John F. Kennedy once said, “Children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future.” We believe that children hold the keys in unlocking the issues of today to create a better tomorrow—and if you’re looking for a prime example of this, look no further than ten-year-old public lands activist, Robbie Bond. Like Zack and the team in Chasing Coral, Robbie has found his passion and is using his voice to rally communities around it.
Robbie is on a mission to save our national parks and monuments for future generations. When he found out that 27 national monuments in the U.S. were under threat from an executive order, he launched Kids Speaks For Parks, a non-profit educating and mobilizing other kids to stand together and defend our national parks.
Growing up in Honolulu, Robbie’s connection with the ocean and coral reefs helped ignite a passion to protect our ecosystems. After watching Chasing Coral he shared, “No one will know that corals are in danger if you don’t tell them they are.” He has been traveling the country visiting all of our national parks, bringing awareness the importance and value of these sacred spaces.
Since the December 5th announcement that the U.S. administration is drastically diminishing the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, Robbie has rerouted his tour to join others speaking out at Bears Ears: “I am heartbroken by the administration’s decision to shrink Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monuments. I am inspired by the overwhelming support for Kids Speak For Parks that I have received. I will work hard to continue my mission to educate my generation about the importance of protecting our national parks and monuments. United, we are unstoppable.”
We hope that stories like Robbie’s help people connect the dots to changes in your own community, like a threatened waterway or sea-level rise, and recognizing the unique skills you have to bring people together around solutions. Perhaps the best question to ask is not, “what can I do?,” but, “what can we do together,” because together we are unstoppable.
Get to know more about Robbie’s unstoppable journey across the country in the video below: