Nethanya Fonseka

Michigan, USA

Nethanya is a Sri Lankan-American environmentalist who founded Plant it Forward, an organization dedicated to environmental remediation, conservation, and justice. She harnesses the power of words to advocate for creatures and communities through her award-winning poetry. Nethanya is the recipient of the Craig Tufts Naturalist Scholarship and the Best Conservation Impact Award from the Detroit Zoo Teen Conservation Summit. She serves on the Sterling Heights Sustainability Commission and the Youth Advisory Board for the Michigan Department of EGLE. She leads her school’s ASL Club and Ecology Club, and has organized many projects, including securing a grant for the microforest she is planting in the City of Warren, helping to raise funds for The Thirst Project, and planting over 350 trees and monitoring their growth as a Citizen Scientist for Living Carbon. She hopes to do conservation work in Sri Lanka, specifically with mangroves. Somewhere in the deep sea, there is a blue whale that she and her ecology club adopted through the WWF.