Gisele Bündchen wants you to play your part to help the climate crisis

By Holly O'Neill
10th Nov 2020

Gisele Bündchen wants you to play your part to help the climate crisis

Model and environmental activist Gisele Bündchen has penned a personal essay on how everyone can be a part of the solution to the climate crisis

Brazilian supermodel and environmental activist Gisele has written a personal essay for Vogue, explaining why we all need to play our part in tackling the climate crisis.

“Even though I’ve had this love for nature my entire life, it wasn’t until I visited the Amazon rainforest for the first time in 2004 that I realised that, although vast, it’s so much more fragile than I thought,” writes the model, who has been an environmental campaigner for more than a decade.

“I felt I needed to do something to help, so I began supporting projects to help indigenous people living in the region, those who understand the value of natural resources. The only reason we’re alive is because Mother Nature is giving us everything we need to survive. What do we do? We just take. We, as humans, believe everything is here to serve us, but that’s not true. Earth is a living being.”

Gisele Bündchen explains how having children has made her environmental work feel more urgent and that she is raising them to protect nature by having a garden at home, eating seasonally and understanding the damages of plastic. “I want to make the world better for all children, and leave them equipped with the right tools so they can continue to enjoy all of Earth’s treasures and have a positive impact in our world,” she writes.

On her 40th birthday, Gisele planted 40,000 trees and encouraged her fans to donate, leading to a campaign that led to her being able to plant 250,000 trees in the Amazon.

Bündchen, who has been a global goodwill ambassador for the UN’s Environment Programme since 2009, is an executive producer on a new Netflix documentary Kiss the Ground, streaming now.

“I hope everyone can become aware that we can’t take Mother Earth for granted,” she writes. “This beautiful planet is not only our home, it’s our source of life. Each of us can do something to contribute to her wholeness. We can ask ourselves: ‘What role can I play in creating a positive impact in the world?’ Every action and every choice we make has an impact. Do you want to be part of the solution or part of the problem?”