Won the Open University of Israel President’s Award for outstanding accomplishment and the Alison Jolly Prize for outstanding contribution to primate conservation from Oxford Brookes University
I think passion and action together are my strength. My work as an educator, speaker and artist helps me reach people of all ages, sparking their interest in environmental and wildlife topics. What these people do or think after being exposed to my work is how I believe I am changing the world.
Seeing how people are not aware of their impact, seeing how most of us can just go on with the current reality of environmental pollution, biodiversity and habitat loss, climate change – this gives me motivation to keep doing what I do, every single day, using everything in my power to change people’s minds.
Understanding, valuing and appreciating what we have, and realizing how much impact and responsibility we have, can lead to the change we want to see in our relationship with the environment and all animals.
Therefore, my work at Plastic Free Israel combines hands-on awareness with science and knowledge that also triggers emotions. To believe in a future without plastic, we first need to believe in a future with less plastic.
My greatest challenge is picking my battles. With the many environmental issues we face, I find myself so often trying to do it all. Trying to fix everything, address everything, shout out about everything. But we can easily lose hope doing this. This is what I must overcome every day all over again.
I will continue making art from plastic waste to tell the story of plastic pollution and wildlife; researching the impact of plastic in terrestrial habitats; and work in conservation of primates through improving the lives of indigenous people. I am ready to go to unimaginable lengths to reach people and to protect wildlife and nature.