Featuring Earth Ambassador: Mahiya Ramirez (Muscogee – Southern Plains Region)
This past month, Mahiya Ramirez stood on the sands of La Jolla Shores, camera in hand, heart wide open. As part of UNITY’s Earth Ambassador Pre-Conference Training and the 2025 National UNITY Conference in San Diego, Mahiya joined fellow Indigenous youth in a cultural exchange with Native Like Water, an organization dedicated to ocean-based healing and Indigenous knowledge. What began as a simple photo project soon evolved into something much deeper—a visual ceremony of return, reclamation, and resilience.
“I went to the shoreline with my camera, ready to capture moments between my peers and the water, but I also came with questions. Questions about what it means to heal, to belong, and to care for something bigger than yourself,” Mahiya reflected in her accompanying photo essay, Saltwater Sovereignty: Where The Water Remembers Us. The resulting images and narrative document a powerful intersection of cultural learning, movement, and memory.
Throughout the conference, Mahiya not only participated in leadership-building sessions but also used her lens to tell a larger story—one that centers Indigenous youth not as visitors to the land and sea, but as their rightful caretakers. “These are not snapshots of recreation, but reflections of cultural reclamation and community resilience—showcasing the enduring relationship with land and water that has existed for generations and continues to evolve through the eyes and actions of young people,” she wrote.
Following the conference, Mahiya returned to Oklahoma, where she edited her photographs and began planning her personal Earth Ambassador project, which will expand on these themes of cultural connection and environmental storytelling. But her work is already reaching broader audiences—she plans to present Saltwater Sovereignty on her campus this fall to spark dialogue about ecological healing, Indigenous futures, and youth-led climate advocacy.
Her images, taken in the homelands of the Kumeyaay peoples, are rooted in community and motion. “The viewer is invited into moments of cultural learning, community bonding, and leadership in motion,” she explained. From the sand to the waves, Mahiya captured youth engaging in ocean-based practices that reflect teachings passed down through generations.
“The ocean becomes a teacher, a relative, and a mirror—holding us, challenging us, and reminding us of our collective responsibility to the Earth,” she wrote. The water, she reminds us, recognizes us as kin. For Mahiya, ecological activism goes far beyond protest. It’s about presence. It’s about remembering.
“I believe that healing the Earth begins with remembering how to care for ourselves and one another,” she shared. “When we care for ourselves, reclaiming parts of ourselves that colonization tried to sever… we move closer to a future rooted in reciprocity, sovereignty, and sustainability.”
The UNITY Earth Ambassador Program uplifts Indigenous youth like Mahiya Ramirez, who are leading change through land-based advocacy, cultural revitalization, and intergenerational storytelling. This year’s cohort continues to embody the heart of the movement—where Earth care and self-care go hand in hand, and where young leaders are not only protecting sacred spaces, but becoming them.