GISELE BÜNDCHEN
MODEL AND HUMANITARIAN
The turning point for me came in 2004, when I visited the Amazon rainforest for the first time. For a few days, I had the opportunity to live with an Indigenous tribe, which gave me a close-up view of the destruction caused by humans, health problems created by deforestation, and poisoning of the river from pesticides and mercury. I told myself I would do everything to make others aware of how we were destroying our natural resources and our planet. I began supporting several environmental projects, including ones in the Amazon forest and Atlantic Forest, and my family and I also created the Agua Limpa Project in my hometown of Horizontina in Brazil. Agua Limpa translates to “clean water”. The goal is to raise awareness about the importance of protecting water, all of nature and our entire Earth. When we destroy nature, we’re destroying ourselves. We are nature.
I’ve seen a lot of sad images around the world. From people using plastic bags as toilets in Kibera, the largest slum in Kenya, where a quarter of a million people live without electricity, to massive degraded areas in the heart of the Amazon. Even more heartbreaking is how responsible we all are in a way, whether by our indifference or unawareness or wrongdoing.
But the world is also full of hope. In Kenya, I met a woman, Naomi, who was leading a movement to improve the quality of life in her community. She helped educate local women about safer and healthier ways to provide their families with less toxic forms of energy and electricity, while also being the sole caretaker of 16 orphaned children. In Kibera, I met an amazing local man, a successful lawyer who returned to his village to help the community he’d grown up in. In a place where there were no real sanitation facilities, he found a way to generate electricity for cooking by using human waste. The good news is the sheer number of brave, incredible people out there who are trying to do good. Ultimately, every choice we make has an impact, not just in our lives but also the world. Our natural resources are limited, and we need to learn to live in harmony with Mother Earth. We’re all connected, all one – and our health is dependent on our world’s health. This is our time to act.