Book Launch at Desa Potato Head Bali, Photo courtesy of Melati Wijsen
In her newly published book, ‘Change Starts Now,’ Melati Wijsen reflects on more than a decade as an environmental activist, and shares her valuable ‘100 lessons’ for any aspiring changemaker, young and old.
At the age of 12, Melati and her younger sister Isabel began campaigning against single-use plastic bags in Bali, calling for an island-wide ban. This passionate demand for change was the start of ‘Bye Bye Plastic Bags’ (BBPB), a movement that took on a life of its own.
From strikes to beach clean-ups, education campaigns and corporate pledges, BBPB united an island to strive for a better future. Over the many years, the movement mobilised more than 70,000 people to join clean-ups, not counting those facilitated in Jakarta and across the world.
“A changemaker is anybody who wakes up in the morning and thinks, “What can I do today to make the world around me better?”“
In 2018, when Melati was 17 and Isabel 15, Bali Governor Wayan Koster announced an official banning of single-use plastic bags on the island (Regulation (Pergub) No. 97/2018). Five years of non-stop campaigning finally come to fruition: sparked by a couple of middle school girls, backed up by an island wide effort with like-minded communities and organisations.
“Some days I look back and I think: how on earth did we do that at such a young age?” Melati says as she reflects on those passionate beginnings as a young activist. “There was so much bravery and simplicity in just wanting to do the right thing for the right reason… I think that writing this book was an opportunity to dig deeper and revisit that 12-year-old Melati again.”
Despite how short-lived the plastic ban was on account of the pandemic, the proof was there: with enough drive, people, momentum and influence, positive change was actually possible. As such, something else had catalysed in those years pursuing their mission. The sisters had lived through a major, and long-term, process in bettering their society and environment – they learned what it took to facilitate a movement, how to bring people together, how to inspire, mobilise, educate, lobby and implement. This was knowledge that would become invaluable in ways they never expected.
This experience and understanding were channelled into Youthtopia, a platform co-founded by Melati and Isabel in 2020, dedicated to helping others looking to go down the same path. The changemakers path.
Part global network, part learning resource, the platform offers online courses and free training videos, shares inspiring stories of global youth activists and empowers aspiring youth leaders. With a community of 5 million across its platforms, represented in 72 countries, it has become a hub for individuals wanting to make a difference.
“When I started my journey as a changemaker, I had no idea how long the road would be and definitely no clue on how lonely it could all get,” Melati writes on the founding of Youthtopia. “If only I could have jumped on a call with other changemakers who were my age, I know it would have made life a little less serious.”
Distilling these lessons even further, Melati has spent the last year and a half compiling her own valuable experiences, writing them out into her memoir-meets-manual, ‘Change Starts Now – 100 Lessons from a Full-Time Changemaker’.
Reflections and Reality Checks
“There are two reasons why I have written this book,” says Melati. “The first was that I had reached the 10-year mark for BBPB and felt it was important to reflect on that. The second was to share the many lessons I had learnt through my journey.”
In the same vein as Youthtopia, the book hopes to demystify and provide guidance in a field that is relatively underrepresented in literature. Yes, there are schools of thought around activism and social work, and there are theories on change management or leadership, but never has there been a map to navigate the lived experience of someone in the throws of being a young ‘changemaker,’ and all that entails.
“My definition of a changemaker: anybody who wakes up in the morning and thinks, “What can I do today to make the world around me better?” Writes Melati in the book’s introduction, in which she also confesses how much she admires her 12-year-old self, and that in the process of writing the book, she hopes to recapture that old courage.
And so the journey begins through a hundred lessons, merged with personal anecdotes and really practical insights –things that aspiring changemakers may also experience. ‘Change Starts Now’ fast-tracks the learning curve, and doubles as a cheat sheet to be both mentally and practically prepared for the journey of any changemaker. This includes the pitfalls of success.
Making it into the world’s most recognised ‘it lists’ –including Times Magazine’s 25 Most Influential Teens, CNN Heroes, and Forbes 30 Under 30– Melati felt like her voice could be heard, representing the causes she and her peers felt were the most pressing of our generation.
