|
Congratulations and kudos to our 2023-2024 Youth Ocean Conservation Summit mini-grant recipients! We are so proud of our recipients each year and are continually amazed by their tenacity and passion for ocean conservation. A special thank you to the Johnson Ohana Foundation, Popsockets, and supporters of our YOCS annual auction fundraiser for their contributions to make this grant program possible.  Steve Misati - Mangrove Restoration Ocean Conservation Project "The Youth Pawa organization's Mangrove Eco-restoration Project empowers coastal communities in Kenya to revive mangrove ecosystems. Through education, training, and alternative ways of livelihoods, we plant mangrove trees, rebuild mangrove ecosystems, and safeguard both nature and our livelihoods. Our project aims to restore over 50 hectares of degraded vital mangroves ecosystems in Mombasa, Kenya by 2030, with our yearly goal for planting 10000 mangroves while conserving the existing ecosystems.” Gabrielle Bohager - Marine Science Lab Mangrove Tank “Our Marine Science class is developing a lab which has been in the works for the last 6 years. We are trying to create tanks which will represent different habitats in our marine ecosystem in the hope that we can discover how to preserve and protect our local marine life and restore their necessary habitats.” Anik Sahai - Force of Nature I'm creating an app, "Force of Nature", targeted at teens as a way to spread educational awareness on plastic pollution prevention as well as community cleanups through fun interactive challenges that give rewards. The app features interactive challenges like bringing your own bag or picking up trash. Users challenge friends, promoting eco-awareness. Completed challenges, proven with photos, earn points redeemable at local businesses. Kush Gulati - Save Our Oceans “I am working on my ongoing project ‘Save Our Oceans’ which investigates the effectiveness of naturally occurring substances in neutralizing ocean pollutants such as fertilizer runoff, microplastics, and oil spills. Through controlled experiments and comparative analysis, I have identified promising substances like peppermint oil for microplastics and potato root for fertilizer runoff, along with many others, offering potential alternatives to chemical-based interventions. I will experiment with these substances to see if they are efficient at reducing the amount of pollutants in the oceans.”  Hannah Mathenge - Denyenye Beach Cleaners “The Denyenye Beach Cleaners project is dedicated to the cleanup and preservation of the Denyenye Reef area of Kwale County, Kenya. This initiative is focused on engaging women and youths within the community. The theory behind this targeted approach lies in recognizing the specific challenges faced by women due to the impacts of climate change. By involving them, the project aims to empower and inclusively engage these groups, ensuring their active participation in safeguarding the local ocean environment. Additionally, this project provides an opportunity for women and youths to gain valuable skills related to waste sorting, data collection, and ocean mapping, which can lead to potential employment and community leadership roles. By fostering community engagement, raising environmental awareness, and building a more resilient community, this initiative embodies a holistic approach to addressing climate change and ocean conservation." Selone Nuah - Trash to Art (TAT) “Liberia is a country located on the West Coast of Africa; however, lack of proper waste management facilities often force people to throw away their trash in water sources like oceans, lakes, and rivers. This has resulted in a negative attitude towards trash. For my Trash to Art (TAT) project, I aim to collaborate with high school students in Monrovia, Liberia and create art pieces from collected ocean trash. With this project, I hope to inspire the love of cleaning the ocean and creating inspirational art pieces that tell a story about how we can grow to appreciate the ocean's richness.”  Dennis Wambugu - Coast Safi Project “The Coast Safi Project entails conducting community beach cleans-up events to remove plastic waste which can then be recycled. In the process, the project helps collect waste from local businesses to discourage dumping them into the ocean.” Dave Mathenge - Beach Clean-Up "The Beach clean-up initiative involves removing plastic bottles, papers, debris, and creating public awareness through my team. My main objective is maintaining marine life.” Sospeter Mayani - The Diani Beach Clean-Up
“This project consists of a beach cleanup project in Diani Beach, Kenya. It will help to protect the environment and improve the quality of life for the local community by removing litter from the beach and disposing of it properly. The project will reach tourists, local residents, and marine life.”
2 Comments
Meet our 2022-2023 Grant Recipients (and don't forget to register for YOCS 2023 on Sept. 16th!!)8/24/2023
 As we gear up for the 2023 Youth Ocean Conservation Summit on September 16th, we wanted to share with you some of the amazing things our attendees have gone on to do with the support of the Summit. Meet the amazing individuals who designed projects that earned grants from the Summit last year - Hannah, Lily, Kayla, Dennis, Cheyenne, Dave, Patricia, Ella Grace, Steve, Leila, Olivia, and Amani!
