Living in a drought in California changes your perspective on rainfall. After 9 months without rain, we were thrilled that a huge atmospheric river was heading our way. We had about 24 hours of non-stop rain on Sunday. Every drop that landed on our roof funneled down pipes directly into our 18 IBC tanks.
Each tank holds about 275 gallons of rainwater. The west side of our roof filled 8 IBC tanks, while the east side filled 10 IBC tanks. Imagine that? We collected about 5,000 gallons in one day!
We just filled a separate 5,000-gallon tank from left-over water from last season – so now we have a total of 10,000 gallons reserved. We use this to irrigate our 30 fruit trees and raspberry/blackberry patches.
With a warming climate causing extreme weather conditions, we need to plan how to conserve the rainwater we do get. It gives me a great sense of security knowing I have enough water for next year’s fruit harvest.
Living in a drought in California changes your perspective on rainfall. After 9 months without rain, we were thrilled that a huge atmospheric river was heading our way. We had about 24 hours of non-stop rain on Sunday. Every drop that landed on our roof funneled down pipes directly into our 18 IBC tanks.
Each tank holds about 275 gallons of rainwater. The west side of our roof filled 8 IBC tanks, while the east side filled 10 IBC tanks. Imagine that? We collected about 5,000 gallons in one day!
We just filled a separate 5,000-gallon tank from left-over water from last season – so now we have a total of 10,000 gallons reserved. We use this to irrigate our 30 fruit trees and raspberry/blackberry patches.
With a warming climate causing extreme weather conditions, we need to plan how to conserve the rainwater we do get. It gives me a great sense of security knowing I have enough water for next year’s fruit harvest.
Should have taken a “before” photo with all of my phones, headset, MURS radio, ham radio, Dakota Alert desk radio, my remote controls (for AC and irrigation), and office equipment. It was a heaping mess of wires, cables, and just too much stuff. Designed this phone shelf to sit next to my desk so I could have everything within an arm’s reach. I know, I know, I know… this is WEIRD, but I love wrapping cables and organizing all my stuff.
Diabetes killed 1.5 million people in 2019, and it is completely preventable. The World Health Organization currently lists diabetes as the 9th leading cause of death in the world. When a pre-diabetic person’s fasting blood sugar elevates to 126 mg/dL, they pass a threshold that means that they will be diabetic for life. After that point, there is absolutely nothing that can be done to reverse it. But, if pre-diabetic people monitor their blood sugar so they don’t pass 126, they can avoid diabetes completely. Aurchana Manickavasagan talks about the dangers that lie in the permanence of diabetes, and how checking your numbers consistently is the key to long, diabetes-free life.
About Aurchana Manickavasagan:
Aurchana Manickavasagan is a senior in high school and the founder of Daily Dose of Sugar. She wants to attend medical school to become a surgeon. She enjoys reading, playing badminton, and trying new kinds of food.
Come see Aurchana Manickavasagan at TEDxMeritAcademy at the Rio Theatre on Nov 7th at 1:00-3:00 pm in Santa Cruz, CA.
Our population is rapidly increasing, and our food supply can barely keep up. Pests relentlessly attack crops, threatening the stability of our food supply. Pesticides are necessary to stop these pests, but the use of these only harm us and the environment around us. It seems as if it’s an inescapable dilemma — do we protect our environment or our food supply? But do we really need to answer this question at all? In his speech, Ishan discusses the application of the mushroom Cordyceps militaris as a highly effective pesticide that poses no threat to the environment, as well as the health problems that pesticides pose to us as humans.
About Ishan Bhatia:
Ishan Bhatia is a junior in high school and is interested in researching a variety of scientific ideas and topics, as well as specific fields such as biochemistry and neuroscience. He also plays the French Horn and in his free time, he likes to hang out with friends, sing, and play video games.
Come see Ishan Bhatia at TEDxMeritAcademy’s COUNTDOWN at the Rio Theatre on Nov 7th at 1:00-3:00 pm in Santa Cruz, CA.
Tim Niemier asks if we can come up with a universal way of measuring what we do as individuals, what our governments do, and what our corporations do or don’t do. Do we want to depend on our government or corporations to act and regulate or can we do it ourselves?
