Futurnerator is a youth-led, non-profit environmental conservation organisation from Thailand. They aim to create a zero-waste community with a focus on tackling the plastic waste problem. For Futurnerator every day is a World Environment Day and they aim that it’s the same for everyone. Check out the duologue. You can reach them at https://www.instagram.com/futurnerator/ and https://futurnerator.wixsite.com/website fawn over their works, like we do.
(Their amazing team is in the feature image of this interview.)
Hello! Thank you for agreeing to this interview. Could you please tell our readers about your organization?
Futurnerator is a youth-led organization aiming to create a zero-waste community with a focus on tackling the plastic waste problem. Our main goal is to create a zero-waste community starting with our school, raise awareness on the importance of responsible consumption and educate others on how to recycle effectively. Our partnership with Trash Lucky and Peung-Noi-Nak-Su is the key to our goal in creating a recycling system in school and using Eco-bricks to make houses in rural areas of Thailand. We have arranged many events on recycling and Eco-brick which will continue on to the wider community.
What, according to you, is the biggest environmental threat today?
Humans’ lack of awareness and actions. Even though environmental awareness has been continually raised and given more importance for the past few years, not enough individual, national and international actions have been implemented to directly solve the causes of many detrimental environmental issues because many still believe it’s a problem that can be postponed – which is actually far from the reality we are currently in. It is an extremely urgent issue in need of immense attention from all sectors.
How do you think can this problem can be overcome? Can our Environment be saved?
Fully overcoming adverse environmental effects is still a long journey for mankind. However, the first step we can all do very simply, and should do, is to believe. Believe that everyone can make a difference as the saying “be the change that you want to see”; the change that you make does not have to be big, even the tiniest step matters because you have to start somewhere and grow from it! No matter who you are, where you are, we all can contribute to a better future for everyone. We believe it’s only if individuals truly understand the disasters on-hand and take the initiative to be responsible for their own actions — that’s when we can hopefully see the epilogue of this long-lasting problem.
What inspired you to become environmentalists?
We study many environmental issue cases around the world during our geography and global perspectives class. However, the thing that puts all of that into perspective is the environmental problems that we see with our own eyes, right here in Thailand such as waste management problems, air pollution, water pollution and a lot more. After learning and experiencing the issues by ourselves, we wanted to be a part in making the world a better place for everyone. So we decided to take action, starting with an issue that we find most apparent in our society and is a problem that can be solved quite simply if we all work together – deposition of trash, especially plastic wastes – and finally decided to create this project, Futurnerator!
How far can technology help save the situation?
Technology can surely assist humans in helping alleviate the damaging effects on the environment, both directly and indirectly. And we have yet to unveil its full potential and the endless possible pathways that could be one of the essential keys of solving the issue. Many tend to forget the power of social media that technological advancement has given us — by simply spreading information and empowering other people on these platforms is something one can easily do to help.
What do you think a commoner can do to help the environment?
We believe that the waste issue that we focus on is something that all of us can take action on simply by changing our daily habits, we believe that this issue is something we can all help to improve. Here are a few ideas: try to go zero-waste, you can start with applying the 3Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle) in your daily life. The easiest way to start is to use reusable items instead of disposable, for example, use reusable water bottles instead of plastic bottles or when going to the grocery shop use your own bags instead of plastic bags. Conserving water and energy is also important, we can achieve this by switching electricity off when not used, turning off the water tap when brushing teeth. Most importantly, we can all take part in making bigger changes by joining the community environmental projects or initiating one by ourselves!
Why would you ask students to join the environmental sector?
Nature is what all living things rely on. Without all the components of nature: wildlifes, marine lifes, fresh water and air, we won’t be able to survive. However, human activities have a negative impact on those components which lead to extinctions of species and contaminated environment, both definitely will affect how we live in the future world. Many students often think that they do not have the potential nor the power to solve such problems, but like we have been emphasizing and trying to put the message across to everyone: Every small movement matters, even the smallest act like reusing a plastic bag matters, and we believe that if you have the will to change you can contribute to a larger impact to the environmental sector.
What future do you see for environmentalists?
Nowadays, people are more aware about the consequences of their actions toward environmental issues and take more action in the environmental sector. We think that in the future more environmental projects will be initiated as well as the number of environmentalists that will definitely increase. Moreover, environmentalists will receive more attention and collaboration on their project. We think that it would be easier for environmentalists to voice their ideas and contribute change with the help of local, national and international society.
What are some of the environmental projects you have taken up?
We have run a couple projects under the name Futurnerator, mostly in our school community. First project we did was in a charity fair, where we organised our first Futurnerator exhibition, and 2 workshops: eco-bricks and diy recycled plant pots. To raise funds, we also sold our handmade products including recycled snack packages pouches, embroidered scrunchie and embroidered t-shirts. We are also continuing selling these products through our website in order to raise money to buy food composters for our school. Our second workshop is with our school’s Eco-Warriors club in Primary school – we arranged an eco-brick workshop with them explaining about the eco-bricks and the purpose of making them. We also gave the students a chance to make one themselves, with the belief that they will pass this knowledge on to their friends and family. Another project we did in school was the ‘Recycling House Competition,’ which received a lot of attention from the whole school (way more than we expected). In just a week we were able to collect around 150 kg of plastic waste and were able to recycle 100 kg of it while the rest goes to our eco-brick project. Our current project is accepting eco-brick donations and we are recruiting new members to join our team. We’re looking for opportunities to do more projects and we are very keen about collaborating with other organisations! Right now, we are working on a very exciting collaboration that we will let you all know very soon so please look forward to our upcoming projects!
In one statement, what message do you have to the coming generation?
Believe in yourself and the potential of the youth; believe that as the new generation we have the power to change and that we must take actions if we want to live in a future where nature is still with us. Undeniably, environmental issues can be extremely difficult to solve and some things are just out of our control, but it does not mean that it’s impossible. The world is currently in progress of rehabilitating from all of our past actions and we are responsible for it — “What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another”
Unverbalise is ever the more grateful for this interview from Futurnerator on the occasion of World Environment Day. We hope to continue to bring in more amazing people to our platform to inspire our readers, so don’t forget to subscribe to our site and share the word around.
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