CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN

My journey to becoming an environmental educator tackling plastic and pollution BY YANGA GCEYA

Yanga Gceya at a storytelling and book handout event.

YANGA GCEYA is a senior account manager, at Soapbox South Africa, a behavioural design agency, and environmental educator for Captain Fanplastic This is his story... The novelist Paulo Coelho put it best: “Maybe the journey isn’t so much about becoming anything. Maybe it’s about un-becoming everything that isn’t really you, so you can be who you were meant to be in the first place.”

This makes me think about the shift my career has taken from a media communications enthusiast to becoming a keen advocate for environmental education as a friendly pirate – Captain Fanplastic.

PICTURE TANVI SHARMA / UNSPLASH

Yanga Gceya reads to pupils at Seamount Primary in Milnerton, Cape Town.

WANT TO DO YOUR BIT FOR CHANGE?

Why not challenge yourself with the Captain’s 5Rs from our learning module the “Waste Warrior” at home or at the office or at school to see how you can reduce your consumption? See how much change you can make in a week, a month or year.

• REFUSE to buy anything made of plastic or wrapped in plastic.

• REDUCE the amount of waste you produce and plastic you use.

• REUSE “waste’ as much as you can; give it a second life.

• REPURPOSE plastic – turn it into something that is useful. For example, what could you make in a DIY project with young ones?

• RECYCLE plastic PET bottles, paper and tin cans, because they can become new products. Find recycle bins/banks near you.

YANGA GCEYA is a senior account manager, at Soapbox South Africa, a behavioural design agency, and environmental educator for Captain Fanplastic This is his story... The novelist Paulo Coelho put it best: “Maybe the journey isn’t so much about becoming anything. Maybe it’s about un-becoming everything that isn’t really you, so you can be who you were meant to be in the first place.”

This makes me think about the shift my career has taken from a media communications enthusiast to becoming a keen advocate for environmental education as a friendly pirate – Captain Fanplastic. I believe our method of imparting this education is what sets us apart.

Storytelling, games and action are part of every child, every person, so we need to tap into the emotions in everyone to imagine a world without drastic climate change and to live a life that is harmonious with the environment through elements of reality and fiction.

Being an environmental educator for this grass-roots project that tackles the problem of plastic and pollution is a full-circle activity for me – much of the knowledge we impart is what I, growing up, hadn’t realised.

It is a wonderful attempt to avoid the mistakes of the past in a bid to intercept the ticking time bomb of climate change. The intersectionality of this programme – that inspires youngsters to see climate change, conservation, reading and games along with long-term behaviour change in the same light – has created a mind shift in me too. This has been quite a journey of discovery – of the self, purpose and passion for people and the planet.

While we contribute to sustainable development goals through our education programme, my hope is everyone will adopt the #NoTrashButTreasure mindset. I often liken that goal to past programmes that have worked, such as the famous“ Zap it in the Zibi bin” campaign.

Ruben Hazelzet explains to pupils at Seamount Primary School how trash is sorted.

THIS MINDSET aims to convince us all that not all plastic is trash and, used in the right way, it can be valuable.

With the recent launch of our The Legend of Captain Fanplastic song, with songstress Zolani Mahola – “The One Who Sings” – and gifted composer, Alessandro Gigli, we are about to open this conversation about climate change for every child.

Moreover, in line with the education we hope to achieve, we have translated our first book into Xhosa, Zulu and Afrikaans – with more languages to come – to make sure no one is left behind in the fight against climate change.

Buy our books at our in-house sustainability webshop: https://www. schoolofsd.com/shop/products/

Want to help us? We are always looking to take this programme further, through collaboration, partnerships and sponsorships, into schools by corporates.

You can get in touch with me at info@ captainfanplastic.com

Find out more info about the programme here:

Facebook: (@Captian Fanplastic) https://www.facebook.com/ captainfanplastic

Instagram: (@Captain_Fanplastic) https://www.instagram.com/captain_ fanplastic/

MORE ABOUT US:

Captain Fanplastic was developed by our School of Sustainable Development, started by Soapbox South Africa – a social design agency in marketing and behaviour change. Captain Fanplastic is an environmental literacy programme with an emphasis on environmental education for primary school children globally using storytelling, gamified learning and action cleanups to instil a mindset about plastic – a #NoTrashbutTreasure mindset.

PICTURE NICK FEWINGS / UNSPLASH / CUAN THOMAS