This young activist explains how to change the world in 3 steps

Around the world, youngsters like Melati Wijsen and her sister, Isabel, are taking a stand, campaigning for change to protect their future and that of the planet.

The girls grew up on the Indonesian island of Bali, where the sun-soaked golden beaches had become strewn with plastic waste washed up by the ocean. So, in 2013, the sisters – then 12 and 10, respectively – decided to do something about it.

Melati has laid out three steps she believes anyone can take to make a change for the better.

Step 1 – Know yourself

Tired of seeing their island’s beautiful beaches covered in trash, in 2013 the girls founded Bye Bye Plastic Bags (BBPB), a campaign to ban single-use plastics on Bali.

At the start of the campaign, Bali was generating enough plastic every day to fill a 14-storey building. And 95% of plastic bags were thrown away after being used just once.

The BBPB movement mobilized young people on the island to raise awareness of the issue and pressure authorities to take action.

Step 2 – Know how you're going to reach your goal

“Come up with a timeline. What is step 1? What is step 2? It might not always be easy because it will be different for everybody," Melati says.

“The goal with Bye Bye Plastic Bags was to ban plastic bags. But we got started by doing beach clean-ups, educational workshops, and talks with a lot of different people campaigning. Those are some of the different ways you can get to your goal.”

The sisters organized beach clean-ups and spoke at schools, festivals and markets. They even went on hunger strike to draw attention to their cause and ultimately convinced the governor of Bali to meet them.

After six years of tireless campaigning, Bali banned single-use plastics in 2019, including bags, straws and Styrofoam items like cups and food containers.

Step 3 – Don’t try to do it alone

“You need to have a team and surround yourself with like-minded people to take your idea into reality. But where do you go to get a team? We started with our closest friends. Call them, look to your teachers, your parents and your local communities. And if you speak from the heart, people will follow that," Melati says.

From humble beginnings, the Bye Bye Plastic Bags campaign has spread around the world. There are 50 teams operating in 29 different countries and it has spoken to over 60,000 students.

For young people to continue to realize their potential to enact change, Melati is launching a platform called YOUTHTOPIA to empower young people to take action.

Through workshops, gatherings and online classes the new initiative aims to teach would-be activists skills in areas like public speaking, how to organize campaigns, leadership and talking to governments.