When it comes to green efforts, if you want to get people on board, it’s great to have leading figures to encourage and drive change. After all, a good leader will help others to follow in their footsteps. Here are some exceptional people who have truly made a difference when it comes to bettering the quality of life and being eco-friendly.

May Boeve, 350.org

May Boeve is the International Executive Director of 350.org, an organization that fights against coal, oil and gas projects that will pollute the environment, through its online campaigns, mass public actions and grassroots organizing. May is one of the few female leaders in the US green movement, and one of her goals is to raise awareness around the fact that everyone can be involved in bettering the environment. She says, “So many people feel connected to the climate change movement and it’s important for everyone who’s involved, whether they’re a school teacher in the UK or a farmer in Burundi, to see themselves in the movement. So the more leaders who reflect the diversity of the movement, the broader, the bigger, the stronger the movement will be.” May started 350.org with a group of college friends, and their first project included protests to support climate action, such as the International Day of Climate Action event in 2009. Since then, the organization has gone from strength to strength, with some of their recent achievements including campaigns against Keystone XL and Dakota Access in the US, stopping fracking in Brazil and pushing hundreds of universities, foundations, cities and churches to divest from fossil fuels.

Van Jones, Green For All

Van Jones is the President and Founder of Green For All, an organization that strives to build a green economy to lift people out of poverty. Its work involves developing solutions to help bring clean energy, clean water and green jobs to people of colour and working families. Van Jones is a Yale-educated attorney, author of two New York Times bestsellers including Rebuild the Dream, which talks about his journey as an environmental and human rights activist to becoming a White House policy advisor. Jones was the main advocate for the Green Jobs Act, the first legislation that codified the term ‘green jobs.’ Jones has worked as the green jobs advisor to President Obama in 2009, and has received various awards including TIME’s 2009 “100 Most Influential People in the World” and Rolling Stone’s 2012 “12 Leaders Who Get Things Done.”

Barkha Mossae, #SeeingBlue

Barkha Mossae is a diplomat for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Mauritius and co-launcher of #SeeingBlue, an initiative that encourages young people in Mauritius to take part in helping to save our oceans. #SeeingBlue has been awarded by the Mary Robinson Foundation Climate Justice Award, and Barkha Mossae, a passionate advocate for environmental change, has been awarded the Queen’s Young Leader Award and named one of the 100 Most Influential Young Africans in 2016. She is also a Shaper in the Global Shapers Community, an Ambassador of the One Young World Network, and co-author of a toolkit on climate change. #SeeingBlue runs the Young Ocean Champions programme every year, where young people can share their ideas on how to improve our oceans and winning ideas can receive funding and mentorship from experts in the ocean industry to turn them into reality. Barkha Mossae is a young voice that inspires other young people to take action to help the environment.

Heloise Greeff, Oxford University

Heloise Greeff is a Doctoral Researcher at Oxford University. One of her main areas of focus is how to leverage the power of mobile technology innovation to revolutionise water security. She has helped to develop Smart Water Systems for hand pumps in rural Kenya and Bangladesh, which can predict pump failures, ensure timely maintenance and identify groundwater levels. The data can be used to optimise public policy in remote areas where access to clean water is scarce. The project is funded by UNICEF, and could bring water access to over 200 million people in Africa. Heloise is also a founding member of Engineers without Borders South Africa, which is a platform that enables young engineers in South Africa to generate, apply and share engineering knowledge that benefits society as a whole.

Many companies are taking steps to contribute to the state of our environment in a positive way, by bringing eco-friendly products to the market. Here are five inventions that can change our lives – and our planet - for the better.

