while abundant, inspiration can be fleeting and ungraspable. i lived in south texas, a region diverse in culture and ideology, but eternally linked to mistakes of the past; thus persists a narrative that leads some circles to resent science, even fear it. particularly within the latinx community in the region, against whom science and twisted methodologies have been weaponized.

making an impact

it is hard to be inspired to change the world for the better when the tools you are given are enshrouded with fear. but as a latina of that community, it fell upon my shoulders to erode that trauma that still resides deep in our daily lives, so my inspiration emerged as two objectives: 1) create pathways for students to become familiar with conducting research and normalized to the advantages and limitations of science, and 2) to create something impactful. 

in 2018, i developed a strain of bacteria capable of detecting the explosive tnt, and when it decomposes, dnt. in 2019, i founded herodotus research and development for my 17th birthday. the goal is to implement domestically in the united states to make a fool-proof highly resilient and uncompromisable product that can be shipped around the world to regions afflicted by war-related hazards. why? because of the number 17,000; that’s about how many people around the world are killed or injured by landmines and “remnants of war” each year.

also, because of the number 15 million; that’s how many acres of land in the united states are polluted by those “remnants of war” or munitions-related chemicals. i encountered these statistics as a descendant of veterans. these statistics are haunting, and they present a profound conclusion that innovation cannot right the wrongs of history, but innovation can right the future. 

an innovation for the earth and for community

i founded a program in which high school students accompanied me to the university to conduct their research on topics applicable to their interests. this grew into a class in which middle schoolers shadowed the high schoolers and conducted research. my community was eager to learn, but nobody tried to learn with them, and science became inaccessible. there was hope for technology changing lives for the better, and there was a desire to lead those discoveries. i went from presenting alone at the state science fair to accompanying a team of proud latinx students to their blue ribbons. 

the innovation in this video is not just a way of detecting and removing dangerous chemicals in the environment. this video was recorded in the av closet of my high school with my business partner and a few friends who all believed they were contributing to something impactful. my community felt the value of increasing accessibility to science education. this is a true innovation, empowering others to innovate, and it can be applied everywhere on the globe. 

this past september, in slack-calm waters, captain steven melz and his deckhand performed an experiment. fathom by fathom, five different styles of crab traps dropped beneath the surf, delivering lunch to dungeness crabs waiting on the ocean floor. despite a century of unchanged crab trapping techniques, melz hopes to find alternative gear that can sustain the future of the beleaguered bay area dungeness crab fishery, and solve its biggest — and perhaps surprising — problem: whales.

whales are a big problem for crab fishers, or depending on who you’re asking, crab fishing is a big problem for whales, which can become entangled in the ropes attached to crab fishing traps. 

after whale entanglements in the ropes attached to crab fishing gear spiked, a 2017 lawsuit resulted in new whale-safe restrictions on california crab fisheries. although crab fishing season historically opens in november, for the last several years, lingering whale populations in the area have delayed the start of the season until after the valuable holiday market. experts and fishers predict these truncated seasons will become the new normal.

“i would love it to be the way that it was,” said melz, a commercial crab fisher who began crab fishing on his late father’s boat over 30 years ago. “but that’s not going to happen.”

in dedicated working groups, state regulators, game wardens, ecologists, and fishers collaborate to innovate viable whale-safe gear. as numerous other strategies to make conventional gear safer have been implemented, finding a mutually-agreeable alternative crab fishing gear has become a central sticking point. with their livelihoods at stake, some fishers have taken innovation into their own hands.

a tangled history
 

“crab pots,” the conventional gear for trapping crabs, hold bait inside four-sided closed woven cages. crabs enter through tunnels in the netting, while escape rings allow for smaller crabs that don’t meet regulated size requirements to exit. crab pots rest on the ocean floor and are attached to floating buoys that mark their location through a vertical line of rope, which whales can become entangled in.

depending on their permit, fishers set out hundreds of pots a day, which often remain in the water for multiple days. but the longer that ropes remain in the water, the higher the chance of entanglement with a whale, which can result in injuries or death. the whales, snagging their fins and bus-sized bodies on the ropes, can drag gear for thousands of miles, embedding the ropes into their flesh and creating challenges around identifying the origin of the fishing gear.

entanglements happen as whales migrate down to their winter breeding grounds in mexico, and pass through the bay area’s dungeness crab fishing zones. as climate change warms ocean waters, this migratory timing has shifted, overlapping with crab fishing season along the west coast.

prior to 2013, the national oceanic and atmospheric association (noaa) reports an average of 10 whales per year confirmed to be entangled in fishing gear along the u.s. west coast.

but in 2015, a warm water event known to ecologists as “the blob” resulted in a drastic increase of whales in the bay area during crab season. the number of entanglements almost doubled from the previous year. by the end of the season, 50 whales, primarily humpbacks, had been recorded to be entangled along the west coast. 

in 2017, the center for biological diversity, an environmental activism nonprofit organization, sued the california department of fish and wildlife (cdfw), stating that these entanglements were violations of the endangered species act, which protects humpback and blue whales. 

“it’s really clear that lawsuits by private citizens and environmental groups are absolutely crucial to making sure that laws work,” said patrick sullivan, media director for the center for biological diversity. “we just see it as part of the democratic process.”

in response to the lawsuit, fishers in both the recreational and commercial sector say they feel disproportionately targeted as the “low-hanging fruit” compared to other industries, such as cargo ships that collide with whales. data shows that these are a leading cause of whale deaths and have a high fatality rate. but on the west coast, these events are difficult to document as many whales sink before they are found; experts say as few as one in 10 whale strikes are recorded. 

after negotiations and an intervention by the pacific coast federation of fishermen’s associations, which represented crab fisherfolk, the lawsuit reached a settlement, and cdfw developed programs to regulate crab fisheries, based on a yearly risk-to-whales assessment.

“they want a program where they can shorten seasons, pull gear in, reduce the number of [ropes in the water],” said ryan bartling, a senior environmental scientist on the whale safe fisheries project. as part of the settlement, the dungeness crab fishing gear working group was formed to brainstorm whale-safe gear alternatives with input from all stakeholders.

