Zara and Ashton are siblings, who have been passionate about the ocean and marine life from an early age. In 2020 they attended their first Ocean Heroes Virtual Bootcamp (sponsored by Captain Planet Foundation & Lonely Whale), and video by video their campaign snowballed into a globally-recognised organisation.
Over the past four years, they have evolved their campaign to raise awareness about 'hidden plastic' that not only hides everywhere in our environment, but breaks down into smaller & smaller pieces known as microplastics (and the tinier ones known as nanoplastics). Increasingly, more and more information is coming out all the time about the dangers of these non-biodegradable materials, which have been found throughout our seas, in our air and even in human blood. In other words, everywhere!
About US
ZARA
Zara (15) has always had a deep love of the sea and it's inhabitants. Two years ago she reached a milestone and became a Junior PADI Open Water diver! Her next goal is to work on other advanced diving qualitfications, as she wants to be a marine biologist one day. Zara artistic nature started at an early age (see Artivism below), and she especially loves designing creations with natural fibres and sustainable materials like seaweed. Zara also enjoys trying out new recipes, and experimenting with plant-based alternatives (usually with seaweed in some form!). Her first enterprise called Eco-wrap.org was started by her in 2019 to solve the problem of disposible (and often plastic-coated) gift wrap. The full product line can be seen below & bunting (not balloons) is in the Shop.
Ashton
Ashton is a technology-able 14 year old, who does the lion's share of the video editing, website work and composition of original music for Hidden Plastic videos. He has a tortoise named Sammy and a Porg named Walter that appear regularly in videos.
Besides making music with Logic, Ashton is learning to use 3D software 'Blender' and game engine 'Unreal Engine' (mainly by YouTube tutorials).
diahann
aka 'mummy' (the 'Hidden' part of hidden plastic)
Nothing prepares you for being a parent! However, it's been helpful to have project management background with an Economics training, to impart various skills and strategies over the years to Zara and Ashton on how to become solution-seekers and effective communicators, who can 'be the change they want to see in the world'.
We started our homeschooling journey in 2019 using project-based learning (see article explaining HERE), and Hidden Plastic soon became a lens through which to learn about reading, writing, public speaking, marketing, computer skills, statistics and basically 'how the world works'. Over time as Hidden Plastic's work has shifted more into public policy and corporate strategy, so has the demand for working alongside them. And it's been incredible to witness Zara & Ashton's increased stamina while taking part in long webinars, weeklong conferences (INCs) and intense strategy sessions, which interestingly develops naturally when passion and positive feedback are involved.
Zara has recently re-entered into secondary school, with a focus on sciences that she'll need to become a marine biologist. Ashton, while still homeschooling, has mastered self-learning and already surpassed our in-house technical capabilities. Meanwhile, my ongoing educational experiment & approach to their learning has been documented on Connective Learning. Since personally becoming influenced by Hidden Plastic over the years, I'd like to see greater emphasis on expanded climate education infused with equal parts of climate SOLUTIONS. Through our journeys to the Global Plastics Treaty, it's become clear that joining-up people and ideas in a meaningful way can fast-track the changes we need for our transition into the uncertain world of the 21st century.
