By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

LOCAL environment activist Kristal Ambrose has won a 2020 Goldman Environmental Prize for her work, which she credits as a win for The Bahamas and black women of the Caribbean.

Ms Ambrose, 29, convinced the government of The Bahamas to ban single-use plastic bags, plastic cutlery, straws, and Styrofoam containers and cups. The ban was announced in April 2018 and went into effect in January of this year.

The Goldman Environmental Foundation, the world’s foremost award for grassroots environmental activists, announced six recipients of the 2020 Goldman Environmental Prize yesterday.

“It is not just a win for me, but a win for The Bahamas, for the children that I work with, for the cause against plastic pollution and ocean protection and conservation in The Bahamas,” said Ms Ambrose of her win.

“This is a win for the black women in the marine sciences, black women in the Caribbean who were taking up space and pushing this work forward. So I’m very humbled and proud and motivated to continue doing the work.”

The Goldman honour is awarded annually to environmental heroes from the six inhabited continental regions. The Goldman Environmental Prize honours the achievements and leadership of environmental activists, while inspiring all of us to take action to protect our planet. The prize was founded in 1989 in San Francisco by philanthropists and civic leaders Rhoda and Richard Goldman.

This year marks the tenth death anniversary of founder Mr Goldman.

“These six environmental champions reflect the powerful impact that one person can have on many,” said John Goldman, president of the Goldman Environmental Foundation. “In today’s world, we witness the effects of an imbalance with nature: a global pandemic, climate change, wildfires, environmental injustices affecting those most at risk, and constant threats to a sustainable existence.

“These are six of those environmental heroes, and they deserve the honour and recognition the Prize offers them—for taking a stand, risking their lives and livelihoods, and inspiring us with real, lasting environmental progress.”

Winners of the Goldman Award are usually awarded in-person at a ceremony at the San Francisco Opera House in April, but this year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they were awarded virtually.

Once, while working at an aquarium Ms Ambrose spent two days helping to pull plastic out of a sea turtle that had internal blockage. After this experience, she took up the cause to have plastic banned from the country.

At age 22, Ms Ambrose joined an expedition to study the Western garbage patch, the mass of marine debris that is part of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the North Pacific Ocean.

When examining the waste, she realised that all the debris were things that were found in the home – plastic bags, Styrofoam, plastic cutlery, straws. She returned from the expedition inspired to tackle plastic waste and, in 2013, founded the Bahamas Plastic Movement to develop solutions to plastic pollution and educate the youth of the country.

A native of Eleuthera, Ms Ambrose, through the Bahamas Plastic Movement, created numerous programmes to engage, empower, and educate local youth, including tuition-free youth camps to train the country’s next environmental leaders. While in the camp, students conduct surveys of plastics on beaches, trawl on boats measuring micro-plastics on sea surface, dissect mahi-mahi fish to determine stomach plastic content, and learn how lifestyle on land impacts ocean health.

“It’s not something that I applied for,” Ms Ambrose said of the process to winning her prize. “Someone nominated me secretly and after a six-month process then I was contacted. They go through all these judges and they really look at your background and the essence of your work and you have to get strong character references and they put it before a jury and the jury selects you.

“When I found out I got the award, I cried, because it was a powerful thing and it was realisation that the work has not gone unnoticed; that it hasn’t been in vain. And, it wasn’t a moment to spot, but it was hearing that I was being recognised, it was motivation to move the goal post and keep this work going even further.”

Asked how she felt about being a global “environmental hero”, Ms Ambrose admitted that she was just beginning to feel the joy of the win. “To sum up how I feel about it, it still hasn’t totally hit me yet,” she said. “It’s starting to hit me now, because when I found out I was like, ‘Okay great, but back to work’.

“Now as the press is rolling in and people are rolling in and seeing it as a win for The Bahamas, it makes me very humbled, very grateful and very proud. Those are the three emotions that I resonate with. I am very grateful to be acknowledged by this organisation on this platform, on this international stage.”

Ms Ambrose spoke to The Tribune from Sweden, yesterday, just hours before accepting the Goldman Award. Other winners this year include residents from Mexico, Ecuador, Ghana, Myanmar, and France.