1,000 cuts: the impact of regulations

“[the crab fishery] is a shell of its former self because of the regulations,” said captain larry collins, who is president of the san francisco fisherman’s association and member of the dungeness crab fishing gear working group. “we call it death by 1,000 cuts.”

as part of risk assessments formulated by the group, noaa scientists now conduct an aerial survey of whale populations before the start of each crab fishing season. if too many whales are detected, the season remains closed until the next survey. if entanglements are detected, the season closes early.

fishers face many challenges from both the delayed season starts and early closures. for several years, crab fishers have missed the lucrative thanksgiving market for crab, which is a traditional holiday food in the bay area. fishers also say that starting as late as january means more dangerous weather, competition from northern fleets and large wholesale companies, and that the unpredictable timing adds high costs to retain crews.

“we call it death by 1,000 cuts.”

“i like whales,” said collins. “but now whales are costing me $50,000 to $70,000 a year.”

whale populations are increasing and have continued to remain in high numbers through the start of dungeness crab fishing season in november. “the season is not going to look like it once was, just based on the data we’re seeing,” said bartling. “there’s still going to be a crab fishery, it’s just going to look a little bit different.”

pop-up gear: can technology provide a solution?

as part of the working groups, stakeholders modify existing gear to be more whale-safe, and review proposals for alternative gear that could allow fishing during season closures with lowered whale entanglement risk.

one of these proposals is a new gear technology in development, known as pop-up gear or by the misnomer, “ropeless” gear. pop-up gear reduces the amount of time ropes spend in the water by storing the buoy and rope on the ocean floor with the crab pot, rather than connecting the crab pot to a buoy on the surface through a suspended vertical rope. when triggered by a remote control or a preset timer, the popup gear releases the buoy and rope, which float to the surface to be retrieved by a fisher.

 

fishers remain unconvinced that pop-up gear is viable, citing the difficulties in operating as a fleet around unseen gear, unfeasible costs, and high rates of failure during tests.

without a surface buoy design marking its location, fishers are concerned with overlapping as each boat lays hundreds of crab traps in the same zone, which can lead to tangling, lower catches, and gear failure.

“they think we lose gear now?” said collins, who participates in a lost-gear retrieval program. “you gotta be able to see the buoys [on the surface of the water] so you don’t tangle with everybody and their brother.” 

at over $1,000 a pot, pop-up gear could be over three times more expensive than conventional crab fishing gear. if the buoy fails to pop-up, the gear becomes irretrievable; lost pop-up gear may pose a larger risk to whales and boat engines, as fishers unwittingly lay gear on top of the unseen ropes below, and ropes from multiple sets of gear tangle with each other.

“it’s a huge capital investment,” said captain shane wehr, a commercial dungeness crab fisher with family roots in the san francisco fishing community. “it would probably weed out half of the fishermen, and guys would sell out of the industry completely.”

regulators and scientists see potential in pop-up gear. “i love the idea of ropeless gear,” said dr. elliott l. hazen, a research ecologist at noaa in monterey, california, who sees pop-up gear as a promising technology that requires further testing. “how do you help fishermen avoid each others’ gear? if you can solve that problem, along with the sheer cost of ropeless gear, i think it’s an amazing solution. i really do.”

although a $500,000 grant currently exists for pop-up gear testing, bartling says few fishers have signed up to participate in gear trials. fishers say they are wary of regulations that would force them to reinvest in the expensive pop-up gear if the trials are successful. 

“it’s a fear from decades and decades of having their way of life stripped away,” said captain brand little, a commercial fisherman. “if something gets taken away, its never coming back”

hoops, scoops and loopholes

captain brand “hoop net” little, received his nickname for his advocacy of another, less experimental type of alternative crab fishing gear as a solution to whale entanglements. 

traditionally used in spiny lobster fishing, hoop nets are shaped like volcanoes, with a circular opening at the top of a wider, circular base. unlike crab pots, hoop nets have no other openings. because of their open top which allows for crabs to escape once they have finished eating the bait, hoop nets cannot be left out for longer than two hours.

due to this incentive to check hoop nets every two hours, the window for entanglement is much smaller. as two hours is too brief to leave the hoops unattended, any entangled whale would be quickly found, allowing time for the whale to be reported and potentially helped.

hoop nets were first seized upon by the recreational crab fishery, which is also impacted by whale risk-assessment closures, but has separate regulations. shortly after the delayed season started in november 2021, captain james smith, a former commercial crab fisher turned recreational charter boat captain, noticed that the text of the recreational regulations allowed for hoop net use during the closure.

“everybody was trying to get their hands on hoops as fast as they could,” said smith. despite initial doubts from his peers on the efficacy of hoop nets, smith was able to tweak his hoop net process to consistently make his catch limit of 10 crabs per net, per day. once the word got out, charter boat businesses were able to salvage their crab fishing season by using hoop nets.

on the commercial side, little, a participant in the dungeness crab fishing gear working group, then noticed that recreational fishers began fishing for crab with hoop nets, despite the whale-risk-related closures. “and we’re all just sitting here waiting,” said little. “why can’t i try these?” 

but while they recognize the success of hoop nets for the recreational fisheries, some commercial fishers say hoop nets are a non-option for commercial fleets. “the guys that run my boats say, ‘f*ck hoops. f*ck ‘em from here and back,” said wehr. 

compared to crab pots, hoop nets catch less crab and require more work. due to the two hour window for operating each hoop net, fishers are concerned of the potential of retrieving gear during storms, which can form quickly on the water. although the costs and set-up of hoop nets and crab pots are similar, many fishers feel reinvesting in new gear is too costly in both price and labor.

“all i can do is go out, use my boat, and try to come up with my ideas,” said melz, who participated in pop-up gear trials, and decided to test hoop nets against crab pots for himself. he tested five variations of gear; three versions of a hoop net, and two versions of a crab pot. 

the winner? a crab pot without a top, like a hoop net, but with the other design features of crab pots that add efficiency.

“i lovingly call them scoops,” said melz, nicknaming the modified crab pot. with an open top, his scoops require the same short use-times that make hoop nets safer for whales. but unlike hoop nets, scoops are modified crab pots and would require fishers to simply modify their existing inventory.
 

 

the process for securing hoop net or scoop use commercially would require little and melz to go through the lengthy process of applying for an experimental fishing permit, which would give a limited number of fishers an opportunity to fish with experimental gear.

little said industry competition, alongside the fear of traditional crab pots being banned if hoop nets are successful enough, could put a “huge target” on his back.

