TikTokWith COP26 well and truly underway, TikTok has emerged as a place for conversations on the most urgent environmental and sustainability issues, as well as inspiration for eco tips, hacks and helpful environmental swaps. Now more than ever, it is important to give a voice to our community who we know are committed to raising awareness, inspiring action, and restoring the planet.
With this in mind, our Creator Spotlight this week is animal lover and host of @cbbc One Zoo Three @Camwhitnall who specialises in wildlife and conservation. His videos are full of fun, including everything from the best animal love stories you'll ever hear to a sneak peak at jaguars stalking their prey. Alongside this, he's also been highlighting important issues such as the fight against rhino poaching and #WorldEnvironmentDay.
And if he wasn't busy enough with his day job, Cam has been selected alongside 25 brilliant other individuals as a #OneStepGreener Ambassador, to become the voices of the UK public on climate change. They've been working closely with the government in the lead up to COP26, and Cam is also hosting a Global LIVE on our platform from the COP26 Green Zone on 6th November at 4pm UK BST alongside @solanathagreenfairy. What a busy man!
With 453.4k followers and 5.5 million likes, @Camwhitnall is clearly on a roll with an engaged community keen to learn more about the environment and animals. We chatted with him to understand his inspiration and how we can all go One Step Greener.
What is COP26 and why is it important?
COP26 is the annual United Nations climate conference where governments, campaigners, negotiators and people from across the world discuss how to keep temperature rises below 1.5C, prevent the climate crisis from causing even worse catastrophes and move away from fossil fuels.
The climate crisis is one of, if not, the biggest threats facing the world today, and requires urgent action on a global scale. It’s our last best chance.
What is your advice for anyone wanting to go #OneStepGreener?
My advice would be to research ways to go #OneStepGreener, assess what you are doing currently and how you can link these to go greener. Simple steps such as reducing energy waste, recycling and reusing, cutting food waste, to reducing meat consumption can make a huge difference to living a more sustainable life.
What do you love most about TikTok?
TikTok literally gives anyone and everyone a chance to create content about literally anything for the world to see, and that’s why I love it. It’s super easy to make content, and super unpredictable. Any video you make can open new doors and opportunities for you. Seeing what others were doing in my profession on TikTok was the reason I started creating content on the platform.
Why is TikTok right for your content?
TikTok is perfect for my content because I can share my animal experiences with people in an instant. From conservation stories, animals, the zoo & sanctuary where I live and work, my wildlife photography to climate change, these short, quick edits have managed to reach people all around the world. TikTok has managed to give me a voice and raise awareness on wildlife in multiple ways which I wasn’t able to do before.
What is your goal on TikTok?
My main goals on TikTok are to inspire, educate and influence my followers on all things wildlife, conservation, animal photography and what I get up to at my families two charities; Paradise Wildlife Park & The Big Cat Sanctuary. I have some big plans and things happening in 2022 and I can’t wait to share this and try something new on my TikTok channel.
What else or who else is on your TikTok For You feed?!
It’s mainly animal channels, photographers, wildlife and environmental pages and organisations, and other really great and interesting TikTok creators.
What is your favourite TikTok you have made to date and why?
This is a really hard one because I have a few that are my favourite for different reasons. I’m really proud of ‘The Last 2 Northern White Rhinos’ video because of raised vital awareness for Najin & Fatu as well as Ol Pejeta conservancy in Kenya. ‘The real-life We Bought A Zoo’ video meant a lot to me because I loved sharing my families story about our zoo, big cat sanctuary and what we do for conservation and wildlife but also hundreds of people messaged me off the back of it and some of them even volunteer at our charities now. Number one though has to be my ‘Meet Sushi the Shoebill Stork’ video. This was my first big video on TikTok and helped me grow my following to what it is today which has opened up so many doors & opportunities for me. Shoebills are my favourite animal, and it was great to raise awareness and educate millions of people that watched the video about Sushi.
New to TikTok and want to learn more about #OneStepGreener? Getting involved couldn't be easier, simply download the app for free via the Apple App Store, Google Play or Amazon.
