Climate Change: The Silent Threat Facing Polar Bears
Every day as we walk outside, we feel the weather getting hotter, and more humid. But most of us just shrug it off and put a silent...
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Zhizhen Chen
Oct 282 min read
Oil Spills: Humanity's Impacts on Otters
Hunting otters, fishing mass amounts of their food, and spilling oil in their homes since the 1900s; how badly does our world want to...
Srija Sengupta
Aug 253 min read
Fracking's Hidden Toll: The Health and Environmental Costs of Fossil Fuel Extraction
The mining of fossil fuels has always been a slippery slope, but with the rise of fracking, there may be a bigger impact than previously...
Katelin Sung
Jul 282 min read
What Is Greenwashing?
We’ve all had those moments when we are deliberating between options for a product. Should you buy the wipes in a white container or an...
Leanne Fan
Jul 263 min read
The Tijuana Wastewater Crisis
For those living on the US-Mexico border, daily life is tainted by the noxious stench of human waste and toxic chemicals leaching in from...
Noah Lee
Jul 132 min read
Clearwater Innovation Delivers Keynote at SEMICON West
This past week, Clearwater Innovation members Kyle Tianshi and Leanne Fan were youth keynote speakers at SEMICON West, a renowned...
Noah Lee
Jun 195 min read
Communicating the Climate Crisis: The Problem with Environmental Rhetoric Today
As a competitor on the national high school Public Forum debate circuit, I spend many hours each month poring over the pros and cons of...
Andrew Eppich
Mar 305 min read
Nuclear energy as the world’s next clean energy source
As the world approaches 1.5 degrees Celsius in warming by 2030, policymakers must start making carbon-aware policy decisions. The UN...
Lucas Chen
Jan 313 min read
San Diego’s Thousand-Year Flood
Humans now inhabit over twice the amount of flood-prone land compared to four decades ago. [1] As we expand along coasts and into...
Kyle Tianshi
Dec 28, 20236 min read
California Senate Bill 1422: The Safe Drinking Water Act for Microplastics
Every plastic bag has a story. It begins in a plastic factory, where tubs of molten polyethylene are blown through a tube and cut into...
Angel Aquino
Sep 17, 20233 min read
California's Zero Emission Goal
In 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom unveiled an executive order that represented California’s most ambitious move in its crusade to combat...
Jasmine Wu
Aug 8, 20234 min read
California Assembly Bill 1628: The Microfiber Filtration Bill
If you’ve ever been inside a shopping mall, you’ll notice the brightly-clad mannequins inside storefronts, the racks of bold clothing,...
Renee Wang
Jul 13, 20233 min read
Managing Construction Waste: An Interview With Chris Fischer
Mount Soledad is constantly under construction. When driving through Via Capri or La Jolla Scenic Drive, one can’t help but notice...
Sienna Zou
Jun 12, 20233 min read
How Water Affects the Life of Frogs
Frog populations have been rapidly declining across the world. Each year, frogs lose 3.79 percent of their population. A global map of...
Jasmine Wu
May 14, 20232 min read
Combating Lead Contaminated Water Through Policy Action
Every time a faucet is turned on in your home, water rushes through a network of unseen pipes, driven by pressure so you can use it to...
Leanne Fan
Mar 31, 20234 min read
The Moral Dilemma of Overlighting Our Cities
With the rise of new technologies, we have been gradually lighting up our world. However, these indulgences place not only a burden on...
Kyle Tianshi
Mar 9, 20232 min read
The California Water Board’s Legislative Response to Microplastic Contamination
Microplastics are commonly defined as any plastic fragment less than 5 mm in length. They originate from numerous sources: they’re...
Deanna Hu
Jan 13, 20232 min read
The California Drought on Groundwater
What exactly is groundwater? Like the name suggests, groundwater is found in cracks of soil, sand and rock in the Earth, comprising...
Kevin Kan
Dec 9, 20221 min read
Tales of the Benevolent Bucket Bot
Nearly 60 hours in the making, this is Kevin Kan's comic of a robot who comes to life on a deserted beach.
Lauren Ejiaga
Nov 3, 20222 min read
Drought-related Cholera Outbreaks in Africa
Throughout its history, Africa has seen several periods of prolonged and extreme droughts across the continent that, along with...
Kyle Tianshi
Sep 29, 20222 min read
The Effects of the Cotton Industry on the Water Supply
“Cotton is the most widespread profitable non-food crop in the world.” (1) The plant is found in nearly every article of clothing, from...
Jasmine Wu
Aug 12, 20223 min read
The Californian Delta Smelt Controversy
The delta smelt is a little three-inch silvery blue fish that lives in the San Francisco Bay and the San Joaquin Delta, and its declining...
Lauren Ejiaga
Jul 20, 20223 min read
Hurricane Ida and the Water Supply
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30, and it’s already been a rough one: 12 named storms, including fierce...
Jasmine Wu
Jul 1, 20222 min read
Climate Change in 2022
We’ve all heard about the concept of climate change–the earth is getting warmer as greenhouse gasses trap heat in the atmosphere,...
