ANNA OPOSA

Environmental Crusader

While for some, environmentalism is a principle in the everyday choices that we make, for Anna Oposa, it means her advocacy and life’s work. After learning about the news on the “rape of the Philippine seas” in 2011 about the largescale extraction of marine resources in the southern Philippines, she founded a social media movement called Save Philippine Seas (SPS), a movement that aims stop the abuse and destruction of the country’s marine resources. Now a registered NGO, she leads SPS in online campaign initiatives, workshops, talks, and educational campaigns, such as Shark Shelter Project, which she hopes will have the same success as the Tubbataha Reefs. She also played a key role in having the thresher shark listed as a protected species in the CITES convention in October 2016.

Because SPS is primarily a social media movement, Oposa knows how to use the platform to communicate her cause using simple language and responsiveness to current issues to push environmentalism to the fore and inspire action. “Inaction for me is one of the worst things someone can do. You have no excuse to be stupid because the information you need and want is at your fingertips.”

On its 6th year, Save Philippine Seas is only getting more projects finished and spreading more awareness to the urgency and gravity of protecting our seas. “When I think about the Philippines, I dream of a country where environmentalism isn’t extraordinary. I want to work towards a country where everyone is saying I’m proud of being a Filipino citizen, and I’m going to take care of my surroundings.”—KS