In Rio, a 4-year-old girl clears plastic waste from the ocean

Record ID: 1627649

  • Title: In Rio, a 4-year-old girl clears plastic waste from the ocean
  • Date: 20th July 2021
  • Summary: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (FILE - JUNE 26, 2021) (REUTERS) GOMES DIVING WITH HER FATHER TO COLLECT PLASTIC FROM THE SEA CLOSE TO URCA BEACH VARIOUS OF GOMES AND HER FATHER PADDLEBOARDING TO COLLECT MORE PLASTIC (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) 4-YEAR-OLD ENVIRONMENTALIST, NINA GOMES, SAYING: FATHER ASKING: "Why are you collecting plastic?" "Because (otherwise) fish and turtles die." GOMES COUNTING THE AMOUNT OF PLASTIC SHE COLLECTED GOMES ARRIVING TO THE SHORE OF THE BEACH DRAGGING A BAG FULL OF THE PLASTIC SHE COLLECTED (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) NINA GOMES' FATHER, RICARDO GOMES, SAYING: "From a young age, when she learned to speak, she would say that she did not understand why people could drink something and leave the rubbish on the beach. Since she was little she never understood that." RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (FILE - JULY 01, 2021) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF NINA AND HER DAD ON A BICYCLE NEXT TO IPANEMA BEACH RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (FILE - JUNE 30, 2021) (REUTERS) GOMES' FATHER HELPING HER TO PUT ON GOGGLES AND SWIMMING CAP GOMES JUMPING INTO THE SWIMMING POOL GOMES DIVING TO COLLECT RINGS FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE SWIMMING POOL GOMES FLOATING RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (FILE - JUNE 26, 2021) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) NINA GOMES' FATHER, RICARDO GOMES, SAYING: "Nina is the breaking point for love, for empathy while seeing that our attitude today will define the inheritance we will leave the generations that are being born."
  • Embargoed: 3rd August 2021 16:11
  • Keywords: Nina Gomes Rio de Janeiro beaches environment environmentalist trash
  • Location: TIJUCA & RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL
  • City: TIJUCA & RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: Environment,South America / Central America
  • Reuters ID: LVA002EMN99ON
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Nina Gomes is no average environmentalist. With bright pink goggles and just 4 years old, she picks trash with her father from the water along the beaches of Rio de Janeiro.
    With Nina in tow, Gomes sets out on a paddleboard into the picturesque but polluted waters of Rio's Guanabara Bay, where she grabs plastic bottles and bags and puts them in a mesh net.
    Asked why she collects waste from the sea, she says: "Because (otherwise) fish and turtles die."
    Eleven million tons of plastic are discarded into the ocean every year, according to the United Nations Environment Programme. Plastic debris can be deadly to seabirds and marine life, with hundreds and thousands of marine mammals dying each year by consuming or being trapped in plastic waste. (Graphic on plastic waste).
    Gomes, who made a film in 2017 about the underwater world of Guanabara Bay, was inspired by the birth of his daughter to start Instituto Mar Urbano, a Rio-based group dedicated to fighting marine disasters.
    Studies by Brazil's Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation found that there were upwards of 400 distinct species of birds, fish, reptiles and mammals that live within or in the periphery of Guanabara Bay. Thousands of Rio residents also rely on the bay to support their livelihoods through fishing. More than 10 million people live in the areas surrounding the bay.
    Gomes hopes that Nina's example will serve to inspire love and empathy and also help break public apathy that surrounds environmental protection in Brazil.
    (Production: Sebastian Rocandio, Nina Lopez, Liamar Ramos)
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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