Sidor Clare
May 8, 20223 min read
Kiribati's Sinking Islands (And How Some Policies Might Help)
Kiribati is an island country made up of a chain of 33 islands in Oceania (the central Pacific Ocean). Though picturesquely beautiful and...
Kyle Tianshi
Apr 29, 20223 min read
Day Zero: A Citywide Water Apocalypse
Day Zero–the term coined for the date when a city runs out of water. All taps connected to homes and businesses are shut off. Each...
Sidor Clare
Sep 19, 20214 min read
The Great Salt Lake Is Drying Up, and It’s A Big Problem
Do you know what the biggest salt lake in the western hemisphere is? It’s the Great Salt Lake, located in northwestern Utah....
Katelin Sung
Sep 10, 20213 min read
The Sacrifice For A Pretty Lawn
If you have a lawn in your backyard, you know that maintaining a perfectly uniform and green field of grass is incredibly hard. If you...
Kyle Tianshi
Jul 18, 20213 min read
Nestle Versus San Bernardino: A Fight for Water Rights
By Kyle Tianshi, Grade 10 The San Bernardino National Forest is one of nature’s finest miracles–a lustrous unpolluted sky over 800,000...
Emma Li
Jul 15, 20213 min read
Tentative Findings on the Effects of COVID-19 on the Environment
By Emma Li, Grade 12 At this point, “the coronavirus” is probably the most famous household name of them all. Emerging in a series of...
Ryan Zhao
May 19, 20214 min read
On Recycling and Polar Bears
By Ryan Zhao, Grade 7 Imagine landfills piling up with trash and animals going extinct. The cause of this would in part be because we...
Samhita Pokkunuri
May 14, 20215 min read
An Introduction to Osmosis, Reverse Osmosis, and Water Filtration Systems
By Samhita Pokkunuri, Grade 8 By the title, I presume you think that this blog has something to do with osmosis, reverse osmosis, and...
Sidor Clare
Apr 3, 20213 min read
What Does Water Pollution Have To Do With Gender-Bending Fish?
By Sidor Clare, Grade 9 Water pollution is created when damaging substances, usually microorganisms or chemicals, enter and contaminate...
Samhita Pokkunuri
Mar 13, 20213 min read
5 Innovations That Help Conserve Water
By Samhita Pokkunuri, Grade 8 Have you ever considered what happens to the world around you when you forget to turn off the sink or spend...
Zoe Xu
Mar 11, 20213 min read
Does Meat Meet Our Water Conservation Standards?
By Zoe Xu, Grade 11 Enter a McDonald’s anywhere in America and you can buy a cheeseburger for a dollar. Americans eat approximately 0.6...
Ryan Zhao
Mar 7, 20213 min read
Water Isn't Permanent: The Fast Fashion Industry's Impact
By Ryan Zhao, Grade 7 In this world, not many things are permanent, and water definitely isn’t one of them. With our current water...
Grace Sun
Mar 1, 20212 min read
Water Pollution 101
By Grace Sun, Grade 10 “Water is essential to all of us living on Earth, whether we’re plants, animals, or humans.” This is said so often...
Joanna Hou
Feb 27, 20213 min read
The Texas Water Crisis Shows Just How Inefficient Our Water Systems Are. Change Needs to Occur.
By Joanna Hou, Grade 12 As the winter storms swept through Texas, residents were left without several resources, including much needed...
Ainsley Jackman
Feb 19, 20212 min read
Check Your Water Privilege
By Ainsley Jackman, Grade 12 Despite the growing conversation around water scarcity, most of the developed world has only an abstract...
Katelin Sung
Feb 18, 20212 min read
Plastic straws suck. Literally.
By Katelin Sung, Grade 8 As you sit, sipping your drink from a plastic straw, you’re most likely dreaming about what you’re going to have...
Emma Li
Feb 15, 20213 min read
A (Mostly) Nonpartisan Analysis of Climate Change Attitudes & Policies Under Trump's Administration
By Emma Li, Grade 11 Following the climactic 2020 election season, it seems prudent to look back on the decisions made by the Trump...
Grace Tseng
Feb 14, 20212 min read
5 Easy Ways to Reduce Plastic Pollution
By Grace Tseng, Grade 9 For decades, plastic has been produced and disposed of at alarming rates, which has been greatly detrimental to...
Sidor Clare
Feb 1, 20212 min read
10 Simple Ways to Conserve Water
By Sidor Clare, Grade 9 Conserving water is a big deal. Water is a life-sustaining resource that is running out. It can be overwhelming...
Hans Yang
Jan 27, 20213 min read
The Wildfire: A Vicious Cycle
By Hans Yang, Grade 9 Gregory Slade stood in front of his vehicle, silently observing the secluded nature retreat he owned for years- a...
Emma Li
Jan 22, 20214 min read
Replenishing Earth’s Resources: Space Mining?
By Emma Li, Grade 11 Water is one of the most sought-after natural resources in the world. Despite its seeming abundance on Earth, our...
Renee Wang
Jan 15, 20213 min read
The Golf Industry and Its Irresponsible Water Consumption
By Renee Wang, Grade 9 Although most avid golfers have noticed the small, black, and unassuming sprinkler heads scattered across the lush...
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