COMMUNITY profile
Earth Guardians
Despite a global pandemic and blatant attacks from the current administration, these young warriors for climate change remain focused and strong.
Marlow Baines passes the microphone to world-famous youth environmental activist Greta Thunberg at the Denver Climate Strike in October 2019.
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They’re advocates, they’re leaders and they’re activists. And many of them aren’t yet old enough to vote. At the forefront of Earth Guardians (EG), organizing young activists globally and vocalizing the group’s mission, are personalities both old — as in, been doing this a long time — and new. Headlining the organization’s platform since he was six years old is Xiuhtezcatl (shoeTEZ-caht) Martinez (Editor’s note: No relationship to the author of this article). His trademark long, dark tresses and brown eyes that sparkle with passion, yet drill deep into your soul, have made him somewhat of a global superstar in the environmental activism arena. While Martinez, now 20, remains active within the Earth Guardian organization, much of his passion is currently focused on EG’s Indigenous Youth Leadership Initiative, a cause near and dear to his heart. As the primarily youth-led organization continues to expand, young new faces have emerged. One such face: 18-year-old Marlow Baines, a recent high school graduate from Boulder. Baines will attend Quest University Canada in the fall of 2021. Until then, she plans to take a gap year to “focus wholeheartedly on Earth Guardians,” fully embracing her new role as fellow youth director alongside Martinez. Not a stranger to speaking up and out for climate change and social injustice, Baines developed a deeper conviction after realizing the lengths to which some people will go fighting for what they believe in. “[In 2016] I went to Standing Rock* and witnessed
BOULDER MAGAZINE GetBoulder.com
PHOTOS COURTESY EARTH GUARDIANS
BY VICKI MARTINEZ
