Bella Lack - The Children of the Anthropocene: Stories from the Young People at the Heart of the Climate Crisis

Bella Lack is an eighteen-year-old conservationist and environmental activist. She is an ambassador for the Born Free Foundation, STAE, RSPCA and the Jane Goodall Institute. Bella spoke at Chris Packhams The Peoples Walk for Wildlife, the Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference in 2018, and she delivered a TEDx talk in Brighton in 2019.

Bella creates short films and uses social media to educate and inspire as many people as possible to protect the natural world. Since 2019, she has been working on a feature-length documentary with primatologist Jane Goodall, called Animal.

She has been interviewed on Sky, ITV, Channel 4, CGTN in China and has also made a short documentary for BBC Three. She has shared the stage with the likes of Steve Backshall and Chris Packham and helped to create The Peoples Manifesto for Wildlife. In the year running up to COP26, she worked alongside Alok Sharma, co-chairing the civil society and youth advisory council.

To my mum, for never quelling my idealism and passion when I wanted to bring snails into the house at four, create an orang-utan sanctuary at ten, shut down the fossil fuel industry at twelve, and then perhaps craziest of all write a book. To my dad, for always encouraging me to question deeper, explore further and learn more. To Emily Robertson and Susannah Bennett at Penguin for believing in me and providing me with an opportunity to fulfil a dream and spread a message. To Cyril Dion, Baptiste Morizot and the crew of ANIMAL for embarking on the journey where I learnt the importance of narrative and listening to the stories of others, and the power that can wield. To all the young activists who uplift each other, who turn despair into action rather than apathy, and who care deeply, so deeply, about life on this planet. To all those Ive met who care passionately, fervently whilst remaining empathetic and self-effacing enough to bring others with them. You inspire me every day.

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/25/costa-rican-indigenous-land-activist-killed-by-armed-mob

https://www.worldvision.org/clean-water-news-stories/compare-walk-for-water-cheru-kamama

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/dec/10/women-injustice-climate-change-thoughts-from-the-paris-talks

https://ideas.ted.com/want-to-fight-climate-change-educate-a-girl/

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ooD7CwAAQBAJ&pg=PT145&lpg=PT145&dq=african+woman+travelling+further+to+collect+water&source=bl&ots=WFMbdlYLP_&sig=ACfU3U1wc4epc_WtjeI5_eVIiuRWqwSw6w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2AHUKEwi-07nooprqAHXSVRUIHe50C-8Q6AEwC3OECA0QAQ#v=onepage&q=african per cent20woman per cent20travelling per cent20further per cent20to per cent20collect per cent20water&f=false

https://www.internationalwaterlaw.org/bibliography/articles/Ethics/Women_and_Water.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogbomosho

https://www.simplypsychology.org/Erik-Erikson.html

https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2019/09/30/Autumn-Peltier-Asks-Why-So-Many-Communities-Have-No-Water/

https://www.humansandnature.org/videos#sb=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwStzuCwRtM

https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/2018/05/we-made-plastic-we-depend-it-now-were-drowning-it

https://www.countryliving.com/uk/news/a28659267/what-is-greenwashing/

https://www.lifesquared.org.uk/system/files/Consumerism per cent20download_1.pdf

Is the Growth of Resale Really Linked to Sustainability?, Vogue, April 2018

https://nextcity.org/informalcity/entry/we-need-more-slums

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282867136_Psychological_responses_to_the_proximity_of_climate_ change

https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/european-smog-27-times-more-toxic-chinese-air-pollution-china-quality-a7572051.html

https://www.bustle.com/p/why-do-we-like-to-travel-so-much-heres-why-wanderlust-is-such-a-strong-feeling-according-to-science-9399514

https://www.amexessentials.com/brief-history-staycation/

https://theconversation.com/is-this-the-end-of-the-road-for-business-travel-36226

https://www.vox.com/2014/8/21/6053187/cropland-map-food-fuel-animal-feed

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/21/lifestyle-change-eat-less-meat-climate-change

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/future-of-food/photos-farms-agriculture-national-farmers-day/

https://unfoundation.org/blog/post/how-xakriaba-brazil-protecting-biodiversity/

https://www.democracynow.org/2019/9/23/brazil_indigenous_climate_activist_artemisa_xakriaba

https://www.survivalinternational.org/articles/3540-Bolsonaro

https://www.zmescience.com/science/sea-level-rise-solomon-islands-sink/

Water-saving tips, Ofwat

Diet change a solution to reduce water use?, IOPscience, July 2014

Top Oil Industry Group Disputes African-American Health Study, Cites Genetics, Inside Climate News

http://tupress.temple.edu/book/0701

Leah Thomas, Intersectional Environmental Pledge, Staging Change

People Age Better if They Have a Purpose In Life, Time, August 2017

As we stood there on that rubbish-strewn apocalyptic landscape shrouded in human waste of all elements and kinds, I felt almost a bit relieved. It was like an intoxicating devastation. The problem facing us felt so big and so insurmountable that I wondered whether I should stop with all the campaigning, speeches and activism and just enjoy my teenage years whilst they lasted. I was seventeen in two days and I was in Mumbai, on one of the most polluted beaches in the world, not feeling much at all.

Looking back, I realize this numbness was a very real, very human response. In fact, its a response so common that it could be exactly why we are in such a dire environmental situation yet still lacking the motivation to act. This is called psychic numbing. If I tell you about my dog dying, you will feel empathy and sadness for my loss. But you cant feel empathy and sadness for every dog death in the world, or you would constantly be in a state of mourning for the many dogs dying every day (sorry we had to go there; around 1.2 million puppies were born today!).

This is the same infuriating paradox that keeps people and politicians from intervening in humanitarian crises. The way we value a persons life declines precipitously with numbers. A story about an individual victim speaks to our heart, but a dry statistic about millions speaks to our head. This is why youve heard about Cecil the lion and Harambe the gorilla, but not the millions of animals killed by humans every day in slaughterhouses. People wont act unless they feel they can really change something, and thats the essence of it efficacy. People would rather do nothing than do something that feels ineffective. Standing there with my feet buried in humanitys waste, it certainly felt ineffective to refuse a plastic straw, or to take a reusable cup to the coffee shop.