Recently, the National Geographic Society and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation announced the recipients of the 2025 Slingshot Challenge, an honor awarded to youth who have taken steps to improve the future of conservation around the globe.
Out of 2,700 submissions from more than 5,700 youth in 96 countries, 15 award recipients were honored for their innovative projects, including 15-year-old Chattanooga resident Cash Daniels.
Cash Daniels was awarded the Distinguished Achievement Award and $5,000 for his project, Lines of Hope, in which he works to remove fishing line from rivers and recycling into fishing habitats in Tennessee, U.S.
"I found out after we did a zoom call with one of the people at National Geographic and it was just an amazing feeling,” Cash said. “I've always loved National Geographic. I grew up watching all their stuff and reading everything they put out. To be associated with National Geographic and to be honored by National Geographic Society, it's just an amazing feeling knowing that they recognize me because everyone there are heroes to me.”
Cash started his conservation effort when he was seven and started Lines of Hope at nine. The young conservationist has dedicated his efforts to freshwater conservation through an innovative monofilament recycling program. This initiative, notable for being nearly 100% youth-led and managed, aims to address the pressing issue of a much-overlooked form of plastic waste in aquatic ecosystems. By recycling fishing lines, Daniels and his peers help prevent harm to marine life and maintain clean waterways.
"When I was on a bunch of cleanups, I kept finding fishing line, so I learned where it all came from, by doing some research,” he said.
He learned that fishing line bins were being put in place in other parts of the country and began placing bins across local waterways.
“I started putting these up just on boat ramps,” he said. “But then I wanted to get them in State Parks, so I contacted the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.”
He quickly developed a great relation with the staff and was allowed to place fishing line bins in state parks. Those bins have kept local waterways free of line debris which can cause harm to fish and wildlife.
“I think we're up to 6,000 miles of fishing line now,” he said. Cash said he plans to continue his conservation career.
"I want to do photography and oceanography and make documentaries because that's how to spread the message,” he said. “Everybody's watching a Netflix documentary and everybody's scrolling Instagram, so social media and making documentaries is the way to get my message out.”
Cash plans to enter dual enrollment, continuing in his homeschool education and enrolling at Bryan College in Dayton.
“I want to get my business degree,” he said. "Lots of people like Jim Abernethy, several other people that are in photography, for National Geographic, actually, have told me to get a business degree because it just helps you run your business and it's just so vast and you can use it for so many different things. I’m going to self-teach myself photography and learn how to run a business.”
This ambitious teenager also runs a recycling company earning an income and volunteers for monthly river cleanups.
“A lot of my friends through church and through trail life are very supportive,” he said. “I love getting out and doing cleanups with them and they love getting out and having cleanups because a thing I try and do is make it fun. I try to make it a challenge. Who can find the strangest thing, something like that to get them excited about it.”
His parents Erin and Shaun Daniels are supportive of his efforts. Cash said he hopes the next generation will consider the needs of the planet and join conservation efforts as well.
Learn more about Cash Daniels at theconservationkid.com, on Instagram at instagram.com/theconservationkid, and on Facebook at facebook.com/theconservationkid