“I’ve been in so many rooms and on so many stages where I’ve felt, wow, this is it, this speech could change the agenda, we’ll get access to a great network, we can adjust how this company operates etc. Then, after the applause and standing ovation, it’s all over. Thanks for being inspiring, see you never.”
This is what Melati refers to as ‘Youthwashing’, how organisations can use recognised voices and individuals to make it look like they care or believe in a cause. It’s one of the reality checks and warnings she shares for other changemakers rising through the ranks. But she also offers solutions.
“A framework solution for Youthwashing is “G.G.O.” Give Us the Stage, Go a Step Further, Offer Us Opportunity. It’s a guide for organisations on how to work ethically and effectively with changemakers, but it also arms young people with what they should expect from collaborators to avoid feeling used.”
It’s information like this, Melati believes, that makes the book a useful tool not only in the classroom but in boardrooms too. For example, in another chapter, she discusses the generational gap and how this must be effectively managed and addressed to bring about change.
“It’s the baseline shift: what we grow up with and experience will differ from what our parents grew up with and experience, which consequently shapes the values that each generation carries forward,” she explains. In the book, Melati dissects the generation gap and explores how this baseline shift affects five key areas: Destruction of Nature, Economics, the Trust Economy, World of Work, and Education.
“Yes, there is a gap but if we don’t try to bridge it, then we get stuck in a frustrated place. We so often pick at our differences, ‘Boomers are slow learners, Gen Z are lazy,’ but what I have learned is that we need to utilise differences as strengths instead. The older generations are experienced and well-networked, we have to use that. Younger generations are passionate communicators, we have to use that too.”
Lesson #70 – Our differences can be our strengths
There is some concrete theory in the book, equating it to a business book. In Chapter 2 she outlines the ‘Problems and Excuses,’ the common resignations of responsibility; or in Chapter 9 ‘Systems’, the topic delves into how some systems are designed to fail us, and indeed how to design them better, drawing on real-life legal cases on how this has been achieved.
When asked how she had come by so many of these lessons herself, she answered, “Having missed a lot of regular school life, conferences became my classrooms, speakers on panel discussions became my teachers, and listening to other young changemakers was my insight and inspiration.”
Future Changemakers
The book opens with “This is for all 12-year-olds out there.” As Melati writes her lessons to guide her younger self, she simultaneously writes for all the future changemakers. Having spoken to over a million students at schools across the world, she feels the young generations are hungry to make a difference, to find their way to make the world a better place.
Part of the dream is for schools to include something like ‘Change Starts Now’ into their curriculum, where teachers can go through tools, tips and stories outlined in the book to give students the know-how to tackle issues they care about, or even just provide some wider perspective on how the world operates.
She credits her school, Green School Bali, and its founders John and Cynthia Hardy, for allowing valuable time and space during school hours to dream up their plans for BBPB. “It wasn’t just some independent after-school project, they took it seriously and supported us.”
“Activism doesn’t have to be some hobby or a moment’s passion project, it can be a career,” says Melati, addressing her title as a full-time changemaker. “We’re seeing a shift from it being some side job to someone able to dedicate their life to a cause and making it work.” Of course, when they were still minors, it was their mother Elvira who sold her company to become a full-time volunteer and ‘momager.’ Melati’s parents are another foundational support element that she is deeply grateful for.
But before any of that has to happen, children need to be inspired. Melati was introduced to Mahatma Gandhi, Ibu Kartini, Martin Luther King and Lady Diana when she was young and they inspired her. They became her role models.
“If I ask a group of young students today, ‘Who inspires you?’ I often get long bouts of silence. Are they not being introduced to inspiring people? But even my role models are people who are long gone when there are so many current-day role models who can be invited into a classroom and inspire a room of students.”
Lesson #60 – Inspiration is Where Change Begins
‘Change Starts Now’ balances the deeply personal and strikingly practical, but more than that it offers perspective into an extraordinary journey from child to changemaker.
So if you are someone, or know someone, who wakes up in the morning and thinks, “What can I do today to make the world around me better?” Then Melati’s message is: Change Starts Now –and it starts with you.
‘Change Starts Now’ is published by Harper Collins Holland and has a foreword from Christiana Figueres. The book is available in Indonesia starting March 2025.
Follow Melati Wijsen on Instagram at @melatiwijsen
