And whenever you're ready, you can say hello to Arrow, Arrow. How
you doing? Absolutely fantastic. How are you guys doing today? We're doing
great, man. It's delighted to be here with you. Delighted to be
here as well. I'm very excited too. And the reason why is because
I'm a tree hugger. I believe in the planet. I want to do
everything humanly possible to get the word out there that we got to protect this
planet because something's really going wrong right now. It certainly is. And I
agree with you. You know, growing up as part of a you know,
family focused on ocean exploration, my grandfather, Jacques Cousseau, my father
Felipe Senior, and you know, had a huge influence on me. And
I've had the opportunity to travel over the world and make documentaries and films and
work. But fifteen years ago I founded at Eartheco International because I was so
inspired by my grandfather, who toured specifically towards the end of his life.
He was really focused on youth and education and he recognized that if we don't
invest in education, we can't build a durable environmental movement, and so we
founded Eartheca one of the world's leading ocean education youth leadership organizations, working with
two million young people in a one hundred and forty six countries, and four
years ago we launched the Raco Challenge, which is a national STEM competition to
engage young people in solving problems in their communities. And we've been cranking away
ever since. So I'm really excited, Harper, how can we get more
students involved in this, because what I want to do is I want to
get them away from their smartphones and their ocular lenses and really put focus on
it. I mean, sure, yeah, with the VR goggles you can
have a three D effect from Mount Everest, but I want them in the
real atmosphere. I would suggest that other students lead with what they're most passionate
about. Take something that you love and use that to take action in your
community. Team Aquabots of the twenty twenty are Eco Challenge was really interested in
robotics and created a robot to pick up trash. Another team was interested in
nature photography and use that as a device to spread awareness. I was really
excited behind science around superplants that have larger root systems that can store more CO
two to protect our environment. So take what you love and use that to
take action in your community. PHELI, how is it that we get involved,
because I mean, it can't be just the thing for the kids.
The adults have got to be involved too, because talk about family and I
mean, it's just amazing what we can do as a family group to help
change what's going on. Well, that's what's so great about this. You
know, we recognize, you know at Earth Eco that you know, the
millions of young people we've worked with over the years, that young people have
a tremendous amount of anxiety around these issues. They're very concerned, rightfully so,
about the health of the environment and what that's going to mean for them
and all too often, you know, you mentioned getting away from their screens.
We're such huge believers in that, you know, all too often young
people feel paralyzed, to feel helpless, and that's a big contributor to that
level of anxiety. Probably saw the news recently, you know, the United
States didn't make the top twenty happiest countries in the world, and a big
part of that is driven by young people and their dissatisfaction with the world,
their anxiety or on climate and other environmental issues. And so what we've recognized
is that giving young people agency, some tools, and some knowledge is an
opportunity to build, to get outside, get away from those screens, get
outside, build community with their families, with teachers, with their classmates.
Is really really powerful and the innovative, exciting ideas they come up with to
solve problems in their communities is inspiring. We offer grants of one thousand,
twenty five hundred and five thousand dollars for students to actually implement their projects,
for their grandpa's winners to implement their projects after you know, the competition is
done. So we're really about facilitating and empowering young people to get out problems
and become you know, hopeful change agents in their communities. It's our echo
channel dot org, our Echo Challenge dot org. Harper. One of the
things that kind of scares people are words biodiversity. To a student and even
to some adults, they're going, I don't get it. Okay, I'm
gonna move on. How can we simplify what biodiversity is? Well, biodiversity
is really just a healthy balance of plants and animals and an ecosystem, and
really anyone can join the ARCO Challenge. It's a great learning opportunity even if
you don't know much about biodiversity in your community. What I've seen is that
once students have access to information and ways that they can take action, we
don't sit on the sidelines. We jump in and take action right away.
I can relate with that so much because inside this forest in South Charlotte,
I'm in charge of the trees. We have a bee keeper down the street
that makes sure and he'll come up to me and he'll go, are you
going to thank me for these bees? Because that's why you've got you know,
that the flowers on the trees right now. And then we've got somebody
that they're building above ground gardens. Now I'm so into this biodiversity. Well,
it's true, you know, biodiversity, as I said, you know,
it's declined precipitously over the last forty years or so, you know,
fifty percent in my lifetime. And so we're in a big problem. And
it's not just you know, the stuff out there. We are part of
nature. We're part of these systems. You know, we're part of the
bees that pollinate our crops for food. You know, all of these systems
and we rely on and you know, as they collapse, it's a huge
problem and really empowering and getting young people to solve problems in their communities.
There's about building lifelong and engage the learners and change agents in communities and helping
them realize that they don't have to just take it. They can be change
agents. They can they can make a positive difference, and that has huge
psychological impacts, huge impacts on the health and cohesion of communities when we come
together to solve problems, to get you know, as opposed to just kind
of being depressed about the state of the world without feeling like we could do
anything solving problems. Basically, it means we've got to find some solutions,
and solutions can't be one sided. Harper, what would you say is a
solution for us? Well, I led Team Superplants in the first twenty twenty
our Eco Challenge and our solution is creating interactive climate modules for elementary and middle
schoolers because we believe that all students should have access to equal information about climate
change. We're also growing superplants, which have naturally larger root systems that can
store more so to protect our environment. So that's one solution, but there
are many others. Where can they go again, it's our Echo Challenge dot
org. But I mean to create beyond today, beyond this actual challenge that's
going on right now. There's got to be a way that where they can
tap into whatever they're getting their information and to learn more. Yeah, our
Eco Challenge dot org is the best place to start. We've got tons of
resources, tutorial how to join the competition, to make it really, really
easy. The deadline is April twenty sixth. But as you saw with what
Harper's done, you know, they started with the team of three, it's
grown to a team of thirty. Four years later, they've reached thousands of
young people in their communities. So this is really about the spark that ignites
and gives an opportunity for young people to ignite and do incredible things. And
that's the good news right er. You know, there's a lot of bad
neues in the world. But I'm telling you what, I am so inspired
every time I work with these kinds of leaders like Harper, and I see
there really is hope for the future. Building on what Philip was saying,
the ourco Challenge for me was a way to take concrete action to address climate
change, which can often feel really overwhelming and out of control. Instead of
being paralyzed with fear, it was a chance to feel hopeful. I love
it. Please come back to this show anytime in the future. You two
Aero appreciate it. We hope so. You bet you'd be brilliant today.
Thank you, you too, Man