The Davids of the World

Some humans and organizations out there working to make a difference

“No one will protect what they don't care about, and no one will care about what they have never experienced.” Two calls to action can and should be gleaned from that statement made by Sir David: education and care. These two words might come off as simplistic, but when action is put behind them, a force of good is propelled forward. Who’s driving that force? The helpers of the world. They are guiding lights in the challenge to protect the natural world and nurture the increasingly complicated relationship between humans and nature. Yet, both despite it and because of it, David Attenborough and each of the people and organizations below put in the work. It’s not easy. Anything worth fighting for rarely is. But for the planet, it’s worth it. In the eyes of all of these changemakers, it has to be.

World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

 WWF’s mission is to build a future in which people live in harmony with nature.

What’s the change you hope to bring to the world?

As one of the world’s leading conservation organizations, WWF works in more than 100 countries. At every level, we collaborate with people around the world to develop and deliver innovative solutions that protect communities, wildlife, and the places in which they live. From helping local communities conserve natural resources to transforming markets and policies toward sustainability, our efforts ensure that the value of nature is reflected in decision-making from a local to a global scale.

Today, human activities put more pressure on nature than ever before, but it’s also humans who have the power to change this trajectory. Together, we can address the greatest threats to life on this planet and protect the natural resources that sustain and inspire us.

What positive change have you seen from your organization’s efforts?

WWF has delivered significant gains for conservation. We’ve made progress that ranges from restoring wild tigers to conserving the Amazon rainforest to advocating for the successful adoption of the UN’s Global Biodiversity Framework, which sets the goal to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030 by conserving at least 30 percent of land, freshwater, and ocean globally.

We’ve seen positive changes, like the giant panda’s status moving from “endangered” to “vulnerable” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species, and our bison restoration program has successfully worked with Native Nations to fulfill their vision of returning bison to ancestral lands in the US. WWF will continue our work to help protect our mangroves, forests, grasslands, waterways, and oceans — and the people and wildlife who depend upon them.

What has been David Attenborough’s impact on your organization? How has he contributed to the work WWF has been doing?

Sir David Attenborough is a truly remarkable man and an inspirational ambassador for WWF and the natural world. For decades, his documentaries have brought extraordinary places and wildlife into the homes of audiences worldwide. He has been at the heart of WWF’s own story — and was present at our very founding in 1961.

Sir David has always been generous with the time he gives in support of WWF — whether strengthening our voice on environmental matters at high-profile events such as the World Economic Forum, speaking at the opening of our UK headquarters, or sharing his wisdom in the first episode of our UK podcast, Call of the Wild.

We have also collaborated with him on projects such as the docuseries Our Planet, which aired on Netflix, and Wild Isles, which was featured on BBC. His involvement has given us an unprecedented opportunity to reach millions of households, businesses, and governments with the message that we need to fight now to restore nature. We are all indebted to Sir David for the way he has used his influence to foster positive change and help tackle the critical issues facing our planet. The future of humanity and all life on Earth depends on us taking action.

Images courtesy of WWF

Leah Thomas

Environmental Author and Advocate

Everyone has the power to take action. Explain how you stepped into the conservation landscape and what drove you to share your efforts with others?

I studied environmental science and policy, and did two internships as a National Park Service Interpretive Ranger. I wound up at Nicodemus National Historic site in rural Kansas, which is the first town west of the Mississippi founded by free African Americans, in 1877. I found it so inspiring that they built homes in the soil (dugouts) and created this beautiful history in the middle of Kansas. I wanted to help uncover untraditional environmental stories like that — like of African Americans who developed a specific relationship with the land, one that was so dire, they had to utilize it and know the land well to ensure their freedom. I wanted to help share these different environmental stories that were rooted in my ancestors’ history with the land, to make sure everyone could feel like an environmentalist in their own way. They might not have summited mountains, but they looked to the stars and moved across great plains to their freedom, and what a beautiful environmental story that is. 

How are you working to make a difference, and how has this directly impacted the environment around you?

I really want to help everyone find their own unique relationship with the Earth and view environmentalism through an intersectional lens. In 2022 my first book, The Intersectional Environmentalist, came out, and it’s used as an introductory text in many environmental programs around the world and as a starting point for people to see how social justice, culture, and environment connect. I've seen this impact the environment through increased funding to environmental justice and a broader awareness of environmental advocacy beyond conservation. I've also reached millions of people through the work of Intersectional Environmentalists, an organization I founded with a group of incredible climate activists, and I’ve worked closely with corporations, schools, and nonprofits to reshape their missions to be rooted in intersectionality. 

How has the art of storytelling helped educate the masses on the importance of conservation, through your lens?

I started sharing on social media in 2020 and  worked with a lot of creatives at that time to create protest art, graphics, zines, student-led films, and social media videos at a time where this was largely new to the environmental space. I believe it helped environmental justice as a concept feel more accessible, and we also were able to speak the language of an every day social media user who might not fall under the typical environmentalist label. This is extremely important because we don't want the environmental community to feel small, elitist, or exclusive. I think everyone should be able to identify with environmental advocacy. Storytelling is so crucial to helping people learn about conservation, what it can look like near and far, and to capture the hearts and minds of people and activate them to create change. 