Consumable cutlery

Did you know that Americans alone dispose of enough single-use cutleries to circle round the world 300 times? Plastic cutlery is something that many people use on a daily basis, resulting in excessive waste. Narayana Peesapaty, the founder of Bakey’s Foods has created a product to tackle this problem: consumable cutlery in the form of edible spoons. The spoons are made of rice, wheat and water, so you can eat them once you have finished your meal. There are three versions: sweet, savoury or unflavoured, and they last up to 3 years. However, once you have used them, you must consume them within 4 days, otherwise they decompose. Either way, you are not producing any waste by using them.

Edible water bottles

One of the biggest culprits in plastic waste is the water bottle. The answer to this problem comes from Skipping Rocks Lab, which has invented a biodegradable, edible ball made of seaweed that can hold liquid inside it. Tests show that it is durable enough not to tear until you need to break it to drink the water inside it. A great step in the battle against plastic bottles.

Plastic recycler

There is a way to get rid of excess plastic at home. Dutch designer Dave Hakkens is the creator of Precious Plastic, which are automated machines that convert plastic to household items such as pendant lights and geometric tumblers that you can use at home. The machines give you an innovative way to recycle; by melting bits of plastic you have lying around and making things that you can use to decorate your living space.

Eco-friendly floss

Goodwell has invented GoodFloss, an environmentally-friendly dental floss that overcomes the issue of using plastic, single-use floss harps, which contributes to waste in landfills. GoodFloss is made of biodegradable materials and fits inside your wallet so you can take it with you wherever you go.

Air-purifying wall

We all know that air pollution is a problem, but did you know that it’s an indoor issue as well as an outdoor issue? AgroSci has risen to the challenge of high carbon dioxide levels inside buildings, by creating green walls of living plants to clean the air of pollutant substances. The company says that a wall with 300 plants has the same cleaning capacity of 60,000 house plants, as it uses a system that amplifies the plants’ ability to purify the air.

We are revolutionizing the classic ‘Gold Stars’ for excellence, and celebrating with ‘Green Stars’ for those who are really making an effort to improve our earth. So, if you are looking for a worthy cause to donate to, or volunteer with, here are some of the most popular organizations that are actively helping to make a change to the environment, for the better.

 The International Maritime Organization

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that regulates shipping, and covers things like environmental concerns such as the prevention of marine pollution, safety and security, legal matters, technical co-operation and efficiency. Some of its recent work includes: A project to keep the Red Sea clean, by encouraging member countries to enforce the London Protocol to prohibit dumping at sea; A project to enhance safe and environmentally sound ship recycling in Bangladesh; and a project to protect the marine environment through the Ballast Water Management Convention, a treaty that requires ships in international traffic to manage their ballast water and sediments to a certain standard.

Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation

Set up in 2006 by H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco, the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation is a charity that has donated millions to projects aiming to help the environment. Some of its key areas of focus are environmental protection, climate change, sustainable development, biodiversity and the promotion of renewable energies. The Foundation practices what it preaches, as Villa Girasole, the headquarters of the Foundation, saw its power consumption drop by around 60% between 2005 and 2017, making it a high energy efficiency building, even though it is over 130 years old. The building uses solar panels for energy and shows that investing in this kind of equipment can improve the energy efficiency of old buildings, which helps climate change.

Union of Concerned Scientists

With a network of 17,000 scientists, this independent Union researches and analyses the biggest environmental challenges, and works to create viable solutions to tackle them. Some of their key areas of focus include global warming, green energy solutions and large-scale food production, and they work to educate and encourage industries to adopt sustainable methods of energy and food production. Recently, the UCS played a key role in passing landmark emissions and fuel efficiency standards that will halve the global warming emissions of new cars and light trucks by 2025. This will correspond to taking 40 million of today’s cars and trucks off the road.

Environmental Defence Fund

Based in the US, the EDF covers a broad range of initiatives, including those related to oceans, climate change, wildlife and health. It partners with businesses and the government to come up with solutions to some of the world’s biggest environmental problems. One of its most recent projects aims to minimize farmers’ use of fertilizer, which although can be beneficial in helping crops to grow, can also cause severe environmental damage when used in excess. Through its Sustainable Sourcing Initiative, the EDF educates farmers on how to reduce pollution, for example by optimising their fertiliser use to make sure that a little gees a long way, and using farming methods that minimise the requirement for large amounts fertilizer, ultimately helping our land, oceans and air by reducing the carbon impact of fertilizers.

