Mi Moana - Protecting
the Costa del Sol’s
oceans
Text: Georgina Shaw
Mi Moana is an environmental association, set up
by mother and daughter team Natasha and Nikky
Wegloop at the end of 2018, with the aim of pro-
tecting the ocean. Mi Moana means “My Ocean” in
Hawaiian and they were inspired to start the charity
after seeing plastic waste in the oceans on a diving
holiday. When they returned to the Costa del Sol,
they wanted to do their bit for their stretch of coast-
line and set up Mi Moana. They have committed to
organize one beach clean-up per month and go into
schools throughout the Costa del Sol to educate the
next generation and help them reduce their impact
on their environment.
Everyone can do their bit to protect the planet
In Mi Moana’s monthly beach cleans, everyone is
invited to take part. They want as many volunteers
as possible to come down and collect waste, which
would otherwise go into the ocean, and learn about
the effect of our actions and wasteful lifestyle. Mi
Moana wants to educate the volunteers, their fami-
lies and people enjoying the beach, on how to have
less of an impact on our planet. They have an activity
for kids at all their beach clean events, where they
encourage children to look for microplastics in the
sand and receive a reward for finding them and re-
moving them from the environment. By doing so, and
expanding their education programme, they hope
that they can stop waste at the source and minimise
what ends up in our oceans and on our beaches.
“Reuse or Refuse, that’s the message”, stresses
Natasha Wegloop. “We have to find a way to stop
using single use plastics, recycle and generally re-
duce our waste, not simply chuck things onto the
street, onto our beaches, or into the sea. At this mo-
ment a garbage truck’s-worth of plastic ends up in
the ocean every minute, this has to change! We can
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clean up beaches for the next 100 years but if the
next generation doesn´t change their attitude it will
be for nothing.”
They are concerned about the effects on our pla-
net, wildlife and also on our health and want to make
a difference. Nikky Wegloop explains, “I think it is im-
portant to take action because if we don’t do our best
to try to change the mentality and the modern ways of
life, not much will be left for my generation and future
generations. As divers, my mother and I can see the
effect that our habits are having in a way you can’t at
the surface. We know that just because you can’t see
it, doesn’t mean it’s gone. I have decided to set up this
charity to try to reduce pollution, because it isn’t only
bad for nature, it is also bad for us.”
Natasha Wegloop adds, “In recent studies by uni-
versities in the Netherlands, micro and nano plastics
have been found in human bloodstreams. We don’t
know what effect this will have on our health in the
long term, but I don’t think it will be good! This is
why I decided to start to make a difference at a local
level and inspire others to do the same.”
When asked what she thinks the planet will be
like when she’s older, Nikky says, “In one word - dir-
ty, or maybe even useless. There won’t be anything
left for us to use.” But she is still positive and pas-
sionate about our ability to make a change. “It’s not
to late to do something, but we need to take action
right now. If we don’t change by 2050, there will
be more plastic in the sea than fish. That is just 31
years away! I don’t think we are too late, but we
don’t have much time to change.”
Businesses supporting the planet
It’s not just volunteers who are making a diffe-
rence, businesses and Town Halls are supporting Mi
Moana with their work.
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