This blog post was written by Marlin Xie, a 2024 EarthEcho Marine Plastics Ambassador.

Traveling across the country, from New York City to Seattle, to meet young ocean advocates from all over the world was something that I couldn’t even have dreamed of before I joined EarthEcho. In March 2024, I was selected to be a Marine Plastics Ambassador which allowed me to plan and implement a plastic reduction project in the Great Lakes. I worked alongside 21 other ambassadors and Dr. Samantha Athey to ensure that my project would be successful.

I met most of my colleagues and my mentor in early May 2024 when we had a three day kick-off event in Chicago. The most impactful aspect of this occasion was when we visited The Blue Paradox exhibition at the Museum of Science and Industry. It widened my understanding of not only the issue I’m tackling but also the importance of taking action as a community for a cause we believe in. We then had a 10 week virtual seminar series where we heard from multiple environmental activists and collaborated with one another to develop our individual projects.

I was greeted by smiling faces when I arrived in Seattle. After I dropped off my luggage in my dorm and had dinner in Seattle University’s cafeteria, there was a brief orientation I had to attend. Excited to see my peers in person again and meet new people, I looked around the large conference room and one thought kept coming to mind: wow, I’ve never seen a room with so many passionate and skilled leaders before. The energy in that room was empowering

The next few days were shaped by interactive activities and educational workshops. I took part in a clean up at Lake Union Park and learned how to test water quality using the EarthEcho Water Challenge test kit. Later that day, the whole group visited the Seattle Aquarium where experts informed us of local policies and efforts, as well as how the aquarium works to support the environment. I was inspired by this experience to look further into how my city conducts itself in these areas. For instance, I discovered that New York hotels will be longer be able to distribute single-use plastic toiletries starting in January 2025 after hearing about how Washington has prohibited the same thing in 2023. Inside the university’s campus, speeches, panels, and workshops were led by EarthEcho staff members and youth leaders. How to effectively communicate a message, the meaning of ocean justice, and the importance of branding were all topics we discussed. Even local artists such as Marita Dingus and Kalina Winska came to share their work which highlighted the significance of creativity.

On the last day of the retreat, I presented my project named RRRipple Effect to the room. Evaluating my presentation was an EarthEcho alumni alongside board members Alex Morrison and Kyra Stillwagon, so there certainly were some stakes. Now, I’m a guy that loves to talk, perhaps to a fault, but doubts still swirled in my head as I began. My ocean story is rather unconventional and so is the way I choose to approach environmental activism, both of which I shared. I don’t swim, go to the beach often, or have family members that work in ocean related fields. I became the person I am today through cartoons and media. The Octonauts, Spongebob Squarepants, and Brave Wilderness, just to name a few, sparked my interest in the ocean back when I was an elementary school student. I still own an essay I wrote when I was ten-years-old about how cool I thought octopuses were and at the very bottom of it is an author’s note that says “Just a fun fact about me, I’ve been writing about marine life [since] I was in first grade!”

Here’s an update to that fun fact: I’ll be making art about marine life and encouraging others to do so for the foreseeable future!

With EarthEcho’s support, I’m eager to continue my journey in ocean advocacy so that this wonderful resource that is given to us will thrive once more. In the words of EarthEcho’s founder Philippe Cousteau, we must all “recognize that [we] have power and agency to change the world.”