Clean Water for NYS
This blog post was written by Trinity Brindeau, a 2026 Marine Plastics Ambassador.
My project started in rural upstate New York in the southern Adirondacks. The park itself is relatively clean however the towns surrounding it have polluted waterways making drinking water more difficult to find while also affecting the area’s wildlife. I wanted to find a way to create a closer community while making the town more sustainable by working with local officials to commission community gardens and cleanups. However, I moved over the summer and had to arrange my campaign around my college campus. I shifted goals to meet my law school’s needs, which included creating an environmental club and a cleanup in downtown Buffalo.
My campaign included activities like talking to the local Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) office, meeting with the mayor of the small town I resided in and doing small clean ups with my friends. After moving to Buffalo, New York for law school my goals shifted and I was able to successfully reintroduce and become president of an environmental law society and organize a cleanup in downtown Buffalo.
This project helped me create a social media platform for my conservation journey with thousands of people reached. I created reels, posts and educational polls on my Instagram page. The Environmental Law Society received over triple times the interest signatures we needed. I successfully cleaned up over four shorelines and waterways, across two different states, with friends, family and club members.
In the summer of 2026, I was selected to join 24 other EarthEcho Marine Plastics Ambassadors in Washington, D.C. to advocate for policy solutions addressing plastic pollution.
The trip to DC with EarthEcho helped me understand how to do proper outreach, connect with officials and educate others. Campaigning at my school has been successful, out of the 300 students in my law school we successfully reached almost 100 about the club without any online presence (which I think would have gotten us more exposure). If I had started my campaign while I was in law school I think I would have physically gotten more done. We are currently petitioning to prevent flock cameras on our campus which has hundreds of signatures, with this club we will be able to accomplish much more than I would have alone in upstate NY. The club hosted its first cleanup on the weekend of the 16th of October.
We are receiving a budget soon to plan a general interest event, do tabling, hold advocacy workshops and fun events like the paint and protect event I have planned. We currently have 60+ members and will continue to grow once we get our Instagram page to attract the older students we haven’t been able to contact. We will be collaborating with the Niagara Waterkeepers to connect with the local community and beautify Buffalo. Most of the organizations we plan to work with are completely volunteer based and open to all community members.
To learn more about Trinity’s work, follow @trinityandthesea and @ublawenvironmental on Instagram.
Learn more about the EarthEcho Marine Plastics Ambassadors at https://www.earthecho.org/plastics-ambassadors.