As a child, his first foray into activism was an appeal in 2009 to a Colorado city council to prohibit pesticides in city parks. "I was like, yo, like let’s do something about this, so I called up my mom. I was like, yo, Mom, help me get a bunch of kids together to do something about this...And, like, we changed the law." As a teenager, Martinez gave
TED talks and was invited to speak before the United Nations on
environmental policy. That same year, he competed with young musicians from around the world who submitted self-produced music "to inspire the negotiations" at the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change with their music; Martinez's selection "Speak for the Trees" was chosen as the Jury Award Winner. Martinez asserts that education and young people are key elements of the movement for significant social and environmental change: "The marching in the streets, the lifestyle changes haven't been enough so something drastic needs to happen. The change that we need is not going to come from a politician, from an orangutan in office, it's going to come from something that's always been the driver of change – people power, power of young people." When addressing the criticism of young people overusing technology in a 2016 interview with
Bill Maher, Martinez noted that technology also brings people together to focus on a shared concern: "I think it's an important tool that we have for networking and connecting with people. Social media and technology – it's either a downfall and distraction for our generation, or a powerful tool we can use." Martinez served as the Youth Director through 2019, transitioning to co-Youth Director alongside Marlow Baines, who assumed the youth leadership role in 2020. Earth Guardians' mission is to "inspire and train diverse youth to be effective leaders in the environmental, climate and social justice movements. Through the power of art, music, storytelling, civic engagement, and legal action, we're creating impactful solutions to some of the most critical issues we face as a global community." They work to organize climate strikes, cultivate environmentally focused policy, and encourage individual activism through promoting voting registration.
Climate change lawsuits In 2013, he and six other youths filed a lawsuit against the state government of
Colorado. He was the lead plaintiff in
Martinez v. Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission case. In January 2019, the
Colorado Supreme Court reversed a lower court judgment and concluded that the Commission properly declined to engage in rulemaking to consider the plaintiff's proposed rule. Later in the month the plaintiffs asked the supreme court to reconsider its decision, but the court declined. In 2015, Martinez and 21 other youths filed a lawsuit against the
US Federal government,
Juliana et al. v United States et al.. They argued that the federal government was denying their constitutional right to life, liberty and property by ignoring climate change. The plaintiffs originally included parties from the fossil fuel industry as defendants in the lawsuit but they were removed during pre-trial proceedings. The plaintiffs ranged in age from 9 to 20 and 10 of the children have either Black or Indigenous backgrounds. After years of legal wrangling, on May 1, 2024, the lawsuit was dismissed. In December 2018, Martinez spoke with Sanders at a town hall event called "Solving the Climate Crisis". == Awards ==