European Environmental Bureau

The EEB is the largest network of environmental citizens’ organizations in Europe, with around 140 member organizations in over 30 countries, and around 15 million individual members. It looks at the greatest environmental problems in Europe, such as climate change, sustainability, air, water, soil, chemical pollution and biodiversity, and advises and influences on how the EU tackles these problems. One of its projects revolves around REACH, the EU chemicals legislation introduced in 2006. Despite this law, chemicals are still on the market, present in many products that we buy. The EEB works to improve REACH and other EU chemicals legislations to help Europe reach the goals of its Seventh Environmental Action Plan, and help the world accomplish its Sustainable Development Goals.

Rainforest Alliance

The Rainforest Alliance takes action to protect the world’s rainforests, working with the tourism industry as well as foresters to help the conservation of ecologically threatened areas. The issues it tackles include global warming, drought, extreme poverty, deforestation and sustainable farming. In fact, farming is responsible for 80% of tropical deforestation and around 1.5 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year. One of the Rainforest Alliance’s efforts towards more sustainable rainforest farming is that it awards certification to producers who meet strict sustainability standards, for products such as tea, coffee, bananas and chocolate.

When they hear the name Leonardo DiCaprio, most people will think of him as an actor. This is unsurprising, as Leonardo DiCaprio has had a brilliant career in film to date. However, in addition to his acting career, DiCaprio is active in the environmental space, having established the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation (LDF) in 1998. The Foundation’s aim is ‘protecting the world’s last wild places,’ and DiCaprio himself is very active in the projects that the Foundation undertakes. 

The Foundation works in six main areas: Wildlands Conservation, Oceans Conservation, Climate Change, Indigenous Rights, Transforming California and Innovative Solutions. The Foundation runs fundraising events to support its initiatives, and also runs public campaigns and media campaigns to raise awareness of its programmes. Social media is a powerful tool in achieving this, as the LDF has over 50 million followers. The LDF’s grants program has awarded over $80 million in grants in the past 8 years, providing funding to over 200 projects in 50 countries in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Antarctica, the Arctic and all five oceans. 

Some of the LDF’s projects include: 

• Replenishing coral reefs in the Pacific Ocean to help the survival of coral reefs, which are threatened by ocean acidification and climate change.
• Empowering communities with solar energy to reduce the extent of fossil fuel consumption and increase the use of renewable energy sources that are less harmful to the environment. Working with RE-volv, which provides solar leases to non-profit solar projects, and the Department of Energy Solar In Your Community Challenge, people will be trained on solar installation for non-profits, ultimately aiming to reduce carbon emissions through smarter energy use.
• Wildlife conservation in Northern Botswana, alongside the Botswana Predator Conservation Trust, which researches wildlife behaviour and communication. The Bio Boundary Project is the only one of its kind globally, as it focuses on researching the chemistry of natural scent marks left by free-ranging wild animals to communicate with each other, and how these are used to prevent conflict with humans. This is important research in the drive to conserve endangered species including lions, leopards and the African wild dog.

Last year, on 28^thSeptember 2017, the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation held the inaugural Monte-Carlo Gala for the Oceans, a gala evening held at the Terraces of the Opera of Monte-Carlo. The event was organized by Milutin Gatsby, the Global Fundraising Chair for the LDF, and was Chaired by HSH Prince Albert II and HSH Princess Charlene. The gala raised a total of $14million thanks to the generous contributions of those attending, and the funds will be used to back initiatives aimed at sustainable ocean management. At the event, Leonardo DiCaprio was awarded the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation Prize for his dedication and work in protecting our environment.