Hannah Mathenge - Save the Sea Turtles Ecosystem Hannah’s project, Save the Sea Turtles Ecosystem, seeks to conduct beach cleanups in turtle nesting grounds along the Msambweni beaches on the coast of Kenya. The project also aims to alter the local community’s mindset from a culture of “linear use” to one of reducing, reusing, recycling, and upcycling marine litter. Save the Sea Turtles Ecosystem looks to empower the community by creating revenue around upcycled marine litter products as well as promoting conservation of their local ecosystem. Lily Free - Do Green & Clean Lily’s project is focused on hosting themed local beach cleanups. Lily will plan, host, and incentivize the cleanups by offering prizes, and market the cleanups to the surrounding community. Kayla Fowler - Emma and Wellie: Plastic? Not so Fintastic! Emma and Wellie is a children’s book written by Kayla Fowler on the dangers of plastic pollution in the ocean. Presented in a way that is both fun and engaging for young readers, Kayla hopes that the story of Emma the turtle and Wellie the dolphin will encourage children to become ocean stewards, no matter how far they live from the ocean. The book is currently being illustrated, and Kayla is excited to showcase the finished product soon! Dennis Wambugu - Eco Mashinani Cleanup Through his project, the Eco Mashinani Cleanup, Dennis is working to clean plastic pollution and debris from the sands of Mombasa Beach in Kenya. So far, his cleanup has been successful and may expand to other beaches in the future! Cheyenne Davis - Zoo Teen Beach Bucket Project Cheyenne has partnered with the Beach Bucket Foundation to bring specially-designed trash receptacles to her local beach. These receptacles allow the entire community to participate in cleaning up the beach whenever they visit. Dave Mathenge - Bahari Power Dave’s project is focused on collecting cigarettes, plastic bottles, and other debris from his local beaches. The project is targeted towards other youth to create awareness on the importance of maintaining and conserving beaches and the ocean. Patricia Cummings - Saving Sea Turtles Saving Sea Turtles, led by Patricia Cummings, is working to prevent local turtle strandings as well as to educate students on the dangers and reasons behind strandings. Students participate in a brief presentation and then assist in hands-on rescue efforts by walking to local beaches and searching for any stranded turtles. If and when stranded turtles are located, students assist with data collection and preparing the turtles for transport to the New England Aquarium in Massachusetts. Ella Grace Galaski-Rossen - Chatting with Ella to Save the Ocean Ella’s project is focused on outreach about ocean conservation to elementary school children. During presentations, Ella explains the crisis our oceans are facing, as well as educating children on how they can make a difference at home and encouraging them to get involved in local cleanup efforts. Steve Misati - Mangrove Eco-Restoration Project The Mangrove Eco-Restoration Project, created by Steve Misati, is working to bring awareness and training on conservation initiatives to local communities by utilizing a participatory and community-based approach. The project hopes to plant 2500 mangrove trees to assist in the recovery and strengthening of marine ecosystems in Mombasa, Kenya. Leila Harb - Cooking with Crabs Leila’s project is focused on raising awareness about the problems surrounding the invasive Green Crabs. By showing families how to cook Green Crabs, the project helps show the community how they can be part of the solution to the problem this invasive species causes. The project aims to develop easy and fun recipes, eventually compiling them into cookbooks! Olivia Almond - Pounds to Prizes Pounds to Prizes, created by Olivia Almond, will involve school students in ocean conservation by sending groups of middle schoolers to teach fifth grade classes on how to protect their local beaches. The project also encourages students to participate in cleanups by offering prizes based on the number of pounds they bring in. Amani Agzenay - Wind Can With their project, Wind Can, Amani aims to create a design for boat trash cans that will trap the trash inside so it does not contribute to marine pollution. Wind Can will work with students to come up with designs, later choosing the best designs and turning them into prototypes to be tested. Congratulations and kudos to our 2023 YOCS grant recipients! We are so proud of our grant recipients every year and are continually amazed by their tenacity and passion for ocean conservation. If you want a chance to start your own project to promote ocean conservation, be sure to register for our 2023 Youth Ocean Conservation Summit, coming to Mote Marine Laboratory and virtual audiences everywhere on September 16th!! “Sea” you there! Register today! http://www.yocs.org/2023-summit We are thrilled to announce the 2021-2022 Youth Ocean Conservation Summit mini-grant recipients! Building on the 2021 Summit, which united young conservation leaders from 20 countries, our mini-grant recipients are committed to tackling diverse ocean conservation challenges around the world through innovative, solutions-oriented approaches. We are honored to support their work by providing funding and support for their conservation project plans. A special thanks to our incredible partners at the Johnson Ohana Foundation, PopSockets, Klean Kanteen, and EarthEcho International, as well as our individual donors, for their generous support to make this year’s mini-grant program possible. Read on to learn more about this year’s grantees!  Artash Nath’s Monitor My Ocean WebApp will demonstrate a quantitative model to monitor annual changes in anthropogenic ocean noise levels and provide a model to help demonstrate how ambient noise levels, in global oceans, decreased when COVID-19 related restrictions were in place. His research will help mitigate the adverse impacts of economic exploitation of oceans and climate change on marine biodiversity. Blakeslee Krusen, and the students at Palm Beach Day Academy, plan to launch a Tarpon Cove Water Quality project. To implement their project, they will test the quality of the water around Tarpon Cove, a restoration project area in the Lake Worth Lagoon. They will carry out their testing before and after mangroves are planted and artificial reefs are placed in the surrounding waters. Together, they will be monitoring and documenting water quality for 10 months, and hope that this restoration work will be impactful. They will also be studying biodiversity as an indicator of a healthy ecosystem. Their team will be working with MANG, No Shoes Reef, Palm Beach County Environmental Resource Management, and the Reefball Foundation to accomplish this mission. Bobby McGee Lee from La Trinidad, Philippines plans to launch the Indigenous Lake Conservation Project by investing in youth to become conservation advocates for water systems and sources. The project will engage and immerse local youth in a storytelling/book club series on the lakes in Kabayan, with a focus on highlighting the roles of these lakes among the indigenous communities in order for the area youth to fully understand their importance to these communities, and the ripple effects if these water systems are not taken care of. The sessions will be designed to draw the attention and creativity of youth, aligning with the indigenous knowledge, systems and practices, in order to come up with sustainable solutions to address these water areas. Once educated on the issue, youth will have an opportunity to advocate for these water areas and will be encouraged to come up with plans to take action to protect these vital ecosystems.  