MARISOL- Meso American Reef Initiative Save Ocean Life

• MARISOL is a non-profit organization founded by a group of divers who came to explore the MESO reef. Their expeditions revealed an environment struggling under tons and tons of plastic garbage. Unable to walk away from this discovery they stayed and started cleaning the reef and beaches. Soon overwhelmed with the amount they were collecting and what to do with it they reached out to the local communities to come up with a solution. "MARISOL is building long-term community based recycling programs to clean oceans and beaches along the largest reef system in the Western Hemisphere."
• What my study will focus on

I am interested in what factors led the founders to leave their life in America to actively work on the problems faced by the eco-system of the MESO reef. Additionally, what was the process from individually working to gather the beach trash, to their current extensive community involvement.