Winnie started by giving a child a bowl of soup. Soon she was feeding over 500 starving children. She lived in Finetown in the south of Johannesburg, South Africa. She cared almost singlehandedly for orphans and vulnerable children. In 2004 Lisa Ashton travelled to South Africa to make a TV programme to mark 10 years of the end of apartheid. She interviewed a number of people including Winnie. Winnie greatest desire was to own a property that the children could call home. Lisa made a promise to Winnie that she would do all she could to keep her legacy alive. Just a few months later Winnie died. Lisa realised her calling - she had to continue Winnie’s work. The foundation has grown considerably over the years. In 2013 she awarded an MBE for her services to South Africa particularly to those living with HIV Dan Walker visited Ilamula House in Zenzele, when the Football World Cup was in South Africa in 2010. In his book Remarkable People ch 1I started with a bowl of soup**(pages 19-29) gives us a lot of detail about Lisa’s determination to fulfill Winnie’s dream and the foundation first hand. Sources Wikipedia Remarkable People by Dan Walker

Vnes Enriquetta Juliette Mexia in 1909, approaching 40 years of age, suffered a mental and physical breakdown. While recovering in Northern California she became interested in botany. She enrolled at University California Berkeley in 1925. and went on a collecting trip in Mexico. In middle age Mexia had found her purpose in life writing, I have a job (where) I produce something real and lasting. Over the next 13 years she travelled from the northern regions of Alaska to the southern modest tip of South America - Tierra del Fuego. Her ‘habits’ surprised people -she travelled alone, rode on horse back, wore trousers and she preferred to sleep outside even if beds or indoor accommodation was available. Her challenges included poisonous berries, dangerous terrain, bogs and earthquakes for the sake of her research. In 1938, while on an expedition to Mexico, she became ill and was forced to abort her trip. On returning to the USA she was diagnosed with cancer and died a month later at the age of 68. 'All who knew Ynes Mexis could not fail to be impressed by her friendly unassuming spirit, and by that rare courage which enabled her travel, much of the time alone, in lands where few would dare to. William E. Colby secretary of the Sierra Club. Sources Wikipedia Standing on her Shoulders by Monica Clark-Robinson

Sojourner, born Isabella Baumfree, was born into slavery in Swartekill, New York but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826. In 1828, after going to court, was able to rescue her son. She was the first black woman to win such a case against a white man. In 1843 she gave herself the name Sojourner Truth after she became convinced God had called her to leave the city and go into the countryside. In 1851 she delivered her best known speech extemporaneously ( without preparation) in 1863 at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention in Akron . It became known as ‘Ain’t I a Woman’- published in 1863. During the American civil war she recruited black troops for the Union Army. She continued to fight on behalf of women and African Americans until her death. In 2009 a memorial bust of Sojourner was unveiled. She was the first African American to have a statue in the Capitol building In 2014 she was included in Smithsonian magazine list of 100 Most Significant Americans of all time. Sources Wikipedia Standing on her Shoulders by Monica Clark-Robinson

Debra on March 16th 2021 became the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary and the second to serve in the Cabinet after Republican former vice president and Kaw Nation citizen Charles Curtis. Source Wikipedia Standing on her Shoulders by Monica Clark-Robinson

Jourdan, aged 15, was scouted by an agent from Storm Management, while accompanying a friend in a London Primark. She is of Jamaican, Syrian and Grenadian descent. She began appearing on international runways in early 2007. In February 2008 she was the first black model to walk a Prada runway in over a decade. April 2014 she became the new face for Maybelline New York July 2014 she was declared an icon by models.com. Jourdan is considered one of her generation’s supermodels. Unfortunately she has had to defend her colour, culture and hair in an industry of vultures time and time again who only see white skin as perfect. Sources Wikipedia Superheroes by Sophia Thakur

Reni’s primary focus is on feminism and exposing structural racism. As a freelance journalist she has written for a number of publications including The New York Times, The Guardian, The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, The Voice, Buzzfeed, Vice. ID, & Dazed and Confused. In 2017 she completed her debut book Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race. In 2020 her book rose 155 places in the official Bookseller chart. This happened in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. This meant that she became the first back British woman to top the non-fiction book-selling charts at number 1.She stated that she was dismayed by the tragic circumstances in which this achievement came about. On 16 June 2020 she became the first British black woman to be No1 overall in the British book charts. In 2020 and 2021 editions of the Powerlist Reni was listed in the top 100 of the most influential people in the UK of African/African-Caribbean descent. See list of Awards and Recognitions

Reggie (Reginald) Yates has had a career in television and radio lasting 3 decades. (See 2 pages of notes) He made his first television appearance in Desmond aged just 8. He has worked for the BBC in radio and television presenting various shows for BBC Radio 1 as well as hosting BBC1 singing show* The Voice UK*, hosting the first 2 series with Holly Willoughby. He has been a lead voice actor for CBeebies animated cartoon series Rastamouse. In 2021 he released his first feature film Pirates.