What's the most important thing you want people to take away from the work you're doing?

I want people to be able to radically imagine better worlds, even when the present feels incredibly difficult. I want to help them practice world-building skills and access the necessary tools to do so. I also want them to be able to see that environmentalism might look and feel different for everyone — and that's the beauty of it. The Earth and its ecosystems thrive on diversity and inclusion, and so do we.

Cool Earth 

Cool Earth is taking on one of the biggest fights of this generation — the climate crisis. They back Indigenous people to protect the rainforest and tackle the climate crisis.

What’s the change you hope to bring to the world?

We cannot tackle the climate crisis without protecting our rainforests. Cool Earth was created with Sir David Attenborough’s help to transform conservation — moving away from “fencing off” huge areas of rainforest and toward supporting Indigenous peoples as the rightful guardians of the forest.

For 19 years, we’ve been providing cash and data to Indigenous peoples so they can continue to protect their forests, despite all the challenges they face. 

What positive change have you seen from your organization’s efforts? 

Our approach of providing unconditional cash and data is working. We’ve seen many communities turn down offers from loggers. Deforestation rates have plummeted within our partnership areas, and in many places, forest loss has stopped altogether. We’ve also seen communities' health and wellbeing improve, which is vital because healthy communities mean healthy forests. 

What has been David Attenborough’s impact on your organization?

At our launch in 2007, Sir David said that supporting Cool Earth was “perhaps the biggest difference we will make in our whole lives.” Nineteen years later, we are proving him right; working from the Amazon to the Congo Basin and Papua New Guinea to deliver our promise — backing people, protecting rainforest, and helping to tackle the climate crisis.

Photo courtesy of Cool Earth

Fauna & Flora 

Fauna & Flora is a nature conservation charity protecting the diversity of life on Earth, for the survival of species and habitats, the planet, and people.

What’s the change you hope to bring to the world? 

Nature is truly extraordinary. Every animal, every plant, big or small, plays its own unique role in both its habitat and the survival of everything else. Nature is not just nice to have — it is essential for life on Earth. Yet it is facing unprecedented threats as a result of climate breakdown, deforestation, intensifying wildfires, collapsing fisheries, marine pollution, and accelerating species loss. Fauna & Flora works with local conservation partners and communities in over 40 countries to tackle these threats to nature, for the benefit of people and the planet. Our vision is a world where nature and people can thrive together.

How have you seen this make a positive change from your organization’s efforts? 

With the help of our local community partners, we are currently helping to protect and restore over 60 million hectares of crucial habitat, including forests, peatlands, grasslands, seagrass meadows, and the ocean. Living in and relying on these habitats are millions of plant and animal species, many of which exist nowhere else in the world. Thanks to these efforts, we’ve seen species come back from the very brink of extinction. 

What has been David Attenborough’s impact on your organization? How has he contributed to the work Fauna & Flora has been doing? 

Sir David Attenborough has been a member of Fauna & Flora for over 60 years and our Vice President for over 40. During this time, he’s helped us in delivering our mission in a myriad of ways. One of our most significant and successful joint endeavours is the recovery of the mountain gorilla. In 1978, while filming for Life on Earth, David Attenborough became acutely aware of the threats these animals were facing and was determined to do something about it. Upon returning home, he called a meeting with Fauna & Flora to plan what could be done to save these great apes. We immediately put things into action. We launched an appeal and established the Mountain Gorilla Project, which has since evolved into the International Gorilla Conservation Programme, a broader coalition formed in 1991. Since that initial phone call from David Attenborough, the mountain gorilla’s population has risen from just a few hundred to well over 1,000 today — a testament to the hard work of all those working to save these magnificent primates and an incredible legacy for nature’s greatest supporter, Sir David.

Photo by Millie Kerr | Fauna & Flora 

Carissa Cabrera

Founder and CEO, FutureSwell. Futureswell encourages broad public engagement in ocean climate issues, creating pathways for everyone to get involved, no matter their background. 

Everyone has the power to take action. Explain how you stepped into the conservation landscape and what drove you to share your efforts with others? 

For as long as I've known what a job was, I wanted to study the ocean and answer questions about life underwater. It wasn't until I was halfway done with my first degree that I realized the place I wanted to spend my life understanding more deeply actually needed help, immediately. Ocean conservation became my focal area out of an honest understanding of the threats facing the ocean, and how it's connected to the rest of life on Earth. The goal has remained the same: to protect Planet Ocean, but my career has been an evolving iteration of discovering what the most effective way to protect it is. 

How are you working to make a difference, and how has this directly impacted the environment around you? 