The Eco-Schools MV Project will unite sixth and seventh-grade students, from Massachusetts, who are focused on helping schools across our country reduce the amount of plastic waste they dispose of each year. By 2025, their goal is to have helped three schools become more eco-conscious. They plan to give educational presentations to local administrators, politicians, and students and are planning to help educate citizens on the effects of climate change and pollution. Folasade and Demilade Obaitan are teaming up to launch a marine science club in their home Kingdom of Ososo, in Edo State Nigeria. Through this platform, they plan to share their passion and help inspire local youth to engage in ocean conservation efforts through film screenings, digital classes and webinars, cleanups, and a field trip to the healthy waters of River Niger / River Benue Confluence. Hannah Mathenge plans to work to engage local communities in Kenya in learning about the challenges of plastic pollution, climate change, and overfishing while directly engaging in the cleanup of ocean plastic and the restoration of key marine habitats in the region. She hopes to advocate for the creation of jobs for youth to sustain this restoration work in the future.  The Plastic Free Mermaids mission is to spread awareness about plastic pollution through education, outreach, art, and political advocacy. Based at a local high school in South Florida, members treasure the beauty of their local beaches and waterways. They believe that the best way to combat the plastic pollution crisis is by individual actions and inspiring those around you. With support from this grant, the Plastic Free Mermaids plan to host and attend community service events and interact with local government officials to advocate for policies that reduce single use plastics. Iesha Baldwin, plans to lead an environmental and scientific exploration project in her hometown of Dublin, Georgia for a group of K-12 students. Her goal is for students to deepen their understanding of the relationship between the Oconee River and the Atlantic Ocean while gaining basic water analysis skills. In addition to YOCS, the project is also supported by, Let's Be Bigger, The Bloom, and ZaZa's Kitchen. Jacinta Ukaegbu, from Nigeria, is leading the SPC Ocean Conservation Project – a program designed for secondary school students with the aim of educating them on environmental issues and mobilizing them to become involved in salvaging our future through advocacy and civic engagement.  Youth Ocean Advocates for Hudson Canyon, at the New York Aquarium, plan to organize events for World Ocean Day, with a focus on Hudson Canyon, to inspire people to take conservation action. To achieve their goals, the youth will be creating activity stations, both in the aquarium, and on the boardwalk in Coney Island. The stations, plastic pollution, endangered and keystone species, include games for kids and informational aspects for wildlife enthusiasts. CAN you help the Hudson? Yes, you CANyon! Kayla Fowler and Summer Smentek are completing a children's book about ocean conservation (titled Emma & Wellie) which focuses on the effects of plastic pollution on marine life in an informative and engaging way. Kayla and Summer are passionate about conservation and education and hope that the book, along with the resources they are creating to go with it, will inspire young kids and their families to step up as environmental stewards. They are excited about sharing the book this coming summer! Through her project, “Indigenous Waterway Understanding: Healing Together” Lorelei McIntyre-Brewer plans to lead an educational series to share indigenous conservation methods needed to help restore ecological balance in watershed areas to improve water quality and ecosystem health. This series plans on providing access to Indigenous and non-Indigenous community members through a variety of unique learning opportunities.  The Nauticus Youth Action Council actively works to better their community through environmental stewardship and education. Over the course of 2022 they are planning to hold at least 3 community cleanups at which they will coordinate the cleanup of the Nauticus campus and surrounding green spaces and waterways. YAC volunteers will also develop and present ocean conservation themed programming for Nauticus guests. Finally, they continue to share their love for the marine environment by participating in the Youth Ocean Conservation Summit. Through his Creatures to Classroom project, Michael Ladd plans to connect elementary school students in Massachusetts with local marine organisms. This innovative project involves bringing live, local plants and animals, from five coastal habitats into elementary classrooms. Student presenters will work with a marine ecologist and science teacher to develop and deliver lessons that meet the learning goals of the age group while providing a fun, empathy-building experience. Morel Marly Mensah, from Benin Republic, plans to lead the “Clean Up” project, which will strive to eliminate plastic bags from a local school, increase recycling. They are also planning to lead clean up efforts to manage waste on their local beaches.  Neville Agesa, from Kenya, plans to lead the Sea Turtle Sensitization Programme. This project is the continuation of a Sea Turtle Monitoring Program off the South Coast of Kenya. The Msambweni Turtle Watch Program’s objectives are to implement best nest management plans, minimize nest predation, and build a Sea Turtle Learning Community to support conservation of Kenya’s sea turtles. Olive Barkley's Wonders of Whaling Project,plans to engage local students, in Massachusetts, in learning about the history of whaling and the critical importance of protecting whales through fun, educational activities. Participants will also be engaged in “adopting” a local section of coastline to help eliminate marine debris that could impact marine mammals. Ryan Moralevitz plans to use the YOCS grant funds to inspire other young ocean conservationists by hosting a reading of his books, InspirOcean and Puffy the Pufferfish Saves the Ocean, for kids at the Children’s Cancer Center in Tampa, FL. Building on his previous work raising funds for the Cancer Center, through selling anglerfish driftwood ornaments, Ryan plans to share copies of his books, and plush Puffy the Pufferfish stuffed animal, to bring love and awareness of the ocean to this incredible community of children.  Steve Misati plans to lead a Mangrove Reforestation project in Kenya, addressing the challenges of mangrove loss along the coastline of the Indian Ocean. Through this project, Steve plans to engage the local community in restoring mangrove habitats in Mombasa while educating them on the importance of mangrove and ocean conservation.
