IF THE INCREDIBLE drive and tenacity of Ryan Page isn’t enough to restore your hope in humanity, consider the beyond-his-years ambition of teenage inventor, Boyan Slat.

Boyan says the oceans can be cleared of plastic waste in five years — if we come together to fix the vast pollution problem WE created. And he has formed the Ocean Cleanup Foundation to get the work done.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from Boyan’s presentation at TEDxDelft:

• Once there was a stone age, a bronze age, and now we are in the middle of the plastic age
• Use your list of concerns as challenges
• Of course, we didn’t quit there
• I believe the great Pacific garbage patch can clean itself in five years.
• If we want to do something different, shouldn’t we also have to think differently?
• Let’s use our enemy to our advantage
• In other words; it’s possible
• If we realize change is more important than money, money will come
• We made this mess, so don’t tell me we can’t clean it up together

Good work, Boyan. You’re definitely a hero.