Under the coordination of MEP ambassador Nathan Silver of C7, a mural was created in Rio de Janeiro, 2025. Last week, the Cantão was a somewhat dark and uninviting corner, but after cleaning up a dozen bags of trash, sweeping, and then painting the cement light blue–the whole scene changed! This is the power of art, of color, of community action! Now, the residents can look at the Cantão with pride and inspiration, knowing we did this together, and that this is just the beginning. This ocean mural campaign is already becoming a landmark and a powerful vehicle to bring attention to ocean conservation and the incredible solutions emerging from this city.

We’re even exploring ideas for adding educational text to the mural, about humpback whales and their migration, as well as our ability to impact ocean health, to enhance the message. The best part is, we’re just getting started here!

The positive energy is palpable. Esteemed local artist, BR, who has a history with the murals along this stretch, has come aboard and is bringing many other established local artists to the walls, to continue the ocean mural campaign up the beach! My dream is to bring light blue, and beautiful ocean art, to every neglected wall along the 2 kilometer stretch of São Conrado–leading up to June 8, World Oceans Day! This mural project is a cornerstone of our earth ocean all campaign. Content here, website here. We created earth ocean all to bridge the 47-days from Earth Day April 22nd to World Oceans Day, June 8th. We are putting out powerful and succinct content daily, featuring prominent voices from film, academia, and government.

On June 8th, we will come together on São Conrado beach for a big embrace–called the Abraço–where we will all hold hands from one end of the beach to the other–a 2 kilometer stretch, which will bring together over 2,000 people, followed by a massive trash cleanup of the beach.

Cities do not need to degrade nature, the only future worth fighting for is one where cities and nature work together! We already have the solutions for these sustainable challenges; many of them are here in Rio, here in Rio’s largest favela: Rocinha–which is why this special place is C7’s launchpad.

There is a much bigger picture, beyond the mural campaign, and even the Abraço on World Oceans Day.

Rocinha and São Conrado exemplify the challenges facing urban-environmental sustainability. Unfortunately, the Cantão where my whale mural is, is also known for collecting large quantities of trash on the beach every time it rains.