Sienna Lang plans to launch her elementary school’s first ever environmental club. The club will focus on teaching students about pollution, ocean health, biodiversity, climate change and much more. Participants will also be invited to participate in Sienna’s initiative, Less Plastic Fantastic, which is a neighborhood trash clean-up project. Lastly, the club will be writing letters to the President in support of protecting 30% of our land and ocean by 2030. 2021 Youth Ocean Conservation Summit Builds Capacity of Young Ocean Advocates from 20 Countries!2/11/2022  The 2021 Youth Ocean Conservation Summit united over 260 participants from 20 countries on Saturday, December 4, virtually connecting a global community of young ocean advocates and equipping attendees with the knowledge and resources needed to launch solutions-oriented ocean conservation projects. The Summit kicked-off with a keynote presentation by ocean advocate and waterwoman, Anupa Aoskan, who shared her stories and lessons learned from diverse experiences working at the intersection of science, policy, conservation, and community engagement. Summit attendees then had the opportunity to hear from their peers, with YOCS grant recipients highlighting the impact of their projects over the past year – ranging from plastic pollution prevention campaigns in South Florida to ocean literacy workshops for kids in the Philippines.  While our first time participants got to work planning out their own ocean conservation projects through our YOCS Action Planning workshop, our returning attendees explored opportunities to further their passion for the ocean through our Careers in Ocean Conservation panel. The remainder of the Summit equipped participants with tools and resources to bring their conservation project plans to life, with sessions on topics focused on art, policy/advocacy, leadership, story telling, plastic pollution and climate change, marine research, and creating business plans.  The Summit program is made possible with support from Mote Marine Laboratory, and while participants couldn’t visit Mote in person this year, Mote’s education team brought Mote Aquarium to attendees around the world through a special live education program with Mote’s resident manatees! The Summit wrapped up with a series of networking sessions, allowing attendees to meet fellow conservation leaders and organizations from around the world!  For the first time, this year’s Summit was followed by a YOCS Global Day of Ocean Action, which provided participants the opportunity to unite through a shared day of conservation actions starting in their local communities. From coastal cleanups to educational outreach beach days, the YOCS community took the inspiration from the Summit and turned it into immediate action. We look forward to supporting the work of our YOCS community as they carry out their ocean conservation projects in the year ahead! A special thank you to our YOCS participants, volunteers, presenters, sponsors, and partners for your support to make this program possible!
 Young conservation leaders from around the world are invited to the 2021 virtual Youth Ocean Conservation Summit on Saturday, December 4, 2021! We’re thrilled to once again unite a global audience of young conservation leaders through this digital YOCS event, hosted in partnership with Mote Marine Laboratory. The Summit will provide participants with the knowledge, tools, and funds needed to launch or expand solutions-oriented ocean conservation projects in their community. Through an exciting line up of sessions, workshops, and activities, attendees will gain inspiration, ideas, resources, and new connections to help amplify our collective efforts to protect our ocean planet. The Summit is FREE, but pre-registration is required, and limited spaces will be filled on a first come, first served basis. View the complete 2021 Summit Program and register for this year’s event by November 28!  YOCS Global Day of Ocean Action - Sunday, December 5th, 2021
On Sunday, December 5, Youth Ocean Conservation Summit participants and partners around the world will unite for the first YOCS Global Day of Ocean Action! This year, when participants register for the Youth Ocean Conservation Summit, they’ll be asked to commit to taking an ocean conservation action locally on December 5 and sharing the impact as part of this global event. Interested in organizing a larger YOCS Day of Ocean Action event for others in your community? Register your event today! Guest post by the UGA Marine Extension Education Fellows We had such a great time virtually hosting the 7th annual Youth Ocean Conservation Summit! Each year the Marine Education Fellows and volunteers work hard to plan and put on this event, and with this year’s YOCS being virtual, it presented some unique challenges. During the event, our 43 participants were able to hear and learn from our awesome speakers, including Dr. Dove from the Georgia Aquarium! We also had incredible speakers from Savannah State, Georgia Southern, and the University of Georgia. We’d like to take this time to thank our engaging speakers and also our fabulous volunteers for a job well done, and we already can’t wait for next year! Learn more about the Savannah Youth Ocean Conservation Summit! 2020 was a tumultuous year, to say the least. However, despite the chaos and uncertainty of a global pandemic, our youth grant recipients forged ahead and doubled down on their commitments to protect our blue planet. From planning the opening of eco-friendly online stores to organizing COVID-safe clean-up flotillas, YOCS grant recipients are staying busy and vigilant. That's why we're incredibly humbled and excited to highlight the faces and projects of our 2020-2021 youth grant recipients. Read about their upcoming work and their passions below. Alexandra Adamo is using her grant to launch Eco-SHOP, an organization dedicated to providing resources and information regarding sustainable shopping. Eco-SHOP is using its YOCS funding to buy materials to create reusable totes. Along with selling tote bags on their website and Instagram (@ecoshop_usa), eco-SHOP will use its digital platform as a tool to educate followers about sustainable shopping.  