Temi’s heart was broken when her good friend Marvin was murdered. The need for justice erupted inside her. She developed her strongest weapon - knowledge. She studied law, the streets, the system, pollticians, and the culture of youth. In 2012 she founded The 4Front Project. Between 2014 -2018 she won 6 awards for her efforts. Sources Wikipedia Superheroes* by Sophia Thakur (pages 92-3)

William is a British-Ghanaian entrepreneur. In 2016 selected by Richard Branson to be a Virgin StartUp ambassador. His watch company has been sold in over 30 countries and he has distributed over 2,000 items of school uniform to children across Ghana, South Africa and Uganda. In 2017 nominated for 2 awards GUBA Business StartUp of the year Black British Entertainment Award - Best Fashion Designer Sources Wikipedia *Superheroes *by Sophia Thakur

Jumpoke and Kym joined forces and created a platform to increase the visibility and highlight the narratives of the ‘invisible population within an invisible population’ -Tripple Cripples For breakfast they eat skin colour on a plate of racism, for lunch they eat gender and for dinner they eat a plate of disability. They don’t swallow and wallow in the face of difficulty, they smile and wave. *Tripple Cripples was created by two disabled black women, for women, femmes and Non-Binary POC living with disablities, each and every day, where stories remain hidden from view. Jumpoke, contracted polio before her first birthday. She is a travel addict and her travel blog Jayonlife highlights both the accessible and inaccessible of her chosen destinations. She is a writer, speaker, lecturer and consultant. Kym has Multtiple Sclerosis. She is dedicated to illuminating her ’ lived experience’ with this long tern condition. She is a writer, speaker and a lecturer at Oxford University. Sources used Wikipedia Superheroes by Sophia Thakur

Dr Mark Richards research centred around the spectroscopic study of nitric acid vapour for atmospheric remote sensing retrieval. He has since co-founded Duvas Technologies which specialises in wireless air sensing networks for real-time pollution mapping. Sources Wikipedia Superheroes by Sophia Thakur

Liam fist came to public attention as a contestant on The Great British Bake-off in 2017. He came fifth. Since then he has written 2 books Cheeky Treats: 70 Brilliant Bakes and Cakes and Second Helpings. He also writes a column for* The Guardian* He was a judge on the Platinum Pudding Competition in 2022 to discover a new pudding recipe dedicated to Queen Elizabeth ll on her 70th anniversary accession to the throne. Sources Wikipedia Superheroes by Sophia Thakur

Vertical farming is where crops are grown on top of each other than in traditional horizontal rows. This is happening both on the land ( indoors) and in the sea. Using less space the yield is higher. Read description and look at the two pictures. Greenwave have developed a sustainable agriculture technique called vertical underwater farming or regenerative ocean farming.The company is growing a range of seaweed types like kelp and shellfish, plus mussels and scallops on a rope scaffolding system under the sea. Kelp is one of the fastest growing organisms on the planet and can be repeatedly harvested for at least seven years. Source World Economic Forum

Climate change has resulted in AQUACULTURE being seriously considered. Man is seeking to grow crops under water especially SEAWEED This means the plants are grown without soil, in a nutrient-rich solution to deliver water and minerals to their roots, in a controlled environment. No pesticides are needed. The start up that believes seaweed can change the world. Source World Economic Forum

BladeBUG will do the maintenance on the wind turbines at sea. The vision of Chris Cieslak, BladeBUGs founder, is to keep all humans on shore. An autonomous vessel would leave port carrying the BladeBUG. A drone would be sent to make an initial inspection from the air. On its return to the boat it would collect a BladeBUG robot and ferry it to the work area. Source 39 ways to save the Planet

We have been accustomed to seeing roofs covered in solar panels( using the rays of the sun) to heat people’s homes. We have seen them built on large areas of land ( car park size). These are small scale compared with Floating Solar- solar panels on a body of water as large as a reservoir or lake. Across the world, especially in China, these have been developed. See the long lists of advantages:- 1.no land occupancy 2. water conservation and quality 3. increased panel efficiency 4. tracking 5. environmental control 6. using areas already exploited by human activity 7. using power plants Disadvantages anchorage maintenance new technology required significant increased corrosion resistance waves (open sea) (Read detail about each) This is one of the major ways forward to counter Climate Change Sources Wikipedia 39 Ways to Save the Planet by Tom Heap

Protecting the world’s forests is crucial for the climate. Forests absorb vast amounts of carbon dioxide and can be a source of greenhouse gas emissions when destroyed or damaged. Logging in deforestation refers to the practice of cutting down trees for commercial purposes mainly the timber industry. The impact of deforestation, if not controlled, can be devastating. On average for every tonne of wood extracted 6 tonnes (1:6) are damaged or destroyed. It can rise to 1:20. There are a number of ways of stopping it being so devastating. a logger could make a more accurate assessment of tree’s quality -a’plunge cut’. A chainsaw is driven into the base of the trunk to reveal if it is hollow without killing it. n be dropped where it will do least damage to its neighbour. instead of a wide skidway leaving a trail of destruction it can be narrow and sensitive to other trees OR a ‘logfisher’ -an adapted crane with long cables could ‘fish’ the timber out with less skidding logging roads could be reduced to 15 metres instead of 30 metres Combine all these habits and more trees will be left standing to hold more carbon and potentially grow on to be of valuable to the logger (Chapter 11 - Good Logging- 39 Ways to save the Planet by Tom Heap)

