People for the Planet founder Maria Jose Gonzalez chose a lifestyle of environmental awareness and connection to nature not many people posses. The low-waste vegan life of Gonzalez led her to create the school’s environmental club.

Gonzalez first got involved with environmental activism during her junior year after living in Canada for a year.

“When I got back I connected a lot with nature and had a realization moment, I knew I had to do something to help the planet,” Gonzalez said.

First she became vegetarian back in the winter of 2019; after a couple months she decided to go vegan. Gonzales no longer uses plastic at home and tries to recycle as much as she can. She also greatly encourages buying local farmer’s markets and decreasing water usage. She also limits her car usage and rides a bike instead.

“Making a change in lifestyle wasn’t hard for me. After a lot of research in how a normal lifestyle was affecting our world, it was really easy for me to want to make a change that would benefit animals, the planet and me,” Gonzalez said.

At the beginning of her senior year, Gonzalez decided it was time to extend her impact on the environment, bringing it to Tomball High School with the new club People for The Planet. In the club meetings she spreads awareness on the meat and dairy industries, waste management, ecological footprint and dangers to our ecosystems. The goal of her club is to get people to change their habits to help save our planet.

Maria is not done with her fight for a better world since she is certifying in water conservation, she donates to organizations that help the cause, signs petitions for governments and goes to marches. Moreover, Gonzalez is majoring in Environmental Ethics and wishes to work representing the environment internationally by working in organizations like the UN.

“We can all do small changes in our lifestyle that together can lead to a great change,” Gonzalez said. “The planet is in crisis and we need to do everything in our power to save it.”