The summers have never been hotter, and the winters have never been harsher. Communities that are at a socio-economic disadvantage feel the brunt of the impact of climate change. I personally come from one of these communities, and my experience with climate change has not been easy. During summers, my family is forced to pick and choose the days to turn on the air-conditioning, and during winters, we sleep under a mountain of blankets. I'm thankful that I had the luxury of air-conditioning and enough blankets for my entire family. But I'm acutely aware that there are people around the world who lack these basic comforts. With this in mind, I decided to focus my efforts on combating our changing climate. I found that Environmental Engineering offers a path where I can create a real difference. There are countless goals I hope to achieve in my life, but I believe that my time is best spent working in this field. If I can help even one person avoid worrying about their electricity bill for heating or cooling their home, or prevent an argument about finances, then I truly believe that Environmental Engineering is the right path for me.

"Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!" is a phrase that's consistently been pushed throughout my schooling years and one that I've taken quite seriously all my life. At first, I understood sustainable practices as a way to keep our streets clean and to preserve the minuscule amount of water on our planet. However, I came to realize that my efforts alone were barely enough to make a dent in the landfill covering the sidewalks of my town. Negligence and inaction by corporations have put my community through a climate crisis due to the Vernon Exide battery plant spill, which affected low-income communities all around Vernon. I only recently became aware of what occurred when the beautiful patches of flowers my neighbor cared for were torn up by lead that seeped into every part of my life. As a society of educated people, there needs to be a greater push for sustainable practices. I know that it's so simple to claim, why would one wage war if there is not a world worth fighting over? A future so bleak that industry leaders, instead of seeking out ways to fix our planet Earth, have decided to seek a fruitless escape to Mars. There seems to be no answer or way to the future, but I know the way. I know that young people are the key to the future. A sustainable future where beautiful coral reefs continue to exist; a sustainable future where people don't lose their homes to rising sea levels; a sustainable future where people don't die due to extreme weather patterns. I personally plan to pursue sustainability by involving myself in power generation. Above all else, would it be fair to the next generation to leave it worse off than I found it?

Hello, my name is Diego Blas and I'm a rising senior from California. I