Isha Sangani: Advocate of the Ocean 🇺🇸

When we hear of policy-changers, we usually think of old politicians with decades of experience. Yet Isha Sangani defies that narrative: at the age of 17, she lobbied Washington state legislators for single-use plastic regulations. She is now the co-founder of Earth Strategy, which empowers young people to get involved in political activism and fight climate change through policy.

Concurrently, she holds a deep interest for ocean conservation, which has led her to join different initiatives, most recently as a Youth Leadership Council member of Earth Echo International. How does she manage to keep both of these passions side-by-side, while pursuing a degree in both Computer Science and Integrative Biology in Harvard University? We got a chance to sit down with her and hear her story.

Activism: From Aquariums to Washington D.C.

Born and raised in Seattle, Isha grew up near a local aquarium, which she frequently visited. In high school, after learning that there was a program where she could volunteer to teach guests about the ocean, she immediately volunteered because — as she excitedly recalled — "I get to go to my favourite place for free!" It was then that she learned about the challenges facing the beloved oceans that were just several hundred feet from her home, ranging from plastic pollution to ocean acidification and climate change. This compelled her to speak up for the oceans, both through words and actions.

In her junior year of high school, Isha launched a campaign to remove single-use plastic from Panda Express, a popular food chain in the United States. With over 16,000 signatures, she educated and influenced people across Seattle on how to have a large-scale impact against plastic pollution. Isha's success led her to become more politically active the following year, as she brought the issue to Washington D.C, organizing a Youth Climate Lobby Day to lobby for a single-use plastic bag ban, which was another success. Throughout that period, she has also been serving at the Ocean Heroes Bootcamp for three years, an international summit that teaches youth how to prevent plastic pollution in their local areas.

So, after recognizing that ocean issues and climate issues were intertwined, Isha founded Earth Strategy in early 2020, which focuses on finding and training ambassadors from around the world to project international voices for the climate through education and high-quality resources. Currently, her organization has over 40 volunteers from 20 different countries. This summer, she also took on the Youth Council advisor role for Earth Echo International, an environmental education nonprofit with an ambitious collective goal of having 30% of the oceans designated as protected by 2030, through habitat restoration, education and international policy. Isha is currently involved in influencing legislation in the United States, which holds a lot of power and influence in the law of the sea.

The Secret to Activism: Persistence

With such an impressive profile, we expected her journey to be a smooth ride. Yet Isha was very honest about her struggles. She told us that, when it comes to activism, commitment triumphs everything else. She remembered that the first year she lobbied for the plastic ban, the bill did not pass the Senate. This meant she had to wait another year to lobby again. But Isha used this time to garner support and influence, which cumulated into big outcomes - the next year, the bill passed. This was her biggest advice to climate activists - be persistent, but wisely so.

The goal is the same, and you need to keep trying. But you also need to be flexible in your approach. You need to learn what works and what doesn't.

Concurrently, to keep yourself going: "surround yourself with people who are very motivated. It makes the journey easier." In fact, that was also her favourite moment in her activism journey - when she attended a climate strike and was surrounded by people with the same goal, and could see the fierce passion in everyone's eyes. "It was very empowering," she recalled. And of course, as eco-anxiety is expected, Isha also recommends activists to take a break from time to time, and take it one day at a time. Self-care is important too, because "the only way to be committed long-term is to make it sustainable for you."

How to Make People Love the Ocean

Few people know the true effects of climate change, and even fewer know about ocean's role in regulating the climate. Covering three-quarters of the Earth's surface, the ocean is not only much larger, but also much better at trapping carbon dioxide and heat than land. In fact, it is the largest carbon sink on Earth due to the amount of photosynthesis by seagrasses and other aquatic plants. It has provided an enormous buffer by absorbing over 70% of the carbon we have emitted so far, but that has come at the cost of increasing acidity and killing wildlife, especially keystone species that the many ocean ecosystems are dependent on.

Despite its enormous importance, we not only know so little about the ocean, but are generally so detached from it, except for the occasional trips to the beach. This presents a huge problem for Isha in advocacy, as "it is hard for people to feel urgency if it's not something that affects them." To counteract this problem, Isha chose to take a human-centric approach. In pushing for plastic pollution, she made public health her primary argument to push the issue closer to home. When talking about the ocean, she proactively tells stories of her own hometown, and invites people to connect to their own experience. This is "half the battle" in advocacy, Isha emphasized, because it is not enough to convince people that this is an issue — they must also be engaged and willing to take action through writing letters, setting up campaigns and so on; and they will only do so if it is something they care about. Isha also noted that recent climate movements have moved away from alarming, distant consequences and shifted to conversation to public health hazards and financial impacts of pollution, as well as justice and inequality, all of which are more effective at appealing to the public.

The Future

While continuing her role as advisor at EarthEcho and running her project Earth Strategy, Isha has also started her first year as a computer science and natural science double-major at Harvard University. Her hope is to use artificial intelligence to detect global ocean trends and influence policy-makers from these findings. Whatever path she chooses to take, we are confident Isha will continue making a tangible impact to both the people around her and the ocean protecting our climate.

Written by Ha Phuong