Why Plastic Pollution?
9%
of All Plastic Wastes Ever Produced Have Been Recycled
Plastic waste has a low recycling rate due to complexity, contamination, lack of infrastructure, economic viability, and lack of consumer awareness.
100,000,000
Animals Die from Plastic Wastes
Each Year
Plastic wastes that are released to the ecosystem cause harm to the animals. It can cause animals to ingest plastic or become entangled, destroy habitats, expose animals to toxins, and cause plastic to accumulate in the food chain.
12,000,000
Tonnes of Plastic is Dumped into the Ocean Each Year
Plastic waste is dumped into the ocean because of the lack of waste management infrastructure, convenience, cost, lack of awareness, and illegal activities.
Plastic pollution in Kuta beach of Bali, Indonesia (Photo by Agung Parameswara)
About YouthFACES
Youth For Action to Conserve Eco Systems
Youth FACES is a youth-led platform, that works to educate youths about one of the biggest environmental challenges facing the world, plastic pollution.
The name Youth FACES has two meanings: Youth bravely FACING the big global issue of plastic pollution, as well as "putting a face" on plastic pollution. "Putting a face" means to make something clearer, so through our activities, we hope to put a face on plastic pollution to activate youths to face the plastic pollution.
Mission
Creating scientific and social awareness of plastic pollution, to encourage collective actions around the world
Meet the Team
Founder, President
Ai Mizokami
Ai Mizokami, is a Japanese highschool student with an academic focus on Science, passionate about socioeconomics issues.
Born in Japan but raised for five years in Indonesia, Ai encountered life in the developing world firsthand, greatly influencing her values and widening her perspective. She still remembers a shocking amount of plastic waste she saw on what used to be a beautiful coast on what was supposed to be an idyllic visit to the seashore. From her car window, she witnessed children her age working all day just to feed their families on a daily basis. These memories drive her passion for environmental protection and social justice. With this drive, she has launched an NGO to educate children in poverty in developing countries, as well as a TEDx club at her school to encourage Youth empowerment.
Having developed an aptitude and academic focus on science, Ai is especially interested in the environmental aspects of these issues as an area where she can make a difference. She has already begun this journey having worked on developing bioplastics, and she recognizes environmental impact is the product of social as well as scientific advances.
Having seen this issue from both a developed and developing world perspective, Ai aims to bridge the gap in order to stimulate collective action.
Looking ahead, Ai hopes to study environmental engineering at university to contribute to scientific solutions to the problem, but for now, Ai is focused on making a difference through social impact and action.
Head of Kamishibai project, Co-president
Saeko Sakuraba
Saeko Sakuraba is a 16 year old high school student from Tokyo, Japan. For as long as she can remember, she has always been interested in public health, as that was the focus of her father’s postgraduate education and therefore something he liked to share with her. This was quite unique father-daughter bonding that really impacted Saeko’s values and goals and influenced Saeko to read and research public health policy issues - quite an unusual hobby for a teenager!
Moreover, Saeko has always been encouraged to take on leadership roles, and despite her diminutive stature, she has never shied from doing so. For example, she was president of the school trip committee in grade 10, which taught her a lot about balancing priorities and bringing people with different perspectives together. This inspired her to then make a run for Student Council, which resulted in her election as Vice President. In line with her interest in health, she belongs to the chemistry club at Toyo Eiwa High School and is researching the influence of global warming on the size of fish at the University of Tokyo Global Science Campus. Likewise, she is also working with a professor at Duke University to research teen pregnancy.
Never one to shy away from challenges, Saeko decident to attend a high school in Ottawa, Ontario. Although Saeko has not studied abroad and is used to working in her native tongue, Saeko sees this as a way to prepare herself for a global career.