About Tim Niemier:
Tim Niemier grew up in Malibu and designed the first sit-on-top kayak, which became a multi-million dollar business, Ocean Kayaks. Tim lives in Bellingham, WA, where he is launching his most recent creation: the Origami Paddler — a paddleboard that folds into thirds for easy transportation. A true environmentalist, Tim has ideas worth spreading.
Come see Tim Niemier at TEDxMeritAcademy’s COUNTDOWN at the Rio Theatre on Nov 7th at 1:00-3:00 pm in Santa Cruz, CA.
Many premature babies die each year because they do not have access to basic care and technology. Nishi created a low-cost neonatal incubator that can maintain a temperature of 34-35 degrees Celsius for up to four hours without the use of technology. So far, her Impact Incubators has distributed 100 incubators in rural areas of India.
About Nishi Dharia:
Nishi Dharia is a senior in high school from Milpitas, CA. Next year in college, she plans to major in Biochemistry and hopes to become a gynecologist after medical school. She also loves fashion designing and plans to explore this industry in her spare time.
Come see Nishi Dharia at TEDxMeritAcademy at the Rio Theatre on Nov 7th at 1:00-3:00 pm in Santa Cruz, CA.
In 2020, over 18,000 structures were burned in wildfires across the country. These fires are often caused by small individual embers and not just engulfed by direct flame contact. As a result, the building materials used can be the difference between protecting a home and losing it to fire. Anush Anand identifies the problem with vinyl products and illustrates the risk homeowners take when relying on vinyl through statistics, reasoning, and a demonstration. He also discusses solutions and proposes potential legislation to have a positive, long-lasting impact on home protection in the future.
About Anush Anand:
Anush Anand is a high school senior in Sunnyvale, California and enjoys community service, soccer, and Boy Scouts. He also competes in FBLA and Robotics and works as a youth soccer referee. Anush hopes to dramatically reduce the vinyl used in home protection and plans on continuing to advocate for fire prevention.
In 1831, Mississippi College was the first coed college in the US to grant a degree to a woman. Imagine that. Women fought to gain the right to earn bachelor’s degrees, then master’s and PhDs/MDs/JDs.
Now 60% of all college students are made up of women – an all-time high. In 2020-2021, men only made up 40% according to the National Student Clearinghouse.
This trend has been escalating for about 40 years, and if it continues, the number of women may be twice that of men in the next few years.
When looking closely at these numbers, poor and working-class white men are enrolling at lower rates than young Black, Latino, and Asian men from the same economic background. Hmm. What’s going on?
I’ve decided to only drink liquids out of glass – not plastic, which is fine when I’m at home, but not when I go out. It’s almost impossible to buy water or drinks in glass bottles so I started drinking kombucha. To be honest, the first time I tried it I spit it out because I thought it was rotten juice. It took some getting used to, and now I’m on connoisseur of kombucha.
I also love the thick glass bottles that kombucha comes in, and found it difficult to put them in the recycling can. I saved a few to refill with water, but soon found that I had over 50 glass bottles in my cabinets. Not wanting to recycle them, I decided to reuse or repurpose them.
Putting pen to paper, I designed a simple shelf system to house over 50 bottles. My buddy Mario and I put it together and installed it in just a few hours. That was the easy part.
Then I decided to reorganize my entire tool shelves. I pulled out every drawer and sorted drill bits, router bits, screws, hooks, and every odd piece that sat in my drawers. I like this new system better because I can see everything in the bottles instead of having to read labels and pull open drawers.
My daughter Nicole and I both share this uncanny enjoyment of sorting and organizing things. We find it therapeutic to transform messes into organized systems. I think she’s the only one who appreciates my latest project. A good friend teased me by asking if Nicole and I share the same therapist! Some people just don’t have a sense of humor…
Sometimes I just want to make something beautiful… just for me. Didn’t care that it wasn’t fashionable. Bought silk flowers online but they looked like fake plastic flowers. So I went to Beverly’s Fabrics and bought a dozen bouquets of my favorite flowers (silk), pulled out my hot glue gun, and created 24 silk hair pieces. Had so much fun making a variety of designs to go with different outfits that I didn’t realize it was 2:00 am when I finished! I love the way it makes me feel to wear beautiful flowers in my hair. I guess I really am a child of the ‘60s!
