She's known as Thailand's Greta Thunberg. And for good reason. Ralyn Satidtanasarn, also known as Lilly, is a passionate activist making waves around the world since she declared war on plastic in Thailand. Through her multiple initiatives, this young American-Thai teenager has already won several battles… Here's a look at her fight.

Her battle against plastic

It's a powerful image: a young girl paddling down the Chao Praya River on her paddleboard, collecting bottles, straws, plastic bags, and other waste. At just 12 years old, Ralyn Satidtanasarn says she has declared war on plastic. And this battle is no small feat! Ranked as the sixth largest contributor to ocean pollution by environmental nonprofit Greenpeace, Thailand is drowning in it. Plastic is everywhere. The average Thai person uses 8 plastic bags per day, amounting to nearly 3,000 single-use bags per year… most of which end up in the oceans!

To tackle this environmental crisis, the young girl organizes sit-ins proudly holding signs reading "bye bye plastic bags" and attends numerous demonstrations alongside fellow activists like those organized by the Trash Hero association's cleanup sessions. Through her fight, Ralyn Satidtanasarn follows in the footsteps of climate change advocacy's leading figure, Greta Thunberg, and becomes in turn an icon and symbol of hope across the Asian continent.

Early victories already won!

While the teenager works to collect plastic waste, she doesn't stop there. She attempted to reach out to Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha to speak with him—to no avail. Following this, Ralyn Satidtanasarn shifts her strategy, thinking that "if the government won't listen to me, I need to speak directly to plastic distributors". That's how, last June, the young girl scored her first victory by convincing Central, one of Bangkok's largest supermarket chains, to stop giving plastic bags to customers one day a week. The company even announced that plastic would no longer be systematically provided at checkout.

Good news never comes alone, as this decision inspired others, and a few months later, several retail groups, including the famous 7-Eleven chain, committed to no longer providing plastic bags to customers starting January 2020.

In parallel, Ralyn Satidtanasarn is also leading an environmental awareness campaign and successfully met with Thailand's Minister of Education, who is now working on creating environmental development and awareness courses within school curricula.

One thing is certain—we hope this is just the beginning and that the cause championed by Ralyn Satidtanasarn in Thailand and Asia in general will see increasingly more victories…