The For A Strawless Ocean campaign was translated into more than a dozen languages by volunteers from around the world — students, designers, ocean advocates, and ordinary citizens who wanted the #StopSucking message to reach their communities. This page documents the global translator team that made that possible.
Languages represented
The campaign assets and the #StopSucking pledge have been translated into:
- Spanish
- French
- German
- Italian
- Portuguese
- Dutch
- Polish
- Hindi
- Vietnamese
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Swahili
- Mandarin
- Japanese
How the volunteer program works
Volunteers identified the languages they could translate into, then worked with the Lonely Whale team to produce localized versions of:
- The pledge text
- Social media graphics with translated copy
- Posters and printable assets
- One-page primers for educators and community organizers
Why translation matters for ocean conservation
Plastic pollution is a global problem. Plastic straws used in one country travel ocean currents to wash up on beaches in another. The translator team was a way to ensure that the call to refuse single-use plastic straws reached coastal communities, schools, and individuals in their first language — where the message lands hardest.