The Spark: A Trip to Barbados

The idea for Max and Patience, my young adult series, came shortly after a trip to Barbados. I was struck by the environmental damage I saw—bleached coral reefs, sargassum piled on beaches, and the decline of big fish. It hit hard.

From Frustration to Fiction

That experience gave rise to a concept: The Purposeful Porpoises—a series of short, engaging videos aimed at educating young people about marine conservation.

At first, I thought it might be a podcast, or maybe a video blog. But like many ideas, it drifted for a while… until it found its form as a young adult novel.

Meet Max and Patience

Max and Patience are siblings with access to two rare resources: money and a global youth network determined to fight environmental destruction.

They collaborate with:

• Nasar in Lebanon, who organizes aid for children in Gaza
• Champa in Sri Lanka, a radar satellite expert tracking illegal fishing boats
• Marcia in Baja, who advocates for local sustainable fishing practices
• And a host of others, all working across continents to make change

Their father, a disillusioned Stanford climate scientist, has spent years warning the world about CO₂. Their mother, Avery, works on the front lines of homelessness in San Francisco.

The Last Porpoise

At the heart of the story is a real animal—the vaquita, one of the most endangered porpoises on Earth, with only about ten left.

As Max prepares to launch a meme coin to raise funds for their network, they receive troubling news: Marcia, the girl who first introduced them to the vaquita’s plight, has vanished in Baja, Mexico.

Their search for her entangles them in a world of cartels, fentanyl smuggling, and arms trafficking at the U.S.–Mexico border. It’s an adventure laced with danger, but grounded in very real threats.

Building a Bigger Universe

One of the most rewarding parts of this project? Turning it into something interactive.

I started producing actual Purposeful Porpoises videos—mini-educational clips for teens, tackling marine conservation one topic at a time.

Then I borrowed a subplot from the book: Big Sky.

In the novel, Max and Patience’s father is writing a speculative story about an AI system that combats climate change by pumping chalk into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight. I decided to bring Big Sky to life—not as a book within a book, but as a cinematic Instagram and YouTube series.

Why It Matters

This universe isn’t just fiction—it’s a way to educate, inspire, and activate. Young people today care about the planet. I wanted to create a space where storytelling and environmental awareness intersect, and where the line between what’s on the page and what’s happening in the real world blurs in powerful ways.

Learn about the Vaquita here: https://youtu.be/Fv_gTWLMG20?si=XxDwP_eYS3X48gIL

Watch Big Sky here: https://youtube.com/shorts/2yZ8snaxiEs?feature=share