The two sisters were inspired by a school lesson about people who changed the world- Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King. They had already experienced swimming in a bay in Bali and seeing plastic bottles, bags and bits of plastic floating on the water. They went home and did some research. Their research revealed that many countries had banned plastic bags. Why not Bali? They would try to solve the plastic pollution problem on the island by persuading people to stop littering… With 6 friends they started a campaign to ban paper bags… They named it** Bye Bye Plastic Bags** The first thing they did was to set up an online petition asking the governor of the island to support the ban. On day one they had 6, 000 signatures. Over the next few months this rose to 77,000. They asked the airport manager to help and they gained another 10,000. By this time their village of Deso Perenon had reduced plastic bag usage by 60%. The governor had still not responded. They learned, after a visit to the National Gandhi Museum, he had called a strike to force change. They also decided to so something similar-publicly fast from sunrise to sunset - he finally responded. After meeting them he signed an agreement to work towards a plastic-bag free Bali. They now involved businesses -shops, hotels and restaurants. In June 2015 the government announced that by 2018 plastic bags would be band… In 2015 the sisters w ere invited yo give a TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) talk in London. By January 2018 Bali failed to reach target so the government declared a Garbage Emergency -officials 700 cleaners, with 35 trucks, to clear 100 tonnes of debris each day. In December the government announced single-use plastics would be banned from the island from July 2019. The sisters won many awards. Today Bye Bye Plastic Bags is a global youth movement in 45 countries. Sources Wikipedia Earth Heroes by Lily Dyu and Amy Blackwell

Felix is a German environmentalist and founder of the international tree planting and environmental advocacy organization Plant-for-the -Planet. Aged just 9 he was inspired by Wangari Maathai, from Kenya, who inspired a group of women to plant 30 million trees . Aged 9 he gave his first presentation to his class. His classmates clapped and cheered when he planted his first tree. News of the project spread and in April 2007 with help from his family he launched his children’s tree planting campaign. Aged 10 spoke in the European Parliament. In October 2008, with his sister Franziska and Gregory they held a special week-end. 100 children attended to train to be Climate Justice Ambassadors. After just 3 years the initiative resulted in 1,000,000 trees being planted… Met Wangari at UN meeting in New York. They combined efforts. By February 2011 over 12 billion trees planted. 2012 launched Die Gute Schokolade - Change Chocolate bar. The chocolate is Fair Trade and carbon neutral. For every 5 bars bought a tree is planted in Mexico (every 15 seconds a tree is planted). Aged 13 attended the UN General Assembly. Today Felix leads an organisation with 130 employees. Their target is 3,000,000,000, 000 trees ( 3 trillion) by 2030. His/their target is to help slow down climate change. Sources Wikipedia Earth Heroes by Lily Dyu and Amy Blackwell

Observe and interact Catch and store energy Obtain a yield Apply self regulation and accept feedback Use and value renewable resources and services Produce no waste Design from patterns to details Integrate rather than separate Use small and slow solutions Use and value diversity Use edges and value the marginal Creatively use and respond to change Perrine and Charles Herve-Gruyer in 2003 bought a small farm in a village called Hellouin, in France. They were determined to start with goals of self-sufficiency and wanting to grow healthy organic food without the use of chemicals or machinery. Few people had heard of organic farming. This they tried for 5 years but the yield did not make enough money to support the family. An email in 2008 ,about Permaculture, from a friend, changed everything. In the wild twice as much biomass , or plant material, grows naturally compared to farmland without the use of machinery or fossil fuels. It involves observing and learning from nature -how it makes new soil, protects and saves its water resources and how it adapts to climate. Perrine went on a Permaculture course in the UK that winter. They introduced vegetable beds which they did not dig but covered in mulch -plant cuttings and dead leaves. This protected the soil from drying out and made new soil as it rotted down. The result was more worms , fewer slugs and the vegetables grew better. They planted different crops close together, fitting them four times closer then before. They planted an edible forest with mushrooms, berries, fruit bushes and nut trees. They dug ponds, with island gardens in the middle, so the water reached the plants through the ground- no more watering the crops with hoses or watering cans. In their polytunnels they kept hens which eat the unwanted scraps slugs and snails, produced eggs and fertilized in the form of droppings. The French National Institute of Agricultural Research began a scientific research. After 10 years their 6,500 square farm had been transformed into an enormous garden with crops (800 varieties of vegetables, fruit and herbs) , wild flowers, singing birds, ducks, frogs and insects. The Herve-Gruyer family wanted to create something beautiful and the Earth gave back back to them in abundance. The farm, using the Permaculture ideals, produces 10 times more than a normal farm of a similar size. Sources Wikipedia Earth Heroes Lily Dyu and Amy Blackwell