Excerpt from CBC.CA
When Kristal Ambrose was about 18 years old, she had to hold onto a struggling sea turtle as a marine veterinarian removed piece after piece of plastic waste from its rectum to save its life.
She was working at an aquarium at the time, and she still remembers the “agony and pain” on the turtle’s face as the vet pulled out candy wrappers and strips of plastic shopping bags.
“It was just like, jeez, I throw mint wrappers on the ground all the time,” the 30-year-old Bahamian marine biologist told As It Happens host Carol Off.
“Seeing that really connected me to the fact that plastic has a negative impact on the animals, especially the ones that I love and that I work with.”
Ambrose went on to dedicate her life to fighting plastic pollution in the Bahamas, and inspiring young people to do the same. This week, she was awarded a Goldman Environmental Prize for her efforts. The prestigious award, sometimes called “the green Nobel,” is given out annually to activists in each of the world’s six inhabited continents.