“there’s $10 bills on the bottom of the ocean. there’s millions of them and it’s a race to pick them up the fastest,” said little.  “and now you’re sending 50 guys out there to get a head start? it’s not going to be popular.”

some fishers say it’s time to revisit a reduced-gear solution they initially rejected and test the efficacy of the other numerous whale-safe improvements they’ve made to their conventional gear by setting only a portion of their gear out in the water. but due to the initial pushback, regulators are no longer considering this option.

moving forward, together

crab fishing season was slated to open this past weekend. but with over 100 whales detected off the coast, commercial fishermen have been benched for a fourth year in a row; only recreational fishermen using hoop nets were permitted to begin their season.

“we’re stewards of the resource,” said captain richard powers, president of the golden gate fishermen’s association, which represents northern california charter boat fleets. “we’re doing everything in our power to be sustainable. we want this to remain exactly what it’s been: part of our heritage.”

even though a solution won’t come in time for this year’s season, the commercial fleet, charter boat captains, regulators, and scientists say they are committed to collaboration and share the same goals.

“we’re working to solve this, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because we want a viable fishery,” said commissioner eric sklar of the california department of fish and game commission. he said that the stakes are clear: if whale entanglements continue to remain unsolved, it may mean the end of the dungeness crab fisheries.

“there is not one fisherman who wants [entanglements] to happen,” said captain dick ogg, a commercial fisher who assisted during noaa sponsored disentanglement first responder courses, and participated during the aerial surveys of whale populations during entanglement risk assessments. “this is where we make our living. why would we do something detrimental to the environment?”

after the working groups and regulations fulfill the conditions of the settlement, the california department of fish and wildlife says the fishery could file for an incidental take permit, which grants an industry with a permitted amount of yearly “take”. take is defined as an unintentional, but expected, disruption or harm to a species of animal protected by the endangered species act.

while incidental take permits have been called a “necessary evil,” many are in agreement that this would represent a last-ditch solution.

“fishermen are the ones who are gonna want to protect [whales],” said melz, who took the level 1 disentanglement responder training. “because if they fail, we’ll fail.”

full transcript:

from unclean air hovering over cities to unhealthy smoke in homes, air pollution continues to put human health and climate on the line. cameroon, popularly referred to as africa in miniature, is reputed for its geographical and cultural diversity, especially when it comes to traditional meals. for most cameroonians, the three stone fireside method of cooking transcends just making food. it speaks to generational cultures and bonds built over moonlight folklore and folktales of their shared history.

but, for the longest time, the process of preparing these meals has been largely powered by biomass fuels, made possible by the cutting down of trees. the health challenges associated with exposure to these cooking methods cannot be undermined as about 3.2 million worldwide deaths in 2020 were attributed to household air pollution, according to the world health organization. despite these health consequences, most people across sub-saharan africa still cannot afford clean cooking technologies.

aisata ibamie is a young renewable energy engineer, innovative clean energy activist, and a mandela washington fellow (mwf) from logone, a charey village in the far north region of cameroon, and she has had first-hand experience with the challenges of cooking in the country. (in full disclosure, mwf is where this author first met ibamie.) growing up in a rural community, fetching firewood for cooking was one of her least favorite chores –– a routine she shares with more than 70% of cameroonians who still do not have access to clean cooking technologies, as revealed by the world bank. 

driven by curiosity, ibamie’s rare passion and determination to change this narrative for cameroonians led to her creation of an energy efficient and affordable cooker: a cordless, portable, and non-electric bag made from cotton. ibamie hopes the asaab thermal cooker will go a long way to reduce deforestation and carbon dioxide emissions.

“if i want to cook red beans for example, it often takes us two to three hours with firewood or gas. with the thermal cooker, you need just 15 minutes of gas or firewood to boil it, take it off and place in the asaab thermal cooker and close. after 3 hours, it is ready. rice is just 25 minutes on the cooker after heating on any classical fire for 3 minutes. you can leave the food in the cooker for up to 10 hours and it will still be hot when you get back. our customers testify that they are preparing red beans, meat, and others. this is a way for the woman to be free. we have natural and artificial carbon footprints. using the asaab thermal cooker reduces co2.”

the tragic and avoidable chronic illnesses from unhealthy cookstoves continue to put women and girls at the most vulnerable positions as they often stand at the frontline of gathering fuels and preparing meals. to ibamie, providing the thermal cooker solution will not only save lives and the climate, but go a long way to address gender inequalities and promote girl child education in cameroon. 

“one of the motivations for the asaab thermal cooker is that i come from the far north region of cameroon, where women are often marginalized. so they don’t really go to school as they are are expected to take care of the family and not supposed to be educated in school. every time they are cooking — for up to three times per day. always cooking, so they don’t have to go anywhere because they are controlling food. for me, it was a way to give them a chance to take care of the family and also go to school, do business, or go on vacation if they want to. in fact, to be free of always going to the kitchen every time.”

a recent research publication in the pan african medical journal found that indoor pollution already kills about 7,000 people in cameroon annually. considering the numerous kitchen accidents recorded from cooking appliances, ibamie designed the asaab thermal cooker with user-safety in mind.

“i was thinking about safety. i wanted something light that customers would not need too much (experience) to use. the asaab thermal cooker is very safe to use as you don’t have to plug into current or put in the sun before using. it is very simple to use. even your children can come back from school, open it, and serve themselves easily — unlike gas, where you maybe worried that they are exposed to fire, which is very dangerous for the household.”

as the number of internally displaced women and girls continue to rise in cameroon due to security concerns such as the ongoing anglophone crisis in the northwest and southwest regions, and the boko haram insurgency in the northern regions of the country, ibamie believes the thermal cooker could not be more timely.

“the cooker is a blessing for displaced women because they are never stable. they are always moving from one place to another, so it is easy to handle. it is very light. it is less than three kilograms (approximately 6.5 pounds) and you can pack it in a handbag and you go anywhere you want to go with. i can say it is very practical.”

as an emerging young african leader, participating in the 2022 mandela washington fellowship at the university of reno, nevada, served as an opportunity to scale her business by expanding to new markets.

“i met fellows that i can work together with, in the same areas like cooking and climate change and thermal energy efficiency. so yes, i really met people and made customers who brought me other customers, so i have to ship asaab thermal cookers to the u.s.”

by helping to reduce the cutting of trees, ibamie is contributing to one of the focal points of the united nations environmental program (unep), which is to achieve a significant reduction in deforestation while boosting agricultural productivity. it also aligns nicely with one of the resolutions of the climate pact during the 26th edition of the united nations conference of parties in glasgow (cop26 glasgow climate pact), which hammered on the protection, conservation, and restoration of natural ecosystems such as forests.

according to project drawdown, if global adoption of clean cookstoves grows to 16% by 2050, 15.8 gigatons of carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced. as the world prepares to unite for the 27th u.n. conference in egypt to reflect on the progress with pledges and commitments to accelerate global actions in the climate fight, ibamie hopes that access to clean cooking will give climate delegates food for thought.