Kayla Fowler is using her YOCS grant to begin development on an ocean conservation-themed children's book which will feature characters like Emma the turtle and Wellie the dolphin. Kayla’s book is designed to raise awareness about marine life and conservation. Writing to us about her project, Kayla said: "The goal for me is to raise awareness in young kids of the need for ocean conservation, but in a way that is both fun and engaging." Keep an eye out for her book later this year. Next up is Anya Gupta and her project: Pennies for Penguins. Her goal is to help move penguins off of the endangered species list. To do this, her work addresses the ways Climate Change, habitat destruction, and plastic waste affect the health of penguin populations. Through her website, vlogs, and social platforms, she works to educate families on the necessity of reusable goods, on the harms of single-use plastics, and on a myriad of other ways they can help preserve the planet. The next grant recipient, Nate Harrison, is a ten-year-old conservationist and ocean health/marine life activist. His latest project, a beautifully illustrated children’s book titled, “One Reef”, focuses on the importance of coral reefs and the impact of human (in)action. He hopes that his book will help educate and inspire the next generation of young environmentalists.  lana Szarf and her South Broward High School club, Plastic-Free Mermaids, will use their YOCS grant to tackle the local plastic pollution crisis. Ilana and the club hold virtual meetings twice a month and discuss different ways to approach the plastic pollution crisis amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The club regularly interacts with their Florida state legislators to urge them to pass laws that ban single-use plastics. Likewise, they also strive to protect the beauty of their shores in real-time by holding socially distant beach clean-ups. Julia Aveline-Rabenjoro is a 13-year-old French national who lives in Sabah, Borneo. Her project, Seed of Hope, works to raise money for marine conservation organizations in Borneo. As a diver, she's been witness to countless examples of pollution, ghost netting, reef destruction, and marine biodiversity loss. Her goals are to help reduce single-use plastic in Borneo and to raise as much awareness as possible via interviews on her Facebook page and through her ebooks - which she plans to release later this year. Through their Protect our Prehistoric Pals project, students at River Valley Charter School will use their YOCS grant funding to organize marsh cleanups to help ensure horseshoe crab habitat is free of debris. Additionally, they will lead efforts to educate visitors at the Parker River National Wildlife River, as well as their peers, about the importance of horseshoe crabs.  Owen Studdiford is using his YOCS grant to clean up the trash and old fishing equipment that gets stuck in Charlotte Harbor's mangrove forests. After fishing with his dad and being dismayed by the sight of trash choking up his favorite fishing spots, Owen decided to take action. To protect his fishing grounds and the wildlife that lives there, he plans to dedicate a set number of days to clean up Charlotte Harbor. Marie Nancy Chimanuka is also one of our international grant recipients. She plans to use her YOCS grant to recover the recyclable waste that collects on Lake Kivu's shores. She and her allies chose to tackle this issue because the water at Lake Kivu is crucial to the health, economy, and diets of the Lake Kivu community and the surrounding river delta. Stay tuned for more updates on the Lake Kivu cleanup. In a futuristic and inspiring use of his YOCS grant, Artash Nath is using his funding to build a low-cost robotic vehicle. The bot will take water quality measurements and photographs of Lake Ontario. This vehicle will be powered by open-source electronics such as Arduino. Additionally, some of the instruments on the bot are going to be designed at home using everyday materials. The instructions on how to build the vehicle, the software code used, and the data obtained from the vehicle will be posted online - so that the project can be replicated by anyone who is interested in water quality data collection.  Also gracing the international scene is Dr. Paresh Poriya and the Coastal Clean-Up Campaign. This campaign will be organized on different coasts of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat state. Targeting pilgrimage and tourist areas, bachelor, master students, and Ph.D. research scholars of various institutes will create enticing slogans and posters that raise awareness about plastic pollution in the Eastern state of India. Kaeleigh Belanger is using her YOCS grant to launch Save Our Planet, Save Our Lives. It's a project that will be designed to remove trash from the Merrimack River. Kaeleigh will organize volunteers to go out in kayaks and small boats to fish trash out of the water before it makes its way to the ocean. Save Our Planet, Save Our Lives will also organize beach clean-ups in trash hotspots along the river basin. Their hope is to reduce the entanglement and ingestion of microplastics by marine life while educating boaters, beachgoers, and their classmates. Leah Edwards and the Fort Lauderdale High School Surfrider Environmental Club are working to educate and motivate their community on issues of environmental awareness. With the YOCS grant, they plan on purchasing a composting bin and materials to create a school garden that will divert organic waste from landfills and from producing greenhouse gases. This will be a project that furthers their advocacy efforts, in addition to their in-school bottle water bottle refilling stations and bottle cap mural.  Maya Lander and the Lakewood Ranch High School Marine Conservation Club are using their YOCS grant to fund the installation of a water bottle refill station on campus. It will be the first at their school and will act as a revolutionary yet simple way to curb the use of single-use plastics at their school. To learn more about their project, check out their Instagram @lrhs_marine. This summer, Sierra Pargett and the Cape Ann Boat Landing Clean-Up plan to collect, sort, count, log, and properly dispose of the debris from a different landing each Saturday while adhering to the current COVID guidelines. Sierra and her crew will be qualifying the debris by categories, as described on the Rozalia long sheet. The information will then be input into the Marine Debris Tracker, an international marine database sponsored by National Geographic. To promote public awareness, she will post a picture of the trash at the boat landing with all participants and debris totals on the Cape Ann Boat Landing Clean-up Facebook, seascoutshipno.5, and submit her findings to the local paper. Camille Rivera plans to use her grant to launch a book reading and storytelling event titled "Ocean Adventures with Cory." Focusing on coral reef awareness, this event will educate young kids on pressing marine conservation issues. As Camille writes: "Storybooks are one way to bring together youth and coastal kids to enhance reading and also ocean literacy in Zamboanguita, Negros Oriental, Philippines! By doing this kind of program, we are not only educating kids, these storybooks will also be printed for the local teachers so they can continue teaching about the importance of coral reefs every year!"  