Chestertons and the Chestertons Foundation are proud to announce our latest charitable partnership with environmental charity Ocean Generation, which over the next year will help educate over 40,000 young people aged 5-16 on the importance of our oceans, the threats it faces and what can be done to safeguard it.
Ocean Generation, formerly Plastic Ocean, has led with impactful solutions for plastic pollution for more than a decade since being founded in 2009 off the back of the award-winning documentary ‘A Plastic Ocean’ praised by Sir David Attenborough as “one of the most important films of our time”. The ground-breaking film has been watched by millions of people in over 70 countries globally and ignited mass consumer awareness about the issue of plastic and the way it is polluting our oceans.
In 2020, Plastic Ocean merged with the youth collective, Ocean Generation Foundation, combining Plastic Ocean’s decade-long experience of science and storytelling with the fresh energy of youth collective. The charity’s focus on raising awareness has resulted in practical education resources being disseminated to over half a million children in 11 countries around the world.
As the first large estate agency in the UK to be certified as Net Zero Carbon in February, this year we embark on a mission to reduce the business’ environmental impact through a series of projects and initiatives. After converting our entire fleet of company cars to electric vehicles, and publishing guides for staff and clients on how to reduce their carbon footprint, we have chosen Ocean Generation to become one of our nominated charities (alongside St Mungo’s) after going out to staff and clients to vote for their favourite cause.
As part of our partnership with Ocean Generation, Chestertons and the Chestertons Foundation will be funding Ocean Generation’s Ocean Academy programme. This provides a platform for educators to access free interactive and scientifically grounded lesson plans that can easily slot into curriculum objectives from Primary through to Secondary education. Designed to connect participants to Ocean threats, Ocean Generation’s Ocean Academy provides the education and tools for young people to contribute to protecting the ocean.
One of the first initiatives that it will be working on is the promotion of Plastic-free July, an annual month-long campaign that raises awareness about how people can make daily choices to change the amount of plastic they use in their daily lives, with the ultimate goal of spending one month using no plastic at all, if possible. They’ll be sharing resources, tools and ideas to help make this as doable as possible.
“We have all become increasingly dependent on plastic as part of our everyday lives but this reliance is causing massive damage to the health of our ocean. Chestertons’ support of Ocean Generation will not only help raise awareness of this issue but also support people to make positive changes that will hopefully reverse this worrying trend.” – Salah Mussa, Chairman of Chestertons and founder of The Chestertons Foundation