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[editor’s note: this transcript was edited for clarity.]

full transcript:

ghana, an african coastal nation of over 30 million people, is a perfect destination for westerners –– especially those tracing their roots. yet, the cost of living in ghana is higher than most arrivals may expect. one of the main drivers for the high real estate prices is the expensive cost of building materials.

what if there was a solution that doesn’t only provide affordable housing, but helps to protect the fragile environment which is already vulnerable to the negative effects of climate change?

nelson boateng, founder and chief executive officer of nelplast eco ghana limited is a young ghanain entrepreneur, a leading voice that is repurposing and diverting tons of plastic waste from landfills and oceans into affordable building materials for the construction of low-cost houses in ghana.

“when the collected plastics are brought to us, we scale and pay the collectors according to the weight. the plastics are crushed, washed semi-dried and mixed with sand and sometimes, pigments to add beauty. the mixture is then fed into an extruder with 3 heating zones, which we build ourselves. since we are using all kinds of plastic waste at their right proportion, these plastics have different melting points. as they travel through the extruder, let’s say starting from 150 degrees celsius, 180 to 220 degrees celsius, the heating zones ensure that all kinds of plastic waste is well melted and mixed with sand. this mixer comes out as a paste, which is placed in a mold with a cooling system around it and then pressed under hydraulic press. between 60 to 70 seconds, we eject one product out depending on the size and shape of the product. this product would then be packed on the palette and ready to be installed. nelplast echo plastic houses are 30% to 35% cheaper than the concrete buildings that we have, and most of our clients are happy with our projects.”

for the longest time, plastic has been the material of choice for different kinds of packaging due to its lightweight, affordability and ease of use. however, the long run consequences of easy packaging on the environment are far reaching. according to a recent undp report, ghana generates over a million tons of plastic waste every year and only 2% to 5% of the plastic waste is being recycled, and project drawdown reveals that recycling could help reduce our carbon footprints by 2 gigatons come 2030. yet, more and more concerns on the negative effects of plastic use on health, raises questions on whether there are any negative impacts of living in a house constructed from plastic waste! and how solid and resilient are these structures to natural disasters? 

“nelplast bricks are not laid with cement. they are interlocked with each other and due to that nature, they are able to contract and expand when there’s uncertainty on the earth. it can also withstand earthquakes because the walls are not rigid. they have the ability to be flexible when there is any earthquake. also in terms of cracks, the wall with plastics doesn’t crack so easily. the bricks are cheaper and stronger than conventional bricks. they can withstand water lock areas and also avoid dampness to the walls. they are safe in terms of fire, because the high percentage of the sand makes the product fire retardant. it’s not easy for these bricks to just get burnt. the bricks are designed in such a way that there is a groove in the middle of the brick that heat from outside to penetrate into the inner part of the room and also maintain the temperature of the inner part of the bricks.”

reduce, reuse, and recycle! this is the recommended way of life that boateng is actively working to promote in his home country – ghana. nelplast eco ghana limited, born out of frustration with the disturbing amounts of plastic waste continuously buried in landfills is an initiative committed to rid the country of the gulf of plastic waste that is polluting the environment and water bodies, while securing economic opportunities for the unemployed youth in ghana.

“we have the problem of plastic waste, the problem of school infrastructure, housing deficit and  unemployment. nelplast is trying to use the problem of plastic waste to build affordable houses and solve the problem of housing in ghana. build schools, create jobs for unemployed youth to reduce social violence and clean the environment. currently, nelplast employees 63 workers directly and over 300 indirect workers and 98% of this indirect workers are women who go around the landfills, drainage and beaches to collect plastic waste and sell to us – and that’s how they earn their living.”

boateng’s drive to save the environment from plastic pollution does not go by unsupported or unnoticed. 

“we won ghana uk based achievement award as innovation and technology of the year; emy africa – the green corporate star award; african product and service award; ghana property award as best echo construction product; ghana industry award; seed low carbon award and the business executive excellence award.” 

however, his ability to scale the business is confronted by many challenges.

“ghana has a lot of challenges and one of them is the cost of electricity. there are no subsidies for recyclers in ghana and that is really discouraging others to join the line. i have passion with plastics because at the age of 13 i was already working with the plastic industry. i did computer network engineering but my passion is how to deal with plastic waste. also, because of our capacity issues we get a little bit scared of accepting more contracts. a lot of people are calling who want a house, but the problem has to do with our capacity. so because of that, this year we are handling only 15 clients, next year we can add on. if we can have subsidies from the government on electricity bills, soft loans to help us expand, i think it will go a very long way.”

a recent world bank report projects that waste will grow from 2 billion tonnes in 2020 to nearly 3 billion tonnes by 2050, and the effects may be more adverse for developing countries, where more than 90% of trash is either dumped in the open or burned, worsening the climate crisis. as many look forward to the un international climate conference – cop27 – just around the corner, boateng is curious to know where plastic pollution fits in the conversations.

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[editor’s note: this transcript was edited for clarity.]

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correction (9/7/2022): an earlier version of this story misidentified where in africa ghana is located. this version corrects it.

chanel la sat at the front of the nanomaterials class ready for the first day of her ph.d. studies six years ago. she brought four pencils, several pens and a water bottle for exam day. she read her answers over and over again. 

chris tonge sat all the way in the back of the classroom and seemed more “chill.” he showed up to class with one pencil for an exam and was one of the first to finish, la said. 

they both were attending the university of british columbia pursuing doctorate degrees in chemistry. then one night, la needed to get into the nuclear magnetic resonance room, a lab with a giant magnet that allows for visualization of molecular structure. there’s only one room like it that all the graduate students shared and la needed to drop off her sample. la forgot her keys in her lab so she texted the group chat seeking help from another first-year student. 

she asked if anybody could let her into this room. everyone responded they were already home, since it was 10 o’clock, except tonge. so, tonge let her in and they had their first real conversation. 

“i was surprised that he worked so hard,” la said, considering he was the only one who was still working in the lab. after that conversation, they planned to go on a date to the aquarium and to get ramen. 

