Marcelo

Since he was a child, Marcelo learned from his father, who works on farms in the state of Goias, to connect with nature. In 2019, after taking a class that discussed the issue of forest fires in the Amazon, Marcelo decided to do something. With two schoolmates, Marcelo created Folhas que Salvam (Leaves that Save). This initiative was created to encourage people to engage in environmental movements, such as reforestation, cleaning efforts, and conversations about the landscape. After hosting a series of local events, Marcelo and his colleagues decided to make room for ambassadors from all over Brazil to do the same in their communities. They created a program that spanned across the country to reach a vast network of people through missions that contained practical actions for environmental conservation at the local level. Marcelo is motivated by the desire to show young people living in Brazil’s cities that there are many opportunities for them to lead change. At the age of 18, he has just finished high school and hopes to study Journalism so that he can tell stories that broaden people’s knowledge and curiosity about the environments where one lives.