
5 Sebastiao Salgado and his wife Leila
The famous photographer and his wife spent 20 years replanting a plot of rainforest in Brazil
article on a site called All That’s Interesting
6 Melati and Isabel Wijsen – campaiging to ban plastic bags in
The sisters from Bali have been campaigning to ban plastic bags in Bali since they were 12 and 10 years old.
website for Bye Bye Plastic Bags
7 Caroline Lucas
Head of the Green Party in the UK and the only Green member of parliament.
A link to some videos she has made
8 Wangari Maathai
Nobel prize winner in 2004, she was the first African woman to win the prize. She led a movement to plant trees across Africa, the Green Belt Movement. The movement has planted more than 51 million trees in Kenya.
a lesson plan for younger learners that encourages search skills with links to interesting sources
the Green Belt Movement website
a video-based lesson from Owain Llewelyn at the ELT Sustainable blog for Black History Month October 2019 : I will be a humming bird by Wangari Maathai
9 Jadav Payeng
Indian conservationist, spent 30 years single-handedly growing and nurturing trees in Assam.
a simple cartoon introduction to his story
a link to a free graded reader based on his story
10 Sadiman – Indonesian farmer who replanted a forest after a fire
A video on the Newsner Facebook page Sadiman
A news story in the Jakarta Post Man spends 19 years planting trees to save village from drought
Video, article and photos on the Matter of Trust website This Indonesian man single – handedly saves his village from starvation
11 Phil Kingston – retired Bristol university lecturer and eco activist in his 80s, arrested during the Extinction Rebellion protests in London in October 2019, tells his story in this short video clip. Highly inspiring!
