A former London headhunter, Natalie Fee felt like she ‘had it all’ by the age of 21…except, she wasn’t overly happy. She decided to give up her fast-paced city life and head out on a mission to discover what really made her, and us, happy. Her journey took her around the globe, as far as the Amazon jungle to a Southampton yoga studio, becoming a mother along the way. She went on to work as a life coach, a green-parenting columnist, and a feng shui consultant in Glastonbury, before starting a media career in Bristol in 2012.
After watching a distressing video trailer that showed how plastic pollution was impacting upon albatrosses, Natalie was inspired to take action. This life-changing clip led to a crowdfunding campaign which in turn, provided the momentum to form City to Sea.
Natalie Fee Ocean Plastics Campaigner
Natalie says:
“Let’s start with why I set up City to Sea: a non-profit organisation running campaigns to stop plastic pollution at the source. Shocked by islands of plastic flowing from my hometown of Bristol into the Severn Estuary, I did a shout-out for like-minded people to help me stop this from happening. We’re a small but mighty team, backed by scientists, marine biologists and campaigners, on a mission to eliminate single-use plastics.
By engaging communities, working with retailers and lobbying manufacturers, our aim is to reverse the trend for disposable items in order to safeguard our seas for future generations. Now in our second year, thousands of people have joined us in the fight for a plastic-free world.
But we’re far from done.
With campaigns ‘Don’t Believe the Wipe’, ‘Period Power’ and ‘Refill’ in progress, we’re waging an all-out war on plastics!”
Natalie Fee – Sustainability TV Presenter
With over 200 hours of primetime TV presenting under her belt, Natalie has learnt to be professional and quick-witted, and she is friendly and at ease in large-scale events or intimate meetings. She draws upon her television background to encourage her audiences and highlight serious environmental issues.
The campaigns her not-for-profit have carried out include:
– Unflushables: Focussed on raising awareness of plastic pollution from toilets such as wet wipes, sanitary products, tooth-floss and cotton buds
– Be a Good A**hole: To raise awareness of what you should and shouldn’t be flushing down the toilet
– Refill: Helping people learn to live with less plastic by reusing and refilling receptacles such as coffee mugs and flasks (this campaign established a network of over 12,000 free water refill points)
– Plastic-Free Living: Everyday inspiration for cutting back on plastic
– Plastic-Free Periods: Focussed on raising awareness about the hidden plastic in period products (has reached over 4 million people)
– Switch The Stick: Encouraging people and companies to swap from plastic to paper cotton bud sticks (resulted in all nine major UK retailers committing to switch from plastic to paper)
Natalie Fee Sustainability Charity Founder
City to Sea have adapted many of their successful campaigns for schools, colleges and universities, such as:
– Rethink Periods: An award-winning nationwide schools programme updating period education in primary and secondary schools (reached over 20 schools and 6,000 students)
– Rethink Water: A bespoke education programme that aims to empower children to become responsible consumers of water
– Refill Universities: A guide to help people reduce single-use plastic at their university
Natalie Fee Sustainability Writer
Natalie Fee has taken her sustainability message to the literary world and published books on the topic. Her first was The Everyday Alchemist’s Happiness Handbook (2012); this book is focussed on our ‘inner work’, how to better our environmental standings from the inside, not to pollute our inner world with negative self-talk, judgement or criticism. This was followed up in 2019 by How to Save the World for Free. Described as “more than a handbook or toolkit”, the book helps you to get your head around environmental issues we face and why we should care. It also addresses the barriers to change including broken political systems, capitalism and consumerism, and gives practical ways to disrupt them.
Natalie Fee Award Winning Environmantalist
For her campaigning, Natalie Fee has won a number of awards and accolades including being listed as one of the UK’s 50 New Radicals by The Observer and Nesta in 2018 as well as being awarded Bristol 24/7’s Woman of the Year, in 2019 she was presented with the Sunday Times Volvo Visionary Award. In 2017, her Switch The Stick campaign won her the Sheila McKechnie Award for Environmental Justice, and then in 2018, she was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science by the University of the West of England; she also sits on the Bristol Advisory Committee for Climate Change.
Natalie Fee – Ocean Plastics Speaker
As a result of her successful journey, in 2017 Natalie Fee was invited to present a TED talk on plastic entitled “Why Plastic Pollution is Personal”, which to date has had over 150,000 views.
Natalie can tackle the most pressing environmental issues of our time with humour and playfulness, whilst delivering a hard-hitting message.
Natalie Fee – Environmental Speaking Topics
– Plastic Pollution
– How to Save the World for Free
– Climate Change-Making
– Creativity as a Tool for Transformation
– Climate Crisis
– Campaigning
– Sustainable Christmas
– Greening your Business
– How individual Action can Change the World
Clients: the Bank of England, the BBC, Countryfile, IFMA, Immediate Media Co, Pukka, Robeco, Triodos Bank and Waterlogic.
Natalie Fee is also available on our sister site Great British Presenters; her showreel is below:
