Daniel Angelis

Daniel Angelis doesn’t just talk about change but he practices it, one step (beach) at a time.

His journey began on the ground - literally. Crawling, moving close to the earth, he started picking up what others walked past. Years later, he saw his daughter Mare, whose name means “sea”, do the very same thing. Not as a lesson, but as instinct.

That moment stayed with him.

Seeing how plastic in the sea breaks down into microplastics, becoming nearly impossible to remove, shifted something. It became clear: it’s easier to pick it up now than to chase it later in forms you can no longer see.

More importantly, he didn’t want his daughter, or future generations, to swim in a sea filled with what was once visible, but is now everywhere.

With a background in Coastal and Marine Management, Daniel has spent the last three years turning that realization into action, personally collecting and registering over 400,000 pieces of litter through plogging.

Plogging which is picking up trash while jogging, can also be practiced in a slower, more mindful way.

His work reaches further back. In 2016, together with a team, he helped remove 119 boats from the sea, physically confronting the consequences of neglect and disconnection.

A multiple top 10 finisher in international plogging championships, including a second-place finish, Daniel blends endurance, awareness, and purpose into what he calls Plogging Therapy: a practice that invites people to not only see the beauty of the world, but also what doesn’t belong in it.

He is also the author of nine books, with one reaching #7 on Amazon in its category, and is currently building the NGO One Beach at a Time, dedicated to cleanups, education, and real, tangible environmental impact.