Conservation & Community Service
Sustainable Farming
The Ecology Center is a 28-acre Regenerative Organic Certified™ farm and education center that serves as a hub for southern California’s ecological movement. From a "Fermentation Lab" where surplus produce is repurposed to minimize waste, to a "Farm Kitchen" where innovative flavors and recipes are developed, the end goal is to enable better healthy sustainable living, and contribute to an abundant future.
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I volunteer there weekly far various tasks either digging in the soil, or bean sorting or in the kitchen and also through Climate Solutions Society encourage more teenagers to join. It has been an incredibly rewarding experience.
My Week in the Wild
Wildlife Preservation
I spent a life-changing week in South Africa as part of animal and nature conservation efforts. Saw how a region devastated by overhunting and over-farming was completely turned around and in 30 years has become a thriving ecosystem for plants, animals, and humans living there.
This was a great example of the Planetizen concept where a group of people from around the world come together and created an environment that cares for its Land, Wildlife, and People at the same time.
I was incredibly proud to spend a day with a group of dedicated scientists and conservationists in South Africa caring for an endangered Black Rhino. We first darted the Rhino from a helicopter. Then I helped get the Rhino’s blood sample, and attached identifiers to its ears.
In the end, the Rhino woke up and safely returned to his family. Black Rhino populations in Africa went from ~100,000 in 1950, to ~3000 in the early 2000s. Because of the efforts of these conservationists, the population has grown back to ~6000 and is slowly increasing, despite illegal hunting still continuing.
STEM advocate - engaging and supporting other youth
I have been working with United Nations, UNESCO, UNICEF and various non-profits serving children around the globe in order to promote STEM education and environmental activism. I’ve been named a UNESCO/Learning Planet Youth Fellow and have started Climate Solutions Society, a non-profit committed to connecting talented young people who want to take concrete steps to combat climate change, but don’t have the resources to get started.
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Over the past few years, across numerous events (example UNESCO 14th International Forum of NGOs - AI and Youth) I have presented to thousands of youth, hundreds have reached out to me for guidance, mentorship and technology, and there are now multiple STEM based environmental projects that have been kicked off based on technology and/or guidance provided by me.
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I've been volunteering as a tennis coach for a number of years now. I realized years ago that there are very talented youth struggling to make progress with tennis simply because they have not been as fortunate as me to have access to coaching. I tried to fill that gap for them and I am very happy that mutliple of them were able to make it onto their high school tennis teams. I've also been honored to work with a wonderful organization called Serving Advantage teaching tennis to kids on the Autism spectrum. The mission of this activity is to help children with special needs develop a love for tennis while enhancing their social skills. Additionally, we work to promote awareness and acceptance for the special needs community. It is such a rewarding experience.