This article is published here with permission from Mind Your Plastics.
Originally from a small Swedish town called Mora, Johannes Fast now lives in Vancouver, Canada. For about 10 years, he worked in advertising, working his way through sound, video and finally ending up in animation. A walk on the beach with his dog, Atya, would change his life.
“I took Atya to the beach for the first time, when he was about 4 months old and finally old enough to go on a walk all the way down to the Vancouver Seawall! We came down to the seawall and stepped down on a set of boulders placed to form stairs to the shoreline. I’m not sure what hit me first; if it was the smell of the water, or the sheer amount of trash littering the shoreline. Suddenly, the logos I’d stare at on a computer screen as an animator were staring right back at me.”
“That day, I decided to quit my job permanently – a job that was making me $15,000/month – and start picking up trash on the beach instead. I used the following I’d gathered as a successful animator to send out a message about what we’re doing to our climate. I received a handful of supporting messages, but most people must’ve thought I’d gone insane.”
Read Johannes’ full story here.