He started his climate activism in kindergarten

When I was a kid, I always loved ocean animals. I always loved the sea. I loved the fish. And I would watch “Octonauts.” I loved all that stuff.

One day a Heal the Bay person came and told us about how the plastic is affecting the seas. And I was just upset. I didn’t want the animals to die. I didn’t want the sea to become polluted.

I went home and I told my mom about it, and she said we needed to do something. So, when I was in kindergarten, we started a thing called the Five for Five Club, where five days a week, for five minutes a day, you would pick up trash. And at the end of the day you get a prize because, of course, we had to bribe kids to pick up trash.

Eventually, by the end of the year, we had 100 man-hours, and 100 kids participated.

Everybody is saying if one person does a big thing, it’s not going to change anything. But I think if a bunch of people just do little things to help, try to do it every day, or at least maybe once a week, then we could make some big changes.

Declan McAdams is an eighth-grader who cares about the ocean and believes we can all make a difference. He also believes there was plenty of room for Jack on that door, Rose, and that you didn’t need to push him off.