The Elements
IMPACT
and this one earth we have and so deeply love
Impact is something we cannot leave out - as we think about this at all times.
It somehow became part of who we are.
If everyone says that their actions don't make a difference, no change ever happens.
Helping for the war in Ukrain, documenting in South Soudan
How we eat & consume
lifestyle
Take nothing with you; leave nothing behind
responsibility
The oceans & the earth
conservation
how we help
humanitarian
quick scroll to:
what we protect
how we behave
how we live
Both me & Joa have a deep devotion for nature. For the earth. And for life - human life, animal life, plant life.
Both of us were always in love with the world around us, and saw how it slowly started changing. At the same time, we also took action in our lives, for whatever reason, good causes, because we felt called, and saw firsthand what it can mean for creating change. For creating impact.
Even if only 10 people change something tiny in their behaviour, they will inspire 10 others, and so the change takes place.
We both believe firmly in the power of small actions, and therefore we created this page.
But something so much bigger than ourselves we discovered later on: the gift of telling stories. Of capturing in frames, photos and documentary. Raising awareness is maybe even the biggest change-maker of all.
I have always underestimated this gift - but after our mission to Ukraine I came to its full understanding.
It’s in the little things. Buying a little less plastic today. You don’t have to change the world, because the reality is, there’s so much we can’t change.
But that which we can - we will.
our why and why we made this page
- Raïs
CONSERVATION
- Joa
When I became a filmmaker, the ocean became my subject. Most of it was personal work, quiet projects that nobody commissioned. Until I met a climate activist who brought me to South Sudan, and the personal became something bigger. Bearing witness stopped being something I did privately and started being something I could actually offer.
Now Raïs and I live close to nature. We pick up plastic when we dive, not for content, just because it's there and we have hands. We take nothing from the places we climb. Small things. Butterfly effects. We know a single bag of trash pulled from the ocean doesn't fix anything, and we do it anyway, every time.
We still drive a diesel van, and we're honest about that. Impact isn't a perfect score, it's a direction. And right now, that direction is pointing toward a sailboat and a life that moves at the pace nature allows. No engine. No noise. Just the wind and whatever it offers that day.
That's the version of impact we're chasing. Just a way of being.
I didn't decide to care about the planet. I just kept watching it change, and couldn't look away.
Growing up near the water, going out on the North Sea with my parents in their RIB, diving and swimming from as young as I can remember, the ocean wasn't a backdrop. It was just life. And somewhere in my teens I started noticing things. Fish populations that weren't what they used to be. Our yearly trips to the Mediterranean to dive started feeling different. The rocks and corals we'd explore had given way to green algae. Nobody talked about it much. But I saw it.
Then somewhere in school, a friend passed me an illegal copy of An Inconvenient Truth. Sorry, Al Gore. But that film did something. It put words and numbers to what I'd been watching with my own eyes for years. It didn't feel like politics. It felt like someone finally naming a thing I already knew.
So I became vegetarian. I bought a house and made it as climate neutral as I possibly could at the time. Not as a statement, just because it made sense. Actions speak louder than words, and the actions felt obvious.
even if one in 100 humans decide to have one good act of impact / month, change happens
- Joa
We definitely know we're not perfect, we take planes and drive a diesel gozzling van.
But we want to learn to sail and leave as little impact with our travels as possible.
Even if some actions make a difference - it's a difference.
responsibility
We love the earth to our core.
Nature - the mountains, the ocean.
We live close to:
- take nothing from nature away
- leave nothing behind
All we want to say is, when you visit all the beautiful places of this planet, will you leave them as they were?
We love the earth to our core.
Nature - the mountains, the ocean.
We live close to:
- take nothing from nature away
- leave nothing behind
All we want to say is, when you visit all the beautiful places of this planet, will you leave them as they were?
We love the earth to our core.
Nature - the mountains, the ocean.
We live close to:
- take nothing from nature away
- leave nothing behind
All we want to say is, when you visit all the beautiful places of this planet, will you leave them as they were?