The Nauticus Youth Action Council is also a 2020-2021 YOCS grant recipient. They will be using their funds to host a clean-up day and educate their community about environmental stewardship activities they can take part in locally and at home. This will including setting up virtual events that community members can take part in independently and safely. Working with the Mass Oyster Project, Nicolette Stamos will collect water samples from the Upweller where the oysters are being raised. She'll document and take pictures of the organic material in the samples and check water quality (Temperature, Salinity, DO). Her work is a part of a baseline collection effort for the waters in the Upweller and Gloucester harbor. With this information, the Mass Oyster Project can compare future Upweller and Harbor water data to the baseline and notice any anomalies that may be concerning. Last but not least amongst our 2020-2021 grant recipients are Michelle and Jeremy Muchilwa and their campaign: Bring Back Lake Victoria. Bring Back Lake Victoria seeks to restore Lake Victoria to its pristine condition and to eradicate plastic pollution in the lake. Michelle and Jeremy are creating a platform for different people to come together and work towards solving the problem of plastic pollution in the lake. In their words: "Plastic pollution is more than just an environmental problem, it is destroying livelihoods and affecting human health." As such, they have been executing a multi-prong approach to raise awareness, take direct action, and conduct research on this pressing issue. A special thanks to the Johnson Ohana Foundation, PopSockets, the Captain Planet Foundation, Klean Kanteen, the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation, and our individual donors for their generous support of our Youth Ocean Conservation Summit mini-grant program and to the team at Mote Marine Laboratory for making this grant program possible!
 The 2020 Youth Ocean Conservation Summit celebrated a decade of youth leadership for the ocean! This year’s Summit united over 350 youth and adults from around the world for two days and equipped participants with the tools needed to develop innovative, solutions-oriented ocean conservation projects to implement in their local communities. This 10th anniversary Summit, the largest to date, was hosted virtually in partnership with Mote Marine Laboratory. The Summit provided an opportunity for a global audience of young conservation leaders and mentors to connect– creating a unique collaborative learning environment to foster new ideas to fuel a youth movement to protect our blue planet.  The Summit kicked off on Friday, December 4 with the premiere of a new film by Running Wild Media highlighting the impact of the Summit program over the past decade. Special guests, ocean conservationist and marine policy advocate, Wendy Benchley, OCEARCH Founding Chairman and Expedition Leader, Chris Fischer, Director of the Chicago Zoological Society's Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, Dr. Randy Wells, and renowned marine life artist, Wyland, joined YOCS alumni for an impactful conversation on the need for ocean conservation action in the decade ahead and the critical role youth leadership plays in this work.  Saturday’s Summit kicked off with an inspiring keynote from explorer, filmmaker, and environmental advocate, Philippe Cousteau. Presentations from YOCS alumni, from across the country, provided inspiration and ideas to our global audience of participants as they prepared to tackle the challenges facing our ocean environment. Through our digital action planning session, first time participants brainstormed and developed conservation project plans with support from their peers and mentors. Returning attendees explored the world of ocean conservation careers with an inspiring panel of guests. Throughout the remainder of the day, attendees took part in workshops on topics including filmmaking and communication, project development, storytelling, fundraising, climate change, political advocacy, coral reef restoration, community-based conservation, plastic pollution, leadership development and more! An all-star panel of our former YOCS keynote speakers – including Wendy Benchley, Chris Fischer, Jennifer Gray, Julie Henry, Dr. Ellen Prager, and Julie Scardina connected with participants to brainstorm ideas to take their conservation projects to the next level. Attendees closed out the day by joining a series of networking rooms to build connections with leading ocean conservation organizations and their peers.  As we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Youth Ocean Conservation Summit, we reflect on the over 3,100 young conservation leaders from around the world who have been equipped with the tools to lead impactful, solutions-oriented ocean conservation projects through 45 Summits in 13 cities - each event driven by teams of youth in partnership with incredible conservation organizations. Through this work, we have built a global community of young leaders, and provided support to bring diverse conservation projects to life through a mini-grant program that has provided 165 grants to directly support young conservation leaders. This impact has been made possible through an incredible network of partner organizations, program sponsors, dedicated volunteer mentors, and youth leaders who understand the critical role young people play in ensuring a sustainable future for our blue planet. We look forward to the decade ahead and our continued work to empower the next generation of ocean conservationists!
