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Joy Xia

Choi poses with her Bluey plushes and Bluey camera. She has been collecting Bluey merchandise since middle school including Bluey sticker packs, Bluey Christmas pajamas and over five pairs of Bluey socks.

Episode 1: Into the animated wild

Donning her favorite Bluey T-shirt, she clicks a photo on her Bluey digicam with one hand while balancing a plush replica of the Australian Blue Heeler puppy in the other.

Senior Julia Choi smiles as the light flashes, head-to-toe in baby blue and butter yellow.

“Bluey is one of my favorite shows,” Choi said. “I feel confident when I wear Bluey merch because even though my interest is a little bit silly I can bring joy to other people.”

Choi first became intrigued in Bluey after she noticed her Korean cousins watching the show to learn English when they visited America. Curious, she decided to join them. Before long, Bluey became Choi’s personal indulgence.

“Even after my cousins returned to Korea, I would continue watching episodes,” Choi said. “It turned out to be a really good show, and I shed a couple tears a few times. I started really enjoying it because it had beautiful art, but also it’s just a really happy show.”

While Choi only watched her first episode of Bluey in middle school, her love for cartoons started in childhood and has since shaped her educational development.

Growing up with Bill Nye, she became “obsessed” with science. Liberty Kids sparked her initial interest in history, which is now her favorite subject. Gravity Falls taught her to value friendship and found family.

“People really underestimate cartoons a lot,” Choi said. “Generally when people think about cartoons, they think, oh, it’s a kids show, which isn’t necessarily true. You can be a lot more creative with cartoons. I think that creates a really interesting medium where you would expect a cartoon to be just fun and games, but it’s actually telling a really important story.”

Choi attributes her love for cartoons to her natural appreciation for beauty.

“Something about me is that I really like looking at pretty things,” Choi said. “The simplification in cartoons makes the artist’s style shine through. I think it sets the tone for the story that the cartoon is trying to tell. It’s more fun to look at. Bluey has a way of showing really emotional things in a child friendly way, but in a way that teens and adults can also feel. Both the art and the lessons are very beautiful.”

That same love for “beautiful things” evolved into an interest in environmentalism. Coming from a family of hikers, Choi is “most inspired” by the natural world. Even after visiting 23 national parks, she can still recall a moment stranded in the Guadalupe Desert that later strengthened her desire to protect the environment.

“Once my family and I got lost in the Guadalupe Desert, and I thought I was going to die,” Choi said. “Somehow, we found our way back by tracing back our steps, and we ended up keeping on the trail, and we finally ended up at our destination.”

Looking up at the towering rock formation carved through natural wind and erosion, she couldn’t help but reflect on her near-death experience.

“I was relieved I survived first of all,” Choi said. “I was annoyed at my dad at first for convincing me to come, but after, I realized if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have pushed myself. I realized my favorite moments with my family have been picnicking outside in the environment. I wanted other people to have the opportunity to enjoy nature and find the beauty of nature and human beings.”

The beauty of nature and animation naturally intersect for Choi.

“Even though I didn’t like hiking at first, I think what I really enjoyed was being out in nature and enjoying the beauty of it all with my family and the people I love. All of it is the beauty of life. For both animations and nature, I want to enjoy and share it with other people.”

Episode 2: Going green screen

Motivated by her love for nature, Choi became a Summer Teaching Assistant at the Houston Museum of Natural Science the summer before her senior year.

“Whenever we would go outside on walks or in the garden, I would pick up litter on the ground and tell the kids to remember to pick up litter, but it was hard to be a good example for all of these kids,” Choi said. “They’re not very interested in watching me pick up trash, so I was like, ‘There has to be a better way than this.’”

And Choi eventually found a better way with the help of Bluey.

“At the museum, I could talk to the little kids about Bluey, and I could draw them Bluey doodles,” Choi said. “That was a way for me to have something in common with them, and I also just think it’s really fun to watch.”

Choi rarely took lunch breaks at the museum, opting to stay with the kids and watch shows like Bluey, Bill Nye and Wild Kratts with them. For Choi, seeing the normally “rowdy and rambunctious” kids become focused on the screen shifted her perspective on the power of children’s media.

“I was so inspired and intrigued by Bill Nye exploding something or Wild Kratts saving another animal, and I realized I could tap into that and create environmental education through art,” Choi said. “I originally wanted to focus more on a teenage audience, because I’m a teenager, but after my experience of the museum, I realized that the elementary school age is a really formative time of a kid’s life.”

According to Choi, the idea that kids “hate school” or “don’t want to learn” is not true.

“These kids are so bright and excited and eager to do fun things, because, to them, learning is fun because of the way it’s presented,” Choi said. “Instead of reading a textbook, I’m exploding volcanoes with them, making catapults and art projects and looking at artifacts.”

Choi attributes her commitment to environmental education to the understanding that today’s children will be the ones shaping the planet’s future.

“We should do our part to educate them as well, because they’re going to be living on this Earth,” Choi said. “They’re going to be the ones that are in charge soon.”

Expanding her impact, Choi branched out into climate advocacy when she and seniors Nicolette Berry, Abigail Brams, Emily Brams, Ellisa Shou and Samantha Tran formed Green Springs Productions, a media production team, to compete in the Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Contest.

“I had been planning on doing it, but we only had a week left, and I was like ‘We should just do it,’” Choi said. “So we entered a video and got a team together and we ended up just making Green Springs Production a thing.”

The last-minute decision turned into a collaborative effort shaped by Choi’s behind-the-scenes coordination. The final product featured shots of Galveston beaches to raise awareness about ocean pollution and conservation.