If everyone helps spread the awareness, true change can happen. Will you spread the awareness too?
leave no trace
these are their 7 principles:
we even found out that there is a whole movement dedicated for the preservation of the national parks and is literally called "leave no trace."
Amongst other organisation we support - we proudly donate, support & live by this beautiful mission.
With our deep love for the ocean we started documenting.
If you have projects towards documentation of the ocean - we would love to play the part. Hit us up.
ocean conservation
lifestyle
Joa has been vegetarian for the last 10 years for global impact reasons and we both never buy meat in store. (Little side note: as of recently, because we want to live on a boat, we started eating fish again.)
Whilst Joa is a vegetarian and Raïs is not, we both understand the incredible impact eating less meat is for our planet. If people buy less meat, less meat gets restocked. Over time, that means less gets produced. It’s that simple.
We don't need to tell you how much water producing meat costs, how their emissions account for around 14.5% of global greenhouse gases, how their waste pollutes groundwater on a massive scale, how around 36% of all crops are grown just to feed livestock, how it drives nearly 80% of global agricultural land use, and how it's one of the leading causes of deforestation and biodiversity loss worldwide.
Not everybody should become a vegetarian. But millions of people deciding to eat meat one time less per week makes huge impact. Small actions over time are way more important than anything.
No meat
Raïs: My first post about buying less plastic, about buying refillable items goes back all the way to 2018. I would always buy food at the freshmarket and would
Trying to buy as little pastic as possible
what it looks like on a weekly basis
Fresh foods as often as we can
My first post of buying fresh foods and no waste goes back all the way when I was still a student and went to the fresh market.
supporting local farmers and collectives for buying foods and sustainable eating
in 2019, Raïs bought cooperative shares in her local collective de wassende maan, where they make sustainable foods for our planet and for the microdiversity of our soil.
Cooking ourselves, always
every day. Never prepackaged,
Our impact is anything but a perfect score. From taking planes regularly, driving from destination to destination, buying lots of stuff and having to buy prepackaged foods when we go hiking and the list goes on. But it's not about a perfect score.
There is this common misconception that people who "care about the planet" are these people that live in extremes, consume nothing, and will judge you for about anyhting.
We want to break that stigma. We are regular people, with lots of consumer behaviours that are not great. But we are conscious and make as many good decisions for our planet as we can.
That's it.
If you can just think once in a while, oh I'll buy this item instead of this.. It becomes a routine in no time.
And we don't have to pretend it's something special; instead, we should start treating it as the norm.
The biggest mistake people make is thinking their behaviour won't change anything, but when millions choose differently, that’s where real, beautiful change begins.
Not a perfect score.
but please note
in all honesty, we can't do much.
but we try to actively bring light to the projects that help shift the narrative where action can take place.
bonaire, 2026
humanitarian
volunteering during the war in ukraine
- Raïs
3 years ago, I was going on vacation for 3 months to a warm tropical destination. Just like we do every winter. The war in Ukraine had just broken out.
There was so much help needed.
"We need to help there instead", I told my partner at the time, who silently stared at me in disbelief and confusion at the same time and then resumed whatever he was doing.
The next morning he came up to me and said "It's okay. I'll come with you."
Raïs set up an action collecting goods, drove to the Ukrainian border with goods twice, then entered Ukraine itself because most goods were getting stuck at the Polish border, and despite being advised against it, she and Tim went to a regufee centre in Ukraine and volunteered there for months, make space for hundreds of family sleeping on the street, being able to find refuge there.
"Me receiving messages on Instagram that other people cancelled their plans too to go help at the Ukrainian border, made me realise the true impact we can have."
the impact of spreading awareness
Text
Burger
Netflix
Coffee
Winter
Dog
around the end of our stay
He took my hand as he looked at me intensely when he asked:
The rector asked me to photograph what was happening there.
I hadn't taken a single photograph.
I didn't fully comprehend the impact photos could have. I was there to help.
"please let the story live on."
It was then and there I finally understood the true impact photographs can have.
The biggest gift we have and can give is the one of documenting & spreading the story.
