Juressa Lee

Juressa Lee (Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi, Rarotonga) is currently the Plastics campaigner at Greenpeace Aotearoa, working towards eliminating unnecessary single use plastics, banning colossal plastic waste exports, and transforming Aotearoa to a circular economy. The whakapapa of my whānau is a journey through Te Moana Nui a Kiwa. From the Whangape Harbour to Rawhiti via Ngawha, down to Tauranga Moana, over to Tupapa and Ngatangiia in Rarotonga, and north again to Tahiti. My tamariki, through their pāpā, also whakapapa to Toi village in Niue. I was raised by a mother who was always mindful of her impact on the planet, and navigated it accordingly. My dad has always enjoyed nature and instilled in us that there were responsibilities we had to be able to keep enjoying it. This was my very first influence. When I became an adult and then a mother myself, decolonising my life became a priority to raise my tamariki without those shackles. Along the way and without realising, my whakaaro around kaitiakitanga began to shift - I felt more responsible, but also more empowered. I am deeply connected to te taiao and am witnessing constant devastating impacts that plastics microplastics are having on ecosystems. Our oceans, waterways, beaches, and human health are impacted by this global issue. This problem is colossal, but so is our fight to protect te taiao. There are solutions to these issues. We need to “turn off the plastic tap”, we need the Government to ban all single use plastics, we need a refillable bottle scheme and we need to shift mindsets across Aotearoa that plastic is choking te taiao.