Malta’s eco warrior Cami Appelgren gets shout-out on BBC’s Blue Planet 2 Insta page!
Swedish girl gets recognition from the BBC.
What did you get up to this weekend? Was it worthy of a shout-out from the team behind the hugely influential documentary series Blue Planet 2 - hosted by BBC legend Sir David Attenborough?
Don’t worry, we didn't get up to much either!
Superhero
Environmental Activist Cami Appelgren is putting us all to shame. She’s the women behind Instagram account malta_clean_up. On it, she documents her tireless work, picking up thousands upon thousands of pieces of rubbish she finds clogging Malta’s beaches and coastlines.
And last Sunday, Cami received a well-deserved nod on blue.planet.2's Instagram account, giving her huge international recognition for her selflessness! Posting on her page this morning, she wrote, “Thank you @blue.planet.2 for sharing.”
The 34-year-old from Sweden came to the attention of the Blue Planet 2 team after working solidly for one-and-a-half years on her clean-up project. By day, Cami is employed in iGaming, but by night (well, evenings and weekends) she’s a cleaning superhero!
International attention
So how did this all come about? “I set up a Facebook account in 2017 calling for world leaders to get together and come up with a solution for a greener planet,” she says. “Through it, I was contacted by people who were doing the same work as me in other countries, including father and daughter team Emily and Rob who live in Cornwall, England. In March I went to the UK to help them with a clean up and see what they were doing. I noticed that while they do have pollution in their seas from the shipping industry, the litter problem was no way as bad as it is here in Malta. Last week, Emily and her Dad came to Malta to visit me for a week and we cleaned some beaches together here. Afterwards, Emily posted a photo on her Instagram account beachguardian, which was then picked up by the Blue Planet 2 people.”
Turtle swimming through plastic / Blue Planet II, BBC
In case you missed it, Blue Planet 2 was a hugely successful BBC programme which highlighted the terrible impact of climate change on the world’s oceans and wildlife. Shocking images filmed by the producers included a tiny seahorse clinging to a cotton ear bud, as well as a turtle caught in a plastic bag.
It sparked a massive global debate on the use of plastic and encouraged bodies like the EU to introduce laws banning items such as drinking straws and single use plastic cutlery. So, it’s kind of a big deal!
The future
Cami says she’ll continue to devote her spare time to cleaning Malta up, but hopes the social media attention will highlight her cause to a wider local audience.
“The Blue Planet 2 Instagram account has around 37k followers. Since I was tagged in their photo yesterday, I have already seen a bump in the number of people who are following me. I hope it will turn into real action so that I can help be part of the change.”
Well done Cami. Keep up the great work!