“When she wants to do something, she doesn’t dip her foot in, she goes all in,” Abigail Brams said. “Julia is a motivated person who values everyone’s skills. She puts their skill set into her way of making assignments and would match people’s skill sets to like their assignments really, really well.”

But when the team didn’t win the contest, Green Spring Productions had no more scheduled projects.

“At that point we had just finished making the Bow Seat video, and we weren’t sure if Green Spring Productions was going to continue,” Choi said. “It was just a one-time project kind of thing.”

However, things changed when Choi read the book “Moral Ambition,” which “basically bullied” Choi into trying to make a difference in her community.

“So many things in my life changed because of this book,” Choi said. “I consider myself a pretty ambitious person, and the book spelled it out for me. I just have to do more. I have to be ambitious with how I help people.”

The same day she finished the last page of Moral Ambition, Choi contacted the Houston Climate Justice Museum with ideas to collaborate with Green Spring Productions. Choi never expected a response — much less an invitation to the Houston Community Climate Summit just three months after, where she showcased a Green Spring Productions documentary on the history of climate change.

“I felt so welcomed in this community that I was a newcomer to, but I realized that the Houston environmentalist community is really interconnected and unique, because everyone has their own role, like speaking, photography or research,” Choi said. “I realized that I was trying to find my own role, and I think that maybe video editing could be that.”

At the summit, Choi was also invited as one of four local teenagers to speak on a youth activism panel highlighting intergenerational voices in the climate action community. She still remembers the last question she was asked on stage.

An audience member raised his hand. He asked “What do you think each of us could do to help?”

“I told him each person should look into what their passions are and what they’re able to give,” Choi said. “If you have a lot of time, you can volunteer, but if you have a specific skill like video editing like for me, or maybe gathering people and being a leader, you should look inwards and think about what you have to offer.”

Even though Choi initially felt “imposter syndrome,” the summit convinced her that her message was important to inspire collaboration in the fight against climate change.

“It seems like a lot of young people are angry at the older generation, saying that they failed us, and in some ways, that’s very true, but we have to work with everybody, and there are still old people who are trying their darndest to help,” Choi said. “We don’t have time to fight. We have to lock in.”

Now, Green Spring Production has four ongoing partnerships with Turtle Island Restoration Network, The Houston Climate Justice Museum, Houston Community Climate Summit, and Friends of Columbia Tap. As their projects grew in both quality and volume, so did Choi’s presence in the local climate movement.

Video production led to numerous “weird” experiences. From trying vegan barbecue and “fake meat-lovers pizza” at a climate summit to receiving an invitation for a boat tour around Frostown, a historically Black and Hispanic neighborhood affected by creosote contamination, Choi embraces unexpected opportunities.

“All of the amazing sidequests kind of put me out of my comfort zone in a way,” Choi said. “Like the last time I went to the Texas AIDS Memorial Garden, I got bitten by a fire ant and my leg exploded, but it was beautiful, and I got to explore a natural park that I’ve never seen before.”

But within these experiences, Choi is even more inspired by the people she works with.

“In Texas, people don’t think we’re an environmentally friendly state, but there’s still people in every area of study that you can connect with somehow, and we’re connecting with our shared love for the environment and for our community,” Choi said.

Episode 3: Blooming from the grassroots

Combining her interests in animation and environmental education, Choi is building a kids cartoon teaching environmental topics, such as pollution and gardening, for her AP research project.

“It’s a big idea right now, and I’m trying to get inspiration from shows that I really like, like Wild Kratts and Bill Nye, and put that into cartoon form where there’s also information kids can learn, but an underlying story,” Choi said. “I think it would be really cool to be able to interweave art and education in that way.”

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Provided by Julia Choi

Choi’s vision board outlines her goals for her AP Research project. Choi has a procedure to craft her first pilot storyboard based on educational strategies in cartoons and environmental studies.

So far, Choi has compiled over 45 pages of research and crafted her first pilot episode storyboard. She plans to employ strategic children’s education techniques, such as using Disney’s strategy of “babyifying” the faces of her animal characters.

“My goal is for kids to bond with my characters and see them interacting with nature,” Choi said. “Right now a lot of kids don’t have access to the outdoors, but I think art is a really amazing vessel for that kind of experience.”

For now, Choi shares sustainability ambitions with an audience of teachers and classmates. Whether she’s emailing Green Spring Production films to teachers or bringing vegan snacks to club meetings, Choi “lives her values.”

“She’s like the Lorax who comes to speak for the trees,” English teacher Jeffrey Walkington said. “It’s deceptive how this person who seems so carefree, not only makes great grades, but also is very committed to causes. She’s had an impact on me. Just the fact that she wears National Park shirts and environmentalist socks, like Woodsy the Owl. She expresses her views in class, but not in a heavy handed way which is a better way to preach.”

As a prospective environmental studies major, Choi is determined to turn her cartoon into a full-scale animated series in college.

“You will see me on PBS,” Choi said. “I’m going to try to make my cartoon real. I want to inspire kids to protect what they love. I want to show them that you don’t have to be a certain type of person to be an environmentalist. There’s tons of fields of study you can be in to make an impact. In college, I’m definitely going to take a lot of interdisciplinary classes and gain a lot of perspective.”

Climate anxiety, as recently studied by Yale experts, is a rising phenomenon of Americans growing fear and pessimism about climate change. Choi hopes to combat climate anxiety through her advocacy.

“Start community action,” Choi said. “That’s the cure. Some people try not to care because climate change is a really scary, impending doom kind of thing, but there’s no use in being pessimistic about it. I want to motivate people and let them know that there is a way to solve climate change. I want to show them the beauty of nature that is still here. You just have to start doing your part.”