“the rest is history,” tonge said. 

la’s mom is from malaysia and her dad is from vietnam. tonge’s dad is from england and his mom is from spain. la sat in the front of the class and tonge in the back.

but the chemistry is there. “we just mesh really well,” tonge said. 

and chemistry is taking their research in innovative directions. during their ph.d. program, they both focused on making polymers, organic compounds with a sequence of units repeated. la focused on protons as a building block. and tonge? electrons. a proton is a positively charged subatomic particle and an electron is negatively charged. it’s as if their differences and the natural pull of negative charge to positive charge drew them together.  

they also made discoveries within their own research during their studies. la created a library of drug molecules and one of them is promising for helping dissolve blood clots without the problematic side effect of promoting bleeding. tonge helped create experimental emitters for oleds, or organic light-emitting diodes, that could make televisions more efficient with capabilities to last longer, save energy and create purer color.

focusing on protons and the discovery of a new drug molecule to help with thrombosis

la’s high-school science teacher piqued her interest in chemistry, which led her to continue studying chemistry in graduate school and focus on molecules to help decrease blood clots.

depending on where they move in the bloodstream, blood clots can lead to strokes, heart attacks and breathing problems. surgery and several physical conditions increase the risk of blood clots from forming. while current antithrombotic agents are available such as heparin, they can increase the risk of bleeding, said jayachandran kizhakkedathu, la’s professor at ubc and principal investigator of the research. 

the goal of la’s research was to create a drug molecule that can prevent thrombosis, or clotting of the blood inside a blood vessel, without the side effects of bleeding. 

to reach this goal, la worked with experts who focused on enzymes and proteins within the clotting cascade. the clotting cascade is “the series of enzymatic events that occur for a blood clot to form,” la said. 

previous research from james morrissey, a biological chemistry professor at the university of michigan, discovered that polyphosphate, a naturally occurring, negatively charged biopolymer, plays multiple roles within the clotting cascade, and primarily speeds up the clotting process. 

la explains how many current anticoagulants target key factors within the clotting cascade such as thrombin. other drugs can inhibit different key enzymes within the clotting cascade, kizhakkedathu said. la was looking to design polymers that inhibit and target polyphosphate. 

“if you can inhibit polyphosphate, you’re not inhibiting one of the key factors like thrombin, and you may have reduced bleeding as a side effect,” la said.  

previous studies show positive polymers like polyethyleneimine do bind to polyphosphate. however, because these polymers are extremely positively charged, they not only bind to polyphosphate but other essential negative polymers in the body. this can be toxic and ultimately lead to other side effects. 

so, la designed and synthesized a library of polymers. the core of the polymer is globular and she functionalized it with “positive partners that would bind to the polyphosphate.”

the goal was to have enough positive charge on the molecule that it can bind to polyphosphate without binding to the other essential negative ions within the blood that can lead to toxic side effects. 

“you’re trying to find that balance. positive enough, but not too positive,” la said. 

the next step was to conduct research with in vitro studies, studies within the lab, and in vivo studies, or studies using living animals. three of the drug molecules did well in vitro and moved on to in vivo studies with mice. 

la traveled to michigan where she worked with morrissey to look at the drug molecule more closely. she looked at whether the drug by itself would induce bleeding by administering the drug to a mouse and letting it circulate for five minutes. then she cut the tail and measured the bleeding time and quantity of blood loss. this is compared to a control using saline and heparin.

based on this work, la’s university and university of michigan have since applied for a provisional patent on these set of drug molecules and researchers are studying the effects in large animal models. after getting the patent, the next steps are to build a body of evidence to show the efficacy and safety of the drug, la said. then the drug molecule will hopefully be tested with humans.

“the holy grail for thrombosis treatment is to develop a drug molecule which could prevent thrombosis, but also won’t have any side effects such as bleeding,” kizhakkedathu said. “we are close to that, but we don’t know,” considering more evaluation needs to be done on larger animals and then humans. this process can take years.

“the basis of the technology is to adapt beyond polyphosphate and is a valuable platform to design more positive polymer therapeutics,” la said.

focusing on electrons and making emitters and complex polymer structures 

tonge’s love for chemistry started when he was in middle school. he loved doing experiments where significant visual changes were observed, such as foaming and color changes. this love of chemistry led him to pursue a ph.d. in organic chemistry, where he focused on developing and producing emissive compounds of many different colors.

besides making multicolored fluorescent compounds, he also worked closely developing “complex polymeric structures” using these emitters to simulate multilayer organic electronic devices such as an organic solar cell or an organic led.

a typical led television can be simplified to two key layers. one layer is a light emitting layer that functions as a backlight and the other layer is a color filter, which changes the color of the light to give you a pixel. basically, these led televisions have a part that makes “white” light across the color spectrum and another that selectively removes or tunes the color from that light to leave the color you see, tonge said. 

on the other hand, an organic led, or oled, makes light by specifically designing fluorescent emitters to address the colors that are being emitted by the screen. this creates very vibrant colors as well as deep black colors that are desirable to consumers. these emitters generate light by generating an excited state on an emitter using electricity followed by quenching of that excited state to emit light. 

with these oleds, manufacturers design panels with very small, emissive pixels, the smallest subunit of the panel that “can make all the colors that you’re trying to display.”  when electricity enters a pixel, it glows a specific color based on the emissive properties of the dyes used and the specific energy levels of the emitters to create the image seen on the screen. so, when you want the pixel to be red, just the red lights up. this also allows for very deep black colors because when it’s black, it just turns off. this is different than a normal televisions where the light is still on behind the color filter, leading to a slight glow even when the pixel is turned off, tonge said. 

the experimental emitters he made throughout his doctorate started off with simple electron transport and hole transport polymers for emissive devices. when working with these compounds, he found several highly emissive donor-acceptor intermediates that drew his interest. these emissive compounds emit light as electrons fall “from an excited state to a non-excited state,” tonge said. “the color that’s emitted is defined by the energy gap from the excited state to the ground state.”

to generate high energy blue light, a high energy gap from excited state to ground state is needed. tonge explained it’s harder to make blue pixels that last for a long time because it’s a very high energy emission. the high energy excited states required are unstable leading to emitters decomposing. when it comes to red light, it’s a “very small energy drop,” so small that the excited states can quench without emitting light. “sometimes, instead of emitting light, your excited electron just dissipates as heat,” tonge said. the easiest color to make with high efficiency is green as these emitters are less likely to decompose because of high energy states.

one of the highlights of tonge’s work included designing and synthesizing a super high-efficiency red emitter. what tonge was doing in the lab was “proof-of-concept work and not focused on making something commercially viable.” the emitter is more stable, more efficient and has higher color purity than many emitters on the market. despite these advantages, the low-yielding synthesis makes the cost of this emitter to be very high, about “$10,000 a gram, and they need about a gram per tv,” tonge said. 

