On June 8, coinciding with the World Oceans Day World Oceans Daytook place in Aticco Bogatell a TEDxEixample talk with the young environmental activist Olivia Mandle. With only 15 years old Olivia has devised atool to clean the sea of microplastics and has launched several citizen initiatives to protect dolphins in Spain.
Protecting Dolphins by Olivia Mandle
In 2020, and moved by the desire to protect marine animals, Olivia created a campaign on the Change.org platform asking the Barcelona City Council to transfer the three dolphins that were in captivity at the Barcelona Zoo to a Marine Sanctuary. During the talk organized by TEDxEixampleOlivia explained that dolphins are animals with a great hearing sensitivity; that is why they suffer a lot of stress in aquariums and zoos. Although her campaign reached 56,000 signatures, it did not get the desired results. The dolphins were transferred to another dolphinarium and not to a sanctuary as the initiative requested.
Far from giving up, he launched a second, more ambitious campaign. As Mandle explained during the talk at Aticco:
"I never get discouraged, I know there are many people around me who also care about the same causes."
In this second campaign, which already has more than 116,000 signatures, the young activist is calling on the Spanish Government for a demands to the Spanish Government a Law for the Programmed Prohibition of dolphinariums in Spain.
Dolphinariums are a multi-million dollar business in The dolphinariums are a multi-million dollar business in Spain, but for Olivia, the ecological transition that the Spanish government intends to carry out will not be complete as long as these facilities are allowed to exist: "Spain wants to be a leader in ecological transition and is taking steps towards sustainability, but it cannot be if it continues to allow these captivity facilities", added the speaker.
The microplastics problem and the Jelly Cleaner as a small-scale solution
In 2019, when she was very concerned about plastic pollution in the oceans, she designed a tool to remove microplastics from the sea. The so-called Jelly Cleaner, which looks like a jellyfish, filters this trash from the surface of the sea. With some old ballet tights and water bottles, she designed this tool that can be homemade from recycled materials.
In addition, Olivia is willing to move other people and children to support a more sustainable world. For this reason, she posted on her Youtube channel a video explaining how to create the Jelly Cleaner and how to use it.
Sustainability education
After her presentation, the activist was answering questions to the audience and the attending media as El Bien Social. She discussed with them how we can make this world a more sustainable place. For Olivia, the solution undoubtedly lies in education. For this reason, she emphasized the work they do in her school where all students are being trained in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) proposed by the UN.
In this regard, Olivia argued that:
"My classmates are aware because at school we have been taught the importance of sustainability from a young age.
"In the corridors of our school there are the SDGs and we do projects where we have to apply the SDGs. This way, we become more aware and we know a lot more. Now when I tell them what I'm doing, we have a conversation and it starts a reflection."Olivia added.
You can learn more about their initiative #NoSpaceForDolphins at change.org