Addressing the climate crisis and protecting ocean health are inextricably connected. Key to tackling both of these challenges is a recognition of the importance of collaboration and the critical role youth leadership plays in advancing policies to protect our ocean planet.
In partnership with the Youth Ocean Conservation Summit and The Ocean Project, Big Blue & You co-founded Sea Youth Rise Up in 2016. The program trains youth leaders in ocean advocacy and hosts their participation at the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation’s annual Capitol Hill Ocean Week (CHOW).
In 2023, we sent two youth leaders who had participated in our Plastic Free Cities program to Sea Youth Rise Up (affectionately known as “SYRUP”) where they shared our work with state and federal legislators including representatives from the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the U.S. Department of State, and the offices of key Florida legislators Senator Marco Rubio and Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart. Our delegates spoke in two Capitol Hill Ocean Week sessions and met with numerous governmental and nongovernmental leaders for ocean and climate conservation. They participated in the first-ever White House Ocean Justice Roundtable with Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) Chair Brenda Mallory and other leaders from the Administration, met with the ocean policy lead and other representatives at the White House CEQ, and had a special side meeting at CHOW with US State Department Acting Assistant Secretary JR Littlejohn. The group spent an entire day on the Hill, meeting with representatives and senators. They also co-hosted the Social for the Sea, an intergenerational networking event with approximately 50 youth, leaders from conservation organizations, representatives from NOAA, indigenous leaders, and others from youth-focused organizations.