A special thanks to the amazing staff and volunteers at Mote Marine Laboratory for their tireless dedication and support of this event over the past decade!  We’re thrilled to announce our most recent round of Youth Ocean Conservation Summit mini-grants! A key component of our Youth Ocean Conservation Summit program, these grants support the innovative, solutions-oriented conservation projects planned by Summit participants as they work to tackle diverse marine conservation challenges in their local communities. We are incredibly grateful for the support of the Johnson Ohana Foundation, The Captain Planet Foundation, Klean Kanteen, the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation, PopSockets, and all who participated in and donated to our 2019 annual silent auction fundraiser for your support to fund this year’s grantees. Take a moment to learn about this year’s recipients and follow us on Instagram and Facebook to learn more about their work throughout the year.  Aiden Henson created Nautical Nerds Productions to use digital media to highlight environmental threats, inspiring conservation action in teens and young people. Focusing on sustainability and managing natural resources, Nautical Nerds Productions publishes PSA videos that draw attention to Earth's fragile ecology by exhibiting the negative effects of global pollution, biodiversity loss, habitat degradation, unsustainable agriculture, and extreme climate change. Nautical Nerds Productions aims to present the impacts and consequences of these dangers on people, businesses and our future. Alex Henson’s Project L.E.A.D. works to promote Local Environmental Activist Development; today's children are tomorrow's heroes, and I strive to enlighten our future leaders to take a stand to protect our beautiful blue planet. With Earth's fragile ecosystems in peril, knowledge is essential to the protection of coastal habits and aquatic resources, and by providing a platform, Project L.E.A.D. enables me with a voice to broaden youth conservation awareness. Through Project L.E.A.D., the aim is to educate local youth about conservation needs and awareness, implement beach and community cleanups, provide seminars and infographic programs for conservational understanding, influence, and interest, and provide networking opportunities for developing leaders. Anya Gupta created Pennies for Penguins, a project to help get penguins off the endangered species list. Anya love penguins and wants to help save them. She recognizes that if we reduce climate change, support penguin habitats, and reduce plastic waste in the oceans, we can help save the penguins. Through her penguin adoption program #AdoptAPenguin and #TheSippyCupRevolution she works to educate, raise awareness, and find solutions to help the penguins. Learn more at www.penniesforpenguins.com.  Audrey Berlie created Mangroves Matter to raise awareness of the critical role one specific plant plays in Florida’s ecosystems. Through interactive and artistic displays, Audrey is hoping to educate the public on the benefits and the unfortunate destruction of mangrove forests. Additionally, she will also be working to involve the community in mangrove restoration to assist in directly influencing environmental change. The Brevard Zoo Conservation Leaders will plan their annual Youth Environmental Summit. The mission of this program is built on the idea that the youth are the future of our planet; without the youth having a wide scope of knowledge and appreciation for the environment, they might not have nature to explore in the near future. Ultimately, the Conservation Leaders team is on its tenth year creating the Youth Environmental Summit and they strive to provide a safe and fun day for the youth of their community to get hands on experience working with local conservationists and other youth along with learning important information about how to improve and save our planet. Caleb Jameson is the founder and creator of the Turtle Safe Toy Box that helps to keep plastic toys from ending up in the ocean and becoming a danger for marine life. The Turtle Safe Toy Box acts as a borrow box on the beach where families are not only encouraged to borrow a toy if they need one, but to always put toys in the toy box rather than leaving them on the beach. Caleb is also a volunteer with Longboat Key Turtle Watch and Mote Marine Laboratory, as well as a trained stranding responder with Mote Marine Laboratory's Stranding Investigations Program.  Cash Daniels: Cash Daniels is focusing his project on working to reduce trash and litter around his local rivers in Chattanooga, TN as 80% of ocean trash starts in land. The river he lives closest to, the Tennessee River, is the most polluted with microplastics in the world. Cash is meeting with local city officials and community members to encourage community action to prevent plastic pollution. Claire Haiber’s Revolution Ocean project will focus on designing and creating biodegradable wooden stickers with environmental designs. All of the profits of these stickers will go to charities, especially those focused on habitat restoration. She is kicking off the project by launching an Instagram account to feature ocean activism focused artwork. Demetri and Ethan Sedita created Green Gasparilla to combat the harmful effects of plastic debris and beads that enter the waterways of Tampa, FL during Gasparilla, an annual mock pirate invasion and festival. They work to accomplish this goal through community education and outreach, diver cleanups to directly remove the beads from local waterways, and by collaborating with city officials to help prevent plastic pollution from the festival. Emma Kavanaugh and the St. Thomas Aquinas Surfrider Youth Club are working to reduce our school's use of plastic items. They are purchasing reusable water bottles and coffee cups with their YOCS grant funds to sell at our school for one month to discourage staff and students from using single-use plastic.  Joey Goldstein launched Saving Ocean Life (SOL) when she was 10 years old. The organization’s mission is to prevent ocean pollution through beach clean ups and educational programs. SOL plans events several times per year, and collaborates with local environmental groups to host turtle talks; shark tagging excursions, and coral reef presentations. This year Joey is planning to host a pancake breakfast and beach cleanup fundraiser. While many event plans have shifted due to COVID-19, she is utilizing this opportunity to build upcoming event plans and maintain relationships with past program participants. Lauren Pellegrino created Saving Oceans Through Actions Students a homeschool marine biology club. The project’s mission is to preserve our oceans through education, action and conservation. Club members achieve this through monthly beach clean ups and student led meetings. The program is currently located at two schools with plans to engage two more schools this year.  Marley Hoffman’s Small Changes, BIG Impact project has been shaped throughout her entire life. Growing up visiting the Jersey shore has shown her how beautiful our oceans truly are, however over the years most of the beaches are now cluttered with trash. Being SCUBA certified Marley has also been blessed to see the ocean from another view, but this too showed her how much trash was being dumped into our oceans. From volunteering with Clean Ocean Action and ReClam the Bay Marley has gained deeper knowledge about the ocean and how single-use plastics are having a negative impact. When she started her Girl Scout Gold Award there was no doubt in her mind that she wanted to choose a topic relating to our oceans. Single-Use plastics have been a major topic around the world and on the news, and she knew she wanted to have a direct impact on her community rethinking single-use plastics. The first steps of Marley’s project included founding an Ocean Conservation Club at Union Township School, and North Hunterdon High School. Through these two clubs, she has been able to educate the voices of tomorrow, on how even small changes can have a BIG Impact. The second initiative she started is with businesses and restaurants, with hopes that by educating owners on the negative impacts of single-use plastics they too can educate the public. Maxwell DeBrino’s Trout in the Classroom project will focus on engaging high school students in restoring the Brook Trout population in local streams of Long Island, NY by raising Brook Trout in the classroom, with support from Trout Unlimited, and reintroducing them into the local waterways. Students will create an educational video documenting the project to educate their community on actions they can take to conserve these important species. Participants in Mote Marine Laboratory’s Homeschool Advanced program will collaborate to lead a diverse set of educational community outreach initiatives focused on topics ranging from shark and sea turtle conservation to plastic pollution prevention and reef safe sunscreen education.  Paige Essue and the Free Our Seas Youth Council will launch the Fast Fashion and Mass Consumerism Awareness Initiative to educate their community on the effects that their clothes have on the environment and on workers in developing countries. As part of their work, Council members will organize a screening of the film The True Cost along side a community clothing swap event to encourage reusing clothing items.