“when things break down inside an oled, it’s because of undesired side reactivity happening that was not anticipated,” tonge said. this usually means something in a high energy state reacts with something else instead of emitting light or even undergoes a spontaneous rearrangement that results in decomposition of the emitters. tonge’s contributions focused on developing emitters were more “rigid” and less likely to undergo side reactions. he did this by bridging adjacent groups and by blocking the positions of the molecules where side reactions happen most frequently.

besides simple emitters, he also worked on some more complex polymers, specifically focusing on large macromolecules called a bottlebrush polymer. picture a pipe cleaner where there is a wire in the middle and many hairs or brushes perpendicular to that wire along its length. for his project he made a bottlebrush polymer by connecting norbornene, or a specific “handle people use to build polymers, building blocks to generate the wire in the middle of the brush. these norbornenes were modified with short, polymeric semiconductors to simulate a multilayer electronic device in a single polymer chain. in this way, he would attach a series of polymers tuned to glow specific colors or have specific properties.

“like a tree of christmas tree lights,” tonge said. 

he gives this example of an application of bottlebrush polymers. he was able to demonstrate that if the “brush” side arms of these polymers were segregated by electronic properties, it was possible to directly allow or prevent charge transfer between adjacent arms in the solid state. this can be observed by choosing two polymers that emit one color when they are prepared in a film, but form a complex when mixed together in a film that emits a different color. by making bottlebrushes that are separated into two distinct regions, it prevents the two polymers from mixing. simply put, this means a mixed film can be forced to glow as if the polymers were not mixed at all. 

the ability to control how components of organic semiconductors mix in the solid state is important for designing devices with long life spans and consistent performance over the life of the device. 

the benefits of tonge’s emitters include longer lifespans for the device, higher efficiencies and improved color purity. his creations aren’t used commercially, but the lab continues to explore the use of these emitters and polymer architectures for additional applications. 

while certain devices may not last forever, the future for la and tonge looks bright. they live together with their dog chuckles in chicago and their bond continues to get stronger with each year that passes. 

the next step? picking out a ring to solidify their bond and the magnetic force that drew them together. 

christmon is a fourth-year ph.d. candidate conducting research within the university of maryland’s department of entomology where she studies the parasites of honeybees in dr. dennis vanengelsdorp’s lab. she earned her previous degrees at the university of west hungary and the university of exeter in the united kingdom. she became involved in combating pollution through the surfrider foundation, a national group with whom she began organizing cleanup events and witnessing the effect of pollution on local waterways.

when the college of agriculture and natural resources tasked students with repurposing out-of-service poultry houses for the fall 2020 agenterprise challenge, christmon entered with a proposal for washing-sorting-recycling facilities for used plastics. her idea of establishing agro-plastic recycling plants won first prize, followed by projects involving a hydroponics farm and an aquaponics farm.

she now runs repurpose farm plastic llc with benjamin rickles, the company’s cto and fifth year ph.d. student in umd’s neuroscience and cognitive science program. while his background is in psychology —he studies neural processes in reading comprehension —rickles joined christmon out of commitment to his long-term goal to build a plastic recycling machine. according to his biography on the repurpose farm plastic website, he has a collection of napkin sketches depicting cleaning machines.

increasing the value of recycled agro-plastic to further sustainable farm practices is listed as the company’s forefront mission, and repurpose farm plastic llc notably aligns itself with the united nations’ sustainable development goals —particularly goal 12: responsible consumption and production. the pillar is described as one that encourages reducing, reusing, and recycling at the workplace —exactly what repurpose farm plastic llc aims to do on behalf of plastic consumers in agriculture.

“when it comes to plastic, the united states —and everything in the united states —has to adapt to be ahead of the curve,” said christmon. “it’s interesting to look to international rules for some sort of guidance.”

“a lot of what’s going on, i feel like, is like we’re relying on a lot of altruism,” added rickles. “the purpose of our company is to develop technologies and good systems for recycling. we’re trying to meet that point where sustainability is both ecological and cost-effective.”

the recycling and repurposing processes that the company is considering after the research they’ve conducted so far, he said, seems to decrease energy expenditure. not only is this good for the environment, but it’s important for keeping the price of recycled plastic down. part of the current urgent concerns for repurpose farm plastic llc is education and outreach for agricultural plastic consumers, especially in cases where farmers still burn their plastics as a cheap means of discarding waste.

“what happens in some cases is, farmers burn the plastic, and those gasses and chemicals that are released — unfiltered — add to the greenhouse emissions and cause climate change,” explained christmon. “repurposing is the best option.”

with thousands of farmers in the eastern shore, the university of maryland extension (ume) has provided repurpose farm plastic llc with networks of county agents who connect them to farmers interested in participating in repurposing initiatives. the challenge, rickles explained, is offering their services to farmers while also managing expectations.

“part of the difficulty has been to talk to farmers in a way to get information about what they need, what they’re interested in, but not to promise them that we have a solution for them just yet,” he said. “so the ones that we’ve partnered with are very intimate relationships. saying ‘hey, this is what we’re doing — we just want to do experiments.’”

christmon and rickles’ status as students have benefited the company’s development in several ways — not only are more people willing to speak to them because they are students, but many of the university’s resources have proved valuable in building the company’s network and presence in maryland.

“one thing about being students is that we’re able to partner with the university education centers,” rickles said. “the university has research farms all around the state. and because we’re students, we’re able to connect with them, they’re letting us use some property. and that’s the kind of thing that wouldn’t be available to us if we had graduated.”

while they admitted that launching a business as a student has as many benefits as setbacks — emphasizing the importance of making time for sleeping and eating well — these available resources have made for a successful first year for repurpose farm plastic llc.

“it was actually a perfect time for us,” rickles said. “the university has given us the training wheels, and we can branch off.”

as they look toward what’s next for the business, christmon feels her academic trajectory has enhanced her business tactics so far, and will continue to complement her abilities as she runs the company.

