Sustainability Presentations

Since middle school, I was fascinated by electric/hybrid vehicles and sustainable energy solutions. Naturally, environmental studies and sustainability became a passion of mine. I furthered this passion by enrolling in "Climate Change Biology" in my senior year of high school. During this eye-opening course, I had the opportunity to conduct many insightful projects about climate change. The most notable ones are my midterm and final research project.

My midterm project was inspired by my sunset bike rides. On July 22, 2021, when biking in Waxhaw, North Carolina, I noticed that the sky was unusually hazy and the sunset looked different compared to a typical day. I learned from the news that this was due to west coast wildfire smoke migrating all the way to the east. Intrigued, I computationally mapped wildfire smoke in the US during the summer for my midterm project.

My final project was conceptualized after reading an article on how Bitcoin has detrimental effects on the environment. I put together an educational presentation on this, quantifying Bitcoin's effect on the environment. I surveyed students at my boarding school to find the average distance between the school and their homes, and calculated statistics comparing Bitcoin's carbon footprint to the carbon footprint of students driving to school. I also used data from a previous class lab to derive conversion factors needed to find out how many young trees are needed to offset the carbon footprint of Bitcoin. I was shocked to learn that 40 young trees are needed to offset the carbon footprint on one Bitcoin transaction!