Picture this: a person travels to the beach, they can’t wait to dip their toes into the ocean and sunbathe on the beach. They had always dreamed of going on this trip and they finally saved up enough to do so. They had been planning this trip for months, they’re practically losing their mind as they drive to the airport. They board the plane, drop their luggage off at their hotel, throw on their swimsuit, and immediately head for the beach. The drive there is beautiful, the sun is setting, and there is a warm summer breeze. However, once they get there, they no longer notice the beautiful sunset and the warm summer breeze. They notice is all the trash. There’s beer cans, chip bags, and cigarette butts scattered across the sand. They lay their towel down and head straight for the water, they don’t need to sunbathe anyways. As they go deeper and deeper into the ocean, they feel their feet graze against something. Based on the texture, they assume its seaweed. They lift their foot out of the water to take it off only to find a long string of plastic connected to their leg.

The world is at its worst; the ocean is filled with plastic, animals that were once flourishing are going extinct, and carbon emissions are becoming too much for our poor Earth to handle. People around the world fear that they may be the last generation to experience a livable environment.

While there are a lot of people in the world that aren’t making a lot of effort to help save our planet, there is a good handful of people who have done tremendous acts over the years that have greatly impacted the world. Here are three organizations filled with passionate and dedicated people that have done tremendous acts that have helped out our environment:

Sebastião Salgado, a Brazilian photographer, and his wife Lélia Deluiz Wanick Salgado took themselves and a small group of dedicated people and turned and turned deforestation around. The power couple started their journey in 2001, they began by founding a small organization named Instituto Terra. This organization was able to plant 4 million saplings and had also brought a forest back from the dead.

Beforehand, the forest had no longer been a forest; rather a wasteland devoid of wildlife. Everything was destroyed, only about 0.5% of the land was covered with trees. Despite this Salgado and his wife were able to bring back the beloved forest. All the insects, birds, and fish returned thanks to their tremendous act.

According to the Arbor Day Foundation, planting trees is a great way to ease climate change effects. As trees grow, they remove carbon dioxide from the air and store carbon in the trees and soil while releasing oxygen into the atmosphere. They also provide cooling shade, block cold winter winds, attract birds and wildlife, purify our air, prevent soil erosion, clean water, and add grace and beauty to our homes and communities.

Another organization doing great for the world is the Wyss Campaign based in Switzerland. Founder Hansjörg Wyss plans to donate a sum of one billion dollars over the course of the next decade to help accelerate land and ocean conservation around the world. He hopes his contribution will help conserve 30 percent of the Earth in its natural state by 2030. This isn’t the only Wyss Campaign contribution, though. Since 1998, the Wyss Foundation has given more than 450 million dollars to local conservation efforts.

This donation is going to help conservationists tremendously. According to The National Geographic, since the donation is so large; it will help bigger pieces of land be protected from outside influences such as industrial development. It will also help the natives of those lands; for example, the protection of Argentinian mountain glaciers will provide drinking water to those living in the region. Moreover, not only does this donation support conservation, but it will also lead awareness campaigns which could possibly help spread the word to people of different regions about how they are affecting the planet.

The final spotlight shines on a retail company name Volt. This retail chain is taking an active role in easing the effects of climate change by letting all of their income go towards foundations who are fighting to end climate change, this means that every single item sold from Volt will contribute to combatting climate change. Along with this, each garment sold will contribute to reducing CO2 emissions globally.

The textile industry is amongst the top pollutants in the world. Volt is taking measures towards stopping this by making all of their items out of Nordic Swan Eco Labeled cartoon. In addition, they have begun using sugarcane bags, rather than plastic and paper bags.

With all of this, one may be asking: What’s the point? And to answer, the point is that these actions are saving the planet little by little. By planting millions of trees, Salgado was able to restore a beloved forest back to its natural state. By give a tremendous donation of one billion dollars, the Wyss Foundation will be able to protect 30 percent more land than before. By making clothes out of environmentally safe products and donating every last penny to climate change activist organizations, Volt will contribute to the combat against climate change.

All in all, there are still a lot of people out there doing a lot of bad things that hurt the planet. However, this small handful of people are doing their best to combat those big corporations who only care about the profit of their business and those people who throw their beer cans into the ocean. Not only this, but these acts are inspiring, they show how with just a little bit of hope and a small team of passionate and dedicated people, anything is possible.