“how to gather data, how to do the research, how to network — all the skills are transferable to this business,” she explained. “and (with) what i learn in the business now, for example, going out and meeting people and presenting my research… i feel like i have better confidence and also better able to network in that setting. they build on each other and add to each other.”

rickles hopes he’s able to mesh his research and passions in a similar way, balancing his future in neuroscience with his future in the business.

“i feel like i get to measure the impact of what my neuroscience work would have on the world, versus what this recycling project has on the world. and i’m excited to see which one would be better.”

founded in 2000 by nigel savage, hazon has impacted thousands upon thousands of people, jewish and non-jewish, across the united states and israel as the “largest faith-based environmental organization in the u.s.” their work takes many forms and contexts over the last twenty years as they continue to be a resource and teacher to the jewish community on the path to sustainability. hazon’s mission is deeply rooted in the jewish value of tikkun olam, repairing the world, as evidenced by their mission statement: “we are in a global environmental crisis. jewish tradition compels us to respond.” calling themselves “the jewish lab for sustainability,” hazon uses jewish traditions and values, innovation, education, and community to bring environmentalism into the jewish community.  

i spoke to two people who work at hazon, wren hack, director of hazon detroit, and shamu sadeh, managing director of education at the isabella freedman jewish retreat center in falls village, ct, to talk about their work and the work of hazon as a whole. 

hazon has a presence in a number of cities across the country, including detroit. wren hack calls detroit a “lab for hazon,” where they have the opportunity to “create and execute new programs here that we believe and hope will be replicable for other communities.” they have had several events focusing on local and sustainable food, grains and beans in particular. at an event last year called “breaking bread together,” they were able to support a local farm and its regenerative farming practices by bringing in community members to learn about the grain they grow and the process of making bread, from grain to loaf. they also built an outdoor bread oven on the property and donated bags of flour and grains back to the community. another group hazon has worked with is the oakland avenue urban farm, a local nonprofit. here, hazon serves as a supporting partner, helping them to write grants and get funding for various projects. hack talked about the role of hazon in this case of asking what the community needs and making sure to really listen. hazon is mostly made up of white suburbanites, and the farm is an urban, black community organization. they focus on providing support and resources, approaching from a place of building a relationship as neighbors, acknowledging the imbalances. with the successes of these and similar programs, they are looking at how they can be replicated in other communities.  

the hazon jewish food festival is one of their most popular events every year. more than 7,000 people were in attendance in 2019. the main attraction, of course, is the food from local farms and vendors, but they also have sustainable arts and crafts, opportunities to learn about things like composting and rain barrels. it is a chance to expose many people to ideas and possibilities of sustainable food. organizations who have participated in the hazon seal of sustainability program, one of hazon’s major national programs, and received the seal of sustainability also table at the event and have the opportunity to show the community what projects they are working on. 

hack also spoke on the seal of sustainability. through this program, “sites” like synagogues, jewish community centers, and jewish day schools can undergo a series of audits that determine their sustainability strengths and weaknesses. from there, the site can choose an area they want to improve on and can receive a grant for $1000 to put towards a specific project. projects can include anything from changing to led light bulbs, going from plastic foam cups to glass cups, or buying local organic eggs. at the end of the year, the site is expected to take up the continuing costs, but can apply for a grant towards another project. the program also provides staff and community resources to support the effort. detroit is home to over 20 sites, with plans and funding to reach many more in the next few years. since the first year in 2016, there have been over 80 participating sites across the country. 

the isabella freedman jewish retreat center, which became part of hazon in 2014, is another major part of what hazon does. the retreat center is located in rural connecticut on 400 acres of land. the highlights of the grounds include the main building with beautiful art, cozy chairs, and a dining hall that serves incredible food, much of it grown on the farm on the property. there are cabins and more hotel-like lodging for guests to stay in, as well as a few yurts. there are trails and a lake to enjoy, and, of course, the farm and animals. they host various events throughout the year, including many centering on jewish holidays as well as yoga retreats, and other interest-based programs. 

the retreat center has been doing jewish, educational outdoor programming since 1994 when it started the teva (“nature”) learning center in conjunction with surprise lake camp. for over 25 years teva has provided thousands of jewish children with the opportunity to learn about the importance of nature and ways that they can help take care of the earth in their own lives. shamu sadeh co-founded adamah (“ground” or “earth”) in 2003 at isabella freedman. adamah is a three-month residential leadership program for jewish young adults interested in exploring the relationship between their judaism and the environment, particularly through stewardship and farming. “it was a way for us to put all these things together,” sadeh said. “intentional community, creative jewish spirituality, greening this institution, farming, celebrating [sabbath] after a week of hard work in the field, experiencing blessings over food when you’ve grown the food yourself, a real kind of do-it-yourself and empowerment oriented version of jewish community.” the jewish outdoor, food, farming & environmental education (jofee) fellowship is another similar program. fellows spend two weeks at the retreat center learning from hazon staff and field experts before going out into jewish communities where they help develop and lead programs that integrate the focuses of the program. sadeh noted the impact that the many alum of these programs have had in the international jewish community in camps, jewish community centers, and other similar settings, saying it is “[t]he biggest shift in the world we helped create.” 

one of the most surprising things to come out of isabella freedman, sadeh said, was the christian groups who have been coming to them to ask how to build something like isabella freedman in their own communities. sadeh attributes this outcome to the chapter that highlighted them in “soil and sacrament: a spiritual memoir of food and faith,” by author fred bahnson who came to the center for a week to write about it. christian groups look to them as a model of how to integrate faith, food, farming, and community and want to replicate what they have done. one relationship that has been created is with the wake forest divinity school. for two years, students were brought to isabella freedman to learn, and for the third year, sadeh went and taught at the school in their food and spirituality program. other groups include other retreat centers, a farm in the midwest looking to incorporate faith, local churches, and documentary makers, all interested in learning about what isabella freedman is doing. 

i asked both hack and sadeh what they felt the impact of hazon has been. “hazon catalyzed jewish food movement,” sadeh said, referring to the infusion of ancient values and ideas about food that the organization has brought and adapted to contemporary life. he went on to say that “people can connect to food and earth and evolve their tradition,” a sentiment that hack echoed. she spoke to the effect that hazon has through all of its different programs and locations, and all of those conversations “[have] an impact because we have an impact on thousands and thousands of people” and it all adds up, especially when they bring those conversations back to their communities and continue them. 

the climate is at a tipping point. hazon provides jewish people and communities, opportunities to take actions that not only coexists with but amplifies jewish values and living. it has built a foundation of education and community organized around shared identity, experiences, and values to address the most immediate crisis the world is facing. the potential for religious organizations to take these actions is shown in hazon’s work, and others are following their lead.

technology isn’t perfect. nevertheless, it is undoubtedly one of our most powerful tools for creating innovative solutions to address the problems we have created. recently, technology has created a number of user-friendly ways to materialize eco-friendly concepts. by simply choosing to integrate some of these solutions in your own life, you too can help spread solution-orientated social norms, without much physical effort at all. 

not only do these following solutions help reduce your carbon footprint, but they also promote a culture of convenient climate-friendly behaviors and consciousness among your fellow peers. these solutions help people to visualize their own progress as well, showing us the ways in which we are improving— uplifting our spirits in a time when it’s needed most.