All of my changemaking work lies at the intersection of modern storytelling, advocacy, and solution-building. I founded FutureSwell in 2020 to make sure that work was in partnership with coalitions and community. We can choose thousands of ways to make a difference, but my choice has been to organize people around specific solutions, to share those solutions widely, and to inspire others to join the movement. I helped pass the first visitor Green Fee in the nation in Hawai'i, which generates $100 million in climate solutions every year. I have reached millions of people through my platforms to join our opposition against offshore drilling and deep sea mining. I've helped nonprofits and sustainable businesses get their solutions seen, and joined expeditions around the world to share how conservationists are protecting Planet Ocean. My story isn't just mine — it’s a story of the movement, and who is building it.

How has the art of storytelling helped educate the masses on the importance of conservation, through your lens? 

I view storytelling as the bridge between complexity and connection. It is one of our oldest traditions as humans, and something we all have in common. I've seen the way it has changed the hearts and minds of thousands. We need to use these modern tools to meet people where they are, and bring the topics to them in a way that is exciting, inspiring, entertaining, and educational. 

What's the most important thing you want people to take away from the work you're doing? 

That it's not complicated, and everyone can help. I am not solving quantum physics — we actually already know the solutions to protect Planet Ocean, many of which have been shown to us from Indigenous knowledge systems and nature. We simply need to make them a reality by sharing them, mobilizing support, and influencing decision makers. Everyone has a unique skill set; it’s what makes us individuals. That individuality can be used to create a better future and a healthy planet for future generations, and we need everyone working towards this mission. Your skill set, your individuality, may be the missing piece we're waiting for.

Photo by The National Geographic Society

Luca Martinez

Conservation Filmmaker and Storyteller

Everyone has the power to take action. Explain how you stepped into the conservation landscape and what drove you to share your efforts with others.

I grew up on the water in the Florida Keys, freediving with my grandfather. Many of the reefs I knew as a kid don’t exist anymore. In Florida, loving the outdoors often means watching parts of it disappear. As I got older, my curiosity pulled me inland into the Everglades. 

The Everglades provides drinking water to nine million Floridians. It supports thousands of species and sends fresh water south to Florida Bay, feeding mangroves, estuaries, and the fisheries that shape South Florida. It is not separate from the coast. It is the reason the coast works. We do hear those things often though, what it provides, what it does. But the reality is I've spent years filming, swimming in, and photographing the Evergaldes simply because it is beautiful. It's not what people have said. The swamp is incredibly calm. 

Over time, the changes became harder to ignore. Florida loses about 100,000 acres of rural and wild land every year. I started filming because I wanted to hold on to what felt fragile. I stepped into conservation because I couldn’t ignore how quickly the landscapes I loved were changing. Sharing the work became a way to remind people that these places are still here and worth protecting.

How are you working to make a difference, and how has this directly impacted the environment around you?

My work focuses on translating environmental risk into something visible and personal. In August 2024, the Great Outdoors Initiative was unveiled, proposing golf courses, resorts, and recreational development inside nine Florida state parks, threatening more than 1,000 acres of critical habitat. The public was given just one week’s notice before hearings and commissioner meetings. 

Working alone, I created a short film that first immersed viewers in the beauty of these landscapes before revealing the scale and implications of the proposed development, releasing it three days before the scheduled meetings.

Within 48 hours, it had been shared tens of thousands of times. Public attendance surged. The meetings were ultimately canceled, the initiative was withdrawn, and I later learned the governor’s office had watched the film. These outcomes were never the result of one voice alone, but of scientists, advocates, organizers, and city members who consistently step forward, speak up, and do the hard work of protecting the places we all share.

My goal is to create understanding that leads to community engagement. When people are made aware, they care. And when they care, they show up.

How has the art of storytelling helped educate the public on the importance of conservation, through your lens?

Over 1 billion people have seen my videos of wild Florida. Landscapes like the Everglades are often misunderstood, politicized, or reduced to headlines. Instead of explaining why a place matters, storytelling allows me to place people inside it. At first it was just documentation. Eventually it became more intentional. I began focusing on connection, telling stories that made these places feel personal. 

I’ve brought this work to live audiences in more than 50 cities across the United States, as well as Egypt, India, Mexico, Canada, and beyond. I offer a different definition of progress, measured not by speed or sprawl, but by our ability to listen, build more densely, and preserve what remains.

What’s the most important thing you want people to take away from the work you're doing?

I want people to understand that conservation is a relationship. The greatest challenge I’ve observed is disconnection. When wild places feel abstract, protection feels optional. When they feel personal, protection becomes instinctive.

If my work can help someone discover a nearby spring, forest, reef, or wetland, and feel that it belongs in their life, then lasting protection becomes possible. I want young people, especially, to see that they don’t need permission to care, and they don’t need authority to act.

Ultimately, I hope people walk away understanding that the natural world does not exist separate from us. Our relationship with this land will determine its fate, and in the end, its fate will determine our own.

Photos by Luca Martinez

Feature image by Stephanie Foote | Fauna & Flora