Sadie Chawkins’ Stop Toxic Ocean Pollution project is dedicated to educating community members on the everlasting affects that plastics and carbon emissions have on our environment. Some ways in which she accomplishes this are by organizing beach cleanups, speaking with local and federal government officials, working with restaurants to reduce both their plastic and carbon footprints, and organizing global climate strikes. In an effort to reduce the amount of single-use plastics on campus, Sarasota Military Academy students are using the YOCS grant to install a water bottle refill station on their high school campus. Once installed, students will track the number of single-use water bottles saved through the use of the refill station and create educational campaigns designed to raise awareness for students to reduce their use of plastics. South Broward High School’s C.O.R.A.L. Club and UFI along with 1000 Mermaids are growing and nurturing baby corals in tanks which are located in South Broward High School. Club members would meet once a week to check on the corals and water quality of the surrounding areas. Once the corals have grown to an appropriate size, club members plan to out-plant them into an artificial reef in hopes of restoring the exponential decline of coral reefs in Florida. The Teen Aquarium Advisory Group (TAAG), is a group of teenagers varying in ages, that have come together to help plan, organize, and make a new aquarium. The aquarium is being built under the Brevard Zoo. The TAAG works to educate people about why an aquarium in the local region is so Important and why the community should help us make it happen, either by donations or even just spreading the word to other people.  The 9th annual Youth Ocean Conservation Summit united an inspiring group of over 230 youth and adults from across the country at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, FL to tackle the pressing challenges facing our blue planet. The #YOCS19 weekend kicked off with our annual Community Ocean Conservation Film Festival, bringing together a community audience to Mote to celebrate the important role of youth leadership in protecting the ocean. YOCS alumni highlighted their conservation projects through interactive displays while a silent auction fundraiser helped raise funds to support the Youth Ocean Conservation Summit mini-grant program, that directly supports the work of Summit attendees. Film Festival participants dove deeper into ocean conservation issues and solutions with a series of short films created by YOCS participants. Our feature film, The Smog of the Sea, artfully introduced audience members to the challenges of plastic pollution and the importance of addressing this critical issue.  Saturday’s Summit kicked off with an impactful keynote address from Julie Henry, who highlighted key leadership lessons and action steps to help YOCS participants identify their goals and unlock their potential to change the world. Following Julie’s presentation, YOCS alumni shared the ocean conservation work they’ve led in their communities over the past year, and highlighted key lessons learned from their experiences. A critical component of the Youth Ocean Conservation Summit is the process of creating an action plan to tackle an ocean conservation challenge. First year YOCS participants had the opportunity to work alongside their peers and mentors to identify an issue to address with a conservation campaign and develop a plan to take on this issue in their communities. Returning participants explored career opportunities in the ocean conservation field though an engaging panel discussion.  The remainder of the Summit engaged participants in a variety of skill building workshops focused on topics including filmmaking, fundraising, working with government officials, using art to communicate conservation messages, plastic pollution prevention, interpretation and more. These sessions were designed to equip students with the skills to bring their projects to life back in their local communities.  An important message at the Youth Ocean Conservation Summit is that the event itself is just the beginning. Throughout the year, participants are supported as they enact change in their communities, through direct funding to implement their conservation projects provided by our mini-grant program, and through the ability to amplify the stories from their work through our networks. We look forward to seeing the impact of our 2019 Youth Ocean Conservation Summit participants and are grateful for their dedication to protecting our blue planet!  A special thanks to Mote Marine Laboratory and our Youth Ocean Conservation Summit speakers, volunteers, and mentors for their support of our Summit participants. This event is made possible by an incredible community of sponsors and partners and we’d like to thank the following organizations for helping us bring this program to life: the Johnson Ohana Foundation, Captain Planet Foundation, PopSockets, Klean Kanteen, the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation, Wyland Galleries, Mote Scientific Foundation, SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, Sobel Designs, Rogue Wave, Sarasota Bay Watch, Keep Florida Beautiful, FLOW Kayak and Paddle Tours, Fin Pin, Cape Clasp, EarthEcho International, Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Programs, The Fishes Wishes, Sharks4Kids, Ocean Needs Everyone, Sebago Watersports, Carly Mejeur, Kelly of the Wild, The Field School, Youth Making Ripples, Classic Harbor Line, Jim Abernethy’s SCUBA Adventures, and Hooked On SUP.
|
RSS Feed