Sarka Lee
SARKA LEE has been nominated for Sustainability Hero of the year, sponsored by Aon.
Sarka has taught in the Czech Republic, drawn native flora for a local textile company in Rarotonga as a freelance artist, and volunteered in an orphanage in Guyana, where she also worked as an illustrator for Unicef. She lived in Australia and Kyrgyzstan before returning to the Czech Republic where she experienced a flood in her home town that killed several people.
Sarka moved to Guernsey and began teaching at Elizabeth College in 2012.
After founding the Elizabeth College Eco Team in 2018, Sarka has since overseen tangible team progress including a near elimination of single-use plastics in the refectory, the composting of food waste, the introduction of a subject dedicated to environmental education, sports days free from single-use plastics, the adjustment of water fountains, and regular eco days.
This year Elizabeth College was awarded the Eco School Green Flag with distinction.
Outside of school, she has co-organised the creation of a marine pollution installation for the British and Irish Council summit in 2019, a plastic pollution installation in St James, and a beach gathering in support of the Paris Agreement.
‘What gives me hope is seeing more and more people joining in – society is starting to shift, despite the rampant climate disinformation.
‘The problem is that we humans usually start to care only when something influences us directly, in other words, when it’s too late.
‘Not when another country has a drought but when we turn a tap on, and no water comes out.
‘We must start caring sooner, because what is happening to our neighbours is going to happen to us.’
