Carlota Bruna had not yet been born when an advertisement was broadcast on television that made JASP, the acronym for Young Although Amply Prepared, fashionable. In it, a young man with a very well-rounded CV (it used to be said that that was the best prepared generation of young people -aka, with the most studies- to date) exposed the dinosaur he had as a boss and who refused to promote him. . Three years later, in 1997, Carlota Bruna was born, a nutritionist and dietician by training, an environmental and animal rights activist by vocation.
Theirs is not the most prepared generation, which it probably is, but it is “the last generation that can save the planet.” And that responsibility weighs a lot. It is, in fact, the title of one of the books that Bruna has written, and that summarizes her mission in the world: show, warn, teach, inspire, change. Especially those who are of the same 'kind', the young people, speaking their same language, that of 'the networks'. Because, suddenly, in one of those infinite scrolls on Insta or TikTok, Bruna appears in a thousand different ways: teaching how to know if an animal sanctuary or animal watching company is ethical, explaining how to save water and energy when installing a washing machine , showing the perverse effects of coffee capsules, warning how important it is to reduce speed in motor boats to avoid injuries to marine fauna, denouncing false sustainability commitments of fast fashion brands, discovering what catching shrimp entails for other threatened species or giving advice to reduce meat consumption and start veganism.
There are incredible landscapes, yes, but no trace of dances, challenges, hollow or empty content. Forgettable. When she started in networks she thought that people would not care about the topics she talked about. She was wrong. She “she I thought they would stop following me and it didn't happen like that, the other way around. There are more and more young people concerned about the environment and who care about climate change. That is reflected in the networks,” explains the digital creator to Elisenda Camps, gathered in the most sustainable house on the planet to talk about everything we can do from the most powerful place in the world: ourselves. We all know that we are facing an emergency the size of the planet, but how do we act? “In the news, we see the word climate change and crisis constantly, but it doesn't tell us what we can do as individuals. That part is very necessary,” shares Bruna. And she has been dedicated to that part for a good handful of years.
Her mission in the world is to open the eyes to conscious and individual change, serving as a mirror in which the thousands of people who follow her can look at themselves. She knows that the challenge is so huge that it can disarm those who, like her, directly face the consequences of climate change - young people -, generating a feeling of (false) helplessness in the face of what seems impossible to change. And it is there, at that point of pain, where Bruna acts, fighting two first world evils: climate immobility and eco-anxiety. First, creating and disseminating a large amount of practical and accessible content so that all those who follow her on networks can be activists from her field. The second, aligning her beliefs and her actions at the same angle through sustainability.
“To cope with the concern I feel about climate change, what I do is focus on my radius of action. I wonder: what can I do, Carlota Bruna? Well this, that and this. That helps me not feel the despair that I can't do it all,” she shares. The idea that the sum of small individual actions generates big changes has been borrowed from her great idol: Jane Goodall. When he talks about her, his face lights up. Like her disciple, Bruna knows her work well, which she has read and recommended many times: “she is my reference and inspiration. She is now 80 years old and continues to do activism. She always says that all of us, every person on the planet, has a role. "Everything we buy, what we eat, what we vote... Everything counts."
Along with Jane Goodall and David Attenborough - another reference who would love to ask about all the wonders she has seen and recorded in the documentaries she has devoured since she was little - Carlota does not forget who instilled in her her love for the planet without knowing it: her grandmother. “Since she was little she told me that we should take care of nature, that we only have one planet and we are mistreating it. Somehow, she planted a seed in me that later blossomed,” she explains. And how. As ambassador of the European Climate Pact, she has had the opportunity to enter the European Parliament on a historic day: the one in which single-use plastics were banned: “They invited me and I was able to talk to MEPs and say 'to young people' We are concerned about this', and that they would listen to me. For me it is maximum pride. Seeing that you fight for something and that it materializes in a law is the most beautiful thing, because laws are what make things change.”
As it could not be otherwise, at home - and outside - Carlota seeks to reduce plastic as much as possible. “One of the things that impacted me the most when I started is the generation of waste. In two weeks I created a mountain! I asked myself: what if we all do the same thing? There is no room for so much garbage because we don't recycle that much either. You have to try not to generate them from the beginning,” she maintains. As a dietitian and nutritionist, Bruna prioritizes foods of 100% plant origin, seasonal and local. She also takes great care of the clothes she wears. “Let it be second-hand or from brands that do not exploit people, animals or the planet, leaving out fast fashion brands,” she clarifies.
It knows that in this climate emergency scenario, companies also play a very important role, as in the case of Naturgy, making decisions that align with the Sustainable Development Goals. Companies that have the duty and responsibility to generate progress and well-being so that young people like her can inherit, at least, the same planet that previous generations found. Or better, if possible. Adding forces from each radius of action, individual and collective, large or small, is a requirement. In the end, we can all be climate activists if we incorporate the motto with which Carlota Bruna concludes the interview: “We should not try to do everything perfect, but as best as possible.”