1. ecosia

the first accessible and eco-friendly solution for creating a greener planet is ecosia: a search engine that magically transforms the revenue from advertisements in your search results into planted trees. ecosia does this by donating more than 80% of its profits to nonprofit organizations which then carry out reforestation projects. 

the idea of planting trees has understandably been long popular. not only do trees effectively absorb the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, but they also (theoretically) help to alleviate poverty by providing food and income in areas lacking resources. the german company plants its trees through various projects like the eden reforestation project, focusing its work on biodiversity hotspots across 15 different countries. although there has been some skepticism online about the integrity of their claims, ecosia aims to be as transparent as possible, and regularly publishes their tree planting payments and financial reports on their website. you can personally track how many trees you’ve ‘planted’ by watching the number steadily increase on the side of your browser. internet users can quickly download the extension from the chrome web store to set ecosia as their default search engine.

as of august 2019, it is estimated that the company has planted over 70,000,000 trees since their launch in 2014, the equivalent of offsetting the carbon emissions from over 6 million flights from new york to berlin.

2. oroeco

oroeco is both a website and an app that rewards you for taking action to fight climate change. it works by putting a “carbon value” on daily decisions (what you buy, eat, energy consumption, transportation) which are then used to calculate a user’s personal carbon emissions, as well as their monthly carbon footprint. these calculations are made using data from uc berkeley’s coolclimate research group.

most of us are much more motivated by the immediate actions we can take to combat climate change, the ones that have instant rewards. using oroeco, you can have both the satisfaction of taking action and getting rewarded for it. a feature of the app allows you to compete with your facebook friends as well as earn rewards (though virtual and real-life prizes) for reducing your carbon emissions. let’s say your footprint for the month of november is especially high, as you took two flights to go visit your family for thanksgiving break. through the app, you can directly purchase carbon offsets to make up for your emissions!

ian monroe, the founder of oroeco, points out that climate change is a “collective action problem that we all contribute to through our lifestyle choices” and that while governments do play an important role in making our choices cleaner, people also “need incentives in the right places to nudge [them] towards cleaner choices on a daily basis.”

3. bikemap

tired of high gas prices and crowded bus commutes? ever considered investing in a bicycle to get around quickly and healthily? the app bikemap compiles gps and user data to share the best and safest cycling routes all around the world, giving you yet another good reason to hop on your saddle.

bicycles are on the rise, and for good reason! they offer affordable transportation, reduce traffic, and decrease carbon emissions, all while keeping the rider in shape. project drawdown estimates that if bike infrastructure was successfully implemented by 2050, it would result in a reduction of 2.31 gigatons carbon dioxide, and in $400.47 billion net operational savings. we could all use a little more fresh air in our lives, and apps like this one help promote the culture of climate-friendly transportation, which in-turn, coincidentally, makes our air fresher! the safer and easier it is to bike around, the more people will be motivated to do it. through the app you can also connect with other cyclists, potentially helping you expand your community and share routes with other riders and friends. 

4. howgood

howgood is a sustainable food and household product rating company, that aims to increase transparency about where our food comes from. the app shares where grocery store items are grown, the practices that are used to raise animals, if the workers are paid fair wages, and more, ultimately helping customers understand the “real story” behind food labels. the company uses the world’s largest database on sustainable food to generate a ‘sustainability score’ for food products, which users can search up by scanning the barcode of products found in stores.

“we wanted to create a simple tool for consumers to get the information they need on food choice right at the point of purchase,” explains founder alexander gillett.

one of the easiest ways in which individuals can take daily action to reduce their impact on the planet is by changing what they consume in their diets. a plethora of research shows the overwhelming environmental degradation caused by industrialized agriculture, particularly the meat and dairy industries, which is why what we chose to consume is so important. the more informed consumers are about what they buy, the better, as they are more likely to make smarter, more sustainable choices.

5. your social network— like, comment, and share!

when considering all these various technological solutions, its important to evaluate how our own social media networks can also act as a vessel of change. you may not realize it, but just like with every dollar you spend, the things that you post and share on social media have an impact.

i want you to think about how many friends you have on facebook, then combine that number with the followers you have on instagram, twitter, maybe even linkedin. got it? okay. you have the potential to influence each and every one of these people. 

you may think that the actions you make as an individual don’t have an impact, but think about all of the people who are viewing the choices and actions you make online. 45 percent of teenagers are online “almost constantly” receiving high quantities of information about what their friends are up to. studies show that over imitation, the action of copying everything another person does is a universal human trait.

therefore, harnessing the social networks that so many young people have and are influenced by is a great way to promote sustainable alternatives in our day-to-day activities.

an example of a positive way that you can use social media is by tagging and supporting projects such as the lionsshare fund. the lion’s share initiative asks brands who use images of animals in their advertising to donate a portion of their income to conservation projects. the united nations development program then uses that money to protect animals in the wild, preserve habitats, and save species from extinction. and it’s working. the revenue generated from this innovative and partnership orientated idea has already helped decrease elephant poaching in mozambique and safeguard the some of the last sumatran tigers. so next time you see an animal in an advertisement remember to ask the brand if they’re a part of @lionssharefund!

want to increase your positive impact right now? start by sharing this article. with one click, more people like you will be inspired to work in ways that protect our planet.

it might seem hard to believe, but how to deal with plastic problem may lie in prickly pear cactuses. researchers in mexico are making plastic out of cactus. the plastic made out of prickly-pear juice breaks down in weeks rather than centuries. several companies are interested in collaborating with the researcher, who has applied for a patent for this technology. it means prickly pear plastic bags could make it to grocery stores in just a matter of years.