When Mariana Xerez saw the Disney movie “Mulan” at age 5, she fell in love with the ocean.
Years later, as a fifth grader, she learned about the increasing amount of plastic pollution in the ocean through David Attenborough’s BBC documentary “The Blue Planet.”
That was the moment she decided she wanted “to do something about it.”
When Xerez, 15, moved to Belmont from Brazil in 2022, she immediately started looking for climate change organizations to get involved with. In her search, she stumbled on the ClimaTeens Program at the New England Aquarium, where teens strive to make an impact in combating climate change by raising awareness in the greater Boston region.
In June, through this program, Xerez found her way to Washington, D.C., for Capitol Hill Ocean Week, where she had the opportunity to meet with the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the Bureau of Oceans, and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. She was also able to meet with representatives from the offices of Rep. Katherine Clark and senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey to discuss youth engagement and advocate on behalf of the New England Aquarium.
“We addressed plastic pollution in our meetings because we recently did a project on microplastics for World Ocean Day in the New England Aquarium,” said Xerez, who just completed her sophomore year at Belmont High School. “There were also multiple conversations on deep-sea mining, rising temperatures and multiple natural disasters that have been happening.”
She added that the meeting with the U.S. Senate was conjoined with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which has a Youth Changemakers Internship. Xerez and a fellow student from the Aquarium were trying to expand that program and make similar youth-based programs more accessible to teens throughout the country.
“When I moved to Belmont, it was really hard for me to find a program that accepted me because of the age requirements and also because I lived in Belmont and not in Boston or Cambridge,” Xerez said. “We were working with Jennifer R. Littlejohn (acting Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs) and the president of Youth Engagement programs at NOAA to make these programs more accessible by introducing them to schools.”
According to Tiffani Macarelli, manager of youth development programs at the New England Aquarium, two teenagers working at the aquarium are selected to attend Capitol Hill Ocean Week every year from a pool of applicants based on their engagement and through assessment of their overall performance.
“Mariana was new; typically, it takes people a couple of years in various roles to get this opportunity, but that was not the case for her,” Macarelli said, “She is a very good listener and communicator, always had great ideas to improve the program. So, we felt she was ready to take this leadership role and go to DC.”
She said youth voices are very important to highlight for the New England Aquarium, as teens are at the prime of their lives and learning about themselves and the person they want to be. It’s “not just creating for youth but creating with youth,” she said.
