Her hips don’t lie. However, if there’s one thing that Shakira is honest about, then it’s definitely the health and state of the planet.
Speaking to Glamour UK for their inaugural Environment Issue, the 44-year-old singer, who is also on the cover of the magazine’s November issue, spoke about using her amazing platform to raise awareness about the planet’s health, as well as how we can reverse the damage done to mother nature.
Shakira: The Time To Act For Our Planet is NOW
“When you talk about the planet, we’re facing so many issues that are so urgent that I don’t think anyone has the luxury to say, ‘Oh no, I’m not going to participate in that cause,’ Because everyone who lives on the planet is directly affected by all these issues.”
Education is key to climate change
shakira/instagram
When it comes to climate change, education is an important tool. After all, you can’t expect people to address it if they don’t know that it exists. This is why the Latin-Grammy award winner believes that education is so important. Education will equip us all to deal with the challenges that we’re facing as humanity right now, including climate change.
In 1997, the singer founded the Barefoot (Pies Descalzos) Foundation for children’s education and welfare in Colombia, and in recent years, her activism has now evolved to incorporate environmental education.
Provoke change
When you care about the environment, you’re bound to come across some interesting people. In fact, Shakira’s climate-friendly approach to life led her to meet none other than Prince William.
The Duke of Cambridge appointed the mother-of-two to the panel of the Earthshot Prize, which is his prestigious environmental initiative that centers around five ‘Earthshots’ – simple but ambitious goals for our planet which, if achieved by 2030, will improve life for us all, for generations to come.
Every year for the next decade, five £1million Earthshot prizes will be awarded, providing at least 50 solutions to the world’s greatest environmental problems by 2030.
This year’s inaugural Earthshot awards took place in London last month. They were hosted by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and Shakira was left in absolute awe over the Prince’s dedication and passion,
“Seeing Prince William’s passion and how genuinely determined he is to provoke change is very, very inspiring…Every time I’m in front of a camera, I can talk about that… We are citizens of humanity. We need to really provoke fast change in order to preserve our home.”
The Grammy award winner added that the father-of-three is conscious of how vital it is to work together in combating climate change. In fact, he’s even reached out to her on the phone to discuss how he can get her to do more.
The oceans matter
From Colombia to the USA to Barcelona, Shakira has lived by the ocean all her life. So, it’s no wonder that she’s so passionate about cleaning it up. To accompany the Earthshot prize, Shakira participated in a series of BBC documentaries where she co-hosted Revive Our Oceans with Sir David Attenborough.
shakira/instagram
“We wanted to get people who cared about the environment. Shakira has been brilliant at highlighting the plight of the oceans,” said Prince William in a BBC Newscast interview.
In it, the Whenever, Wherever singer discussed the impact that overfishing, commercial whaling, and pollution have all had. Thankfully, it’s not all gloom as the documentary also offers sustainability solutions as well as success stories.
Oceans for health and wellness
The oceans aren’t just an integral part of the planet’s ecosystem. In fact, they can also have a profound effect on your health and wellness. Just ask Shakira who developed a new passion during a very difficult 2020, “I recently took [surfing]up as a hobby, I never in my wildest dreams thought I would like something like this, but it’s gotten deep under my skin, once I started surfing, I couldn’t stop!”
The Barcelona-resident added that from a physical standpoint, surfing is great. This is because she prefers sports where every single part in your body has to adapt to what’s going on.
As for the mental aspect?
“For a person who is a little bit of a control freak, like I am, surfing is actually very, very therapeutic. Because I feel that when you’re out there in the ocean waiting for a wave, you can’t control anything about that environment. You can’t control the waves, you can’t control the weather, the temperature. Everything is, to a certain extent, uncomfortable. Surfing is not a comfortable sport.”
MAIN IMAGE CREDIT: GLAMOUR UK/INSTAGRAM
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