
Courtesy Elise Strong
Josiah Utsch (left) and Ridgely Kelly at age 12 after starting Save the Nautilus.
Helping Earth can feel overwhelming. But one of the most effective ways to make an impact is to hold a fund-raiser and donate the money to your favorite cause. That’s exactly what Josiah Utsch and his friend Ridgely Kelly did in 2012. When they were 11 years old, the duo started raising money for a critter called the chambered nautilus. This mollusk is a relative of octopuses but lives in a shell.
Although he grew up in the landlocked state of Montana, Utsch has always loved nautiluses. When his grandmother shared a newspaper article about how the chambered nautilus was threatened with extinction, Utsch got to work. He and Kelly created a nonprofit organization called Save the Nautilus.