For a long time, we are following Marina and Micha, founders of the association Ozeankind e.V. on Instagram and are impressed by what they’ve achieved in a short time – and how many people they motivated and kept on their way! 

Reason enough to talk to them personally and find out more about their project.

A blog on a mission

Ozeankind^® was founded in 2017 as a blog with a mission: Marina and Micha wanted to collect 14,000 kg of plastic waste during their travels. Why this exact number? That’s the amount of waste they had produced on average until then in their lives. At the same time, they wanted to motivate as many people as possible to join them. “The whole thing is not just about us personally – it’s about so much more. We believe that we need social change to meet global challenges like plastic waste pollution or the climate crisis. This requires everybody questioning their own habits, becoming active and changing things,” Marina tells us.

Shortly after, the first worldwide Plastikrebell^® (‘plastic rebel’) CleanUp took place: with many others, they collected 153 kg of waste in just one day in countries all over the world. The first event was followed by more worldwide CleanUps and soon it became clear: Ozeankind^® should become an association to inspire even more people for the common mission.

In August 2018, the association Ozeankind e.V. was founded and Marina and Micha continued directly: with their CleanUps as well as with other projects. This also included several collaborations with partners like Viva con Agua, projects on the Maldives (for example with our partner Reethi Beach Resort) and, since July this year, a very special and dear to the heart project on Zanzibar. Here, they partner with the local recycling company Zanrec to conduct environmental workshops for two school classes to sensitize the children to the topic.

Promoting environmental awareness

The focus of the association currently lies in environmental education projects with children: “We want to launch projects that will improve living conditions and the local situation for people. That’s why we have a handful of projects that we take care of in the long term, rather than a lot of small ones,” says Marina. “The point is that the children develop environmental awareness in several lessons, workshops, and clean-ups. They learn why our nature is so important and how to handle garbage. How can I avoid producing waste? Why doesn’t garbage belong in nature? What types of garbage are there? How and where is it properly disposed of? ”

To further motivate the children, there is also a competition included: all children from both schools are invited to collect plastic bottles. These are collected in a container at their school provided by Ozeankind e.V., which is regularly emptied by the local project partner Zanrec in Zanzibar and the content is then recycled in the best possible way. “The equivalent of plastic bottles is then paid out to schools in local currency. Thus, the money can finance learning materials, furniture or excursions,” explains Marina. We think this is a great idea to make the kids more aware of the topic while doing something good for the environment and supporting the school with needed materials at the same time!

A very special environmental protection organization

“Perhaps the most realistic, transparent and personal environmental protection organization in Germany.” – This is how the association describes itself on the website and it has definitely made us very curious. That’s why we ask Marina very specifically: “What makes Ozeankind e.V. so special? And why did you feel that the world needs another environmental protection association?”

Marina: “We are probably the most transparent and personal association in Germany. We are very close to our projects. We never planned to start an association, it all developed out of our motivation and the encouragement of the people. In this day and age, people are longing for authenticity, for people who can inspire and motivate others. For us, many of the large environmental protection organizations lacked transparency. We didn’t feel like we knew what actually happened with the donated money. Besides, many of the environmental organizations argue for too many issues. All topics are important, but we often missed the focus and thus the improvement the donations should enable.”

About milestones and awards

Since the founding in 2018 a lot has happened: In the meantime, Ozeankind e.V. consists of 153 members, collected donations of more than 30.000 € for their projects and over 50.000 kg waste with more than 14.250 people! A very impressive interim result. In January 2019, Marina and Micha were also honored with the DIVING AWARD at the BOOT trade fair for their engagement with Ozeankind e.V. – an important milestone, Marina emphasizes, just like the first birthday a few weeks ago: “On this day, we realized for the first time, that there are already so many people out there who want to be or are already part of the Ozeankind^® family, who are active themselves, questioning and changing things. In the last twelve months, a small Ozeankind^® movement has emerged. That makes us incredibly happy and motivates us every day.”

“No you, you, you. No them, them, them. Just do it. “- Ozeankind e.V.

If you want to get involved, you can become part of the Plastikrebell^® movement, participate in regular CleanUps, change your habits and produce less (plastic) waste. Of course, you can also become a supporting member or donate to Ozeankind e.V. “We are also really happy if you tell your friends and family about us and carry our message further into the world,” Marina adds.

Stay up to date on all their activities on the Instagram channel of Ozeankind e.V., in the Facebook community you can talk to other plastic rebels. And if you are looking for a sustainable Christmas gift, have a look at the Ozeankind^® Shop.

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