The sixteen-year-old Olivia Mandle from Barcelona has become a benchmark for environmental activism. She is one of the 130 ambassadors of the European Climate Pact of the European Commission, she has been recognized as an inspiring young woman by the Jane Goodall Institute and many voices call her the Catalan Greta Thunberg. “It is an honor, she is one of the great references”, explains Mandle in RAC1.cat.
The young Catalan has been the protagonist this week participating in the delivery, with the NGO Animal Protection, of more than 150,000 signatures to the Congress of Deputies, collected during two years in the campaign 'It is not a country for dolphins', to demand the ban on the captivity of cetaceans in Spain, the country in Europe with the most dolphins and cetaceans in captivity, he affirms.
Why was it necessary to deliver 150,000 signatures to request a ban on dolphins?
A group of scientists supports the campaign and has shown their scientific endorsement of the petition. Dolphins are highly intelligent and social creatures that suffer enormously in captivity, according to many studies around the world. The tanks where these animals live are 200,000 times smaller than their natural habitat, and in many dolphinariums they are trained to do daily shows for tourists, they are away from their family, and that has a great impact on them. I'm not making it up, it's proven, it's not the whim of a girl who is passionate about dolphins.
You say that captive dolphins can commit suicide
Yes, because they suffer stress. They communicate by making sounds that bounce off the concrete walls of the tank. That creates an echo that drives them crazy, they are depressed, away from their habitat and some commit suicide because they control their breathing and can stop breathing. They are very special animals, they should have the same rights as us, and they don't. In other countries, dolphins are already prohibited and I ask for a law for the scheduled closure of these facilities.
How and when did your passion for the environment and animals begin? When you were little you used to play with legos to save animals….
With my family we have always gone for a walk in the woods and just admiring peace already transmits peace to us, we love it. We have always enjoyed nature and we have learned to clean it and respect it to the fullest. When I was five years old, the school took me to see a dolphin show at the Barcelona Zoo. When I returned home, I asked my parents if the dolphins were coming home and then they explained to me that "they don't come back, you do." That made me see the reality behind captivity, and there, at the age of five, I decided that my life mission would be to help improve the lives of these animals, and do my bit to try to improve the planet.
You've never been to the zoo again, have you?
Obviously not. I would tell people who go to the zoo to open their eyes, to remove the mask that prevents them from seeing reality. No need to go to the zoo, we have many amazing resources to better study animals. Documentaries, encyclopedias, movies, everything… to sustainable sightings of free-ranging dolphins. No need to go see depressed and stressed animals out of their habitat.
You are one of the 130 ambassadors of the European Climate Pact of the European Commission and you have been recognized as an inspiring young person by the Jane Goodall Institute. You are also a National Geographic storyteller. How did you get it?
My activism began at the age of 12, when I went to an exhibition on climate change in New York [her father is from there], I left very touched, very reflective. When I returned to Barcelona, I created Jelly Cleaner, and then I started the campaign for a marine sanctuary, which was not what I wanted. Later I started 'No Country for Dolphins'. My family has always accompanied me at every step, despite the fact that I do less than I would like, because I am studying the fourth year of ESO, a difficult course, and I also do ballet. I want to be a marine biologist and I know I have to study a lot, I juggle everything I can to combine everything with activism.
The Jelly Cleaner is a device for cleaning seas. How did the idea come about, and what have you achieved?
I realized that microplastics were a serious problem in our oceans. I created Jelly Cleaner with simple utensils, material that everyone has at home: they are recyclable plastic bottles that I ask from my neighbors and bars in the area, and also with old ballet tights. More than the work of collecting microplastics, the most important thing is that it serves to raise awareness. Everyone looks at me with a strange face, they ask me, I explain it, and there are people who join. If the person reflects and says: "If this girl does it, why not me?" If they explain it to friends and family, we are entering a chain of awareness about what is happening at sea. In 2019 we collected 100 kilos of microplastics and we kept growing.In 2022 we collected more than 500 kilos of garbage from the sea.
They compare you to Greta Thunberg. How about?
I admire her. She is a reference, she has made people talk about climate change seriously and she is on the street. I am Olivia, but we have a common goal, which is the well-being of our planet.
You also have Jane Goodall as a reference and you were able to meet her…
Yes, I have grown up with his documentaries and books, he is a reference for me. I received the award from The Jane Goodall Institute, I met her virtually, it was an honor, tears fell from emotion because I couldn't believe it. The first time was in 2020, when I was named a mini-heroine, and Dr. Goodall told me to continue fighting for dolphins and animals.
What do you think about young people leading the fight against climate change? Are we adults asleep?
The older generations have left us a planet in shambles, the young are taking to the streets and reclaiming what is really important. Politicians must make a move, everything happens to legislate, they have a super important role, but we have a lot to say to put pressure on them. My generation may be the last with a chance to make a change before it's too late. I am optimistic and I believe that there is still hope, we are risking our future, the planet is the only home and we have to save it. Our consumption can say a lot, we have to think that everything we do has consequences.
How would you define the current environmental situation?
We are in a complicated situation, they say that the Mediterranean Sea has reached a season of no return, so now is the time to act. We still have time to do something. There are many things that we cannot recover from what the planet was before, but others can. But we are all in the same boat and we all have to act. I want my brother to be able to continue swimming in the beaches in a few years without them being full of plastic and garbage, we have to leave a planet where he can live.
What do your friends tell you? Are they activists or do they not understand the discourse?
Most of them go through everything, but luckily in my school there is a lot of environmental awareness and I am comfortable because I can express what I think and feel and they don't judge me. It is true that young people have to get their act together because sometimes they see it as a problem that is not their concern and against which they can do nothing. Not so, we can make things change.
A few days ago you came back from New York. They invited you to the UN. What did you go to do or explain?
I went to talk about my career. They invited me to talk about my campaigns, the problem of plastics in the sea and the captivity of cetaceans in Spain. In the United States it is also a problem.
You and your family are vegan. As you take? What would you tell people about eating vegan?
Each one can decide the diet they want to follow, but it would be necessary to reduce the consumption of meat. I find it very difficult to go out to eat, because there are not enough places adapted to veganism. I encourage everyone to try it. People say “what do you eat? lettuce?". I eat everything and super fun. I respect everyone, but you can eat a lot of things being vegan, it's not restrictive. In the presentation I was doing at a veganism festival in which I participated in a presentation, I said that it is hard for me to think that animalistic people eat animal protein. It is time to leave animals out of leisure, business and your plate, it is time to stop eating animals.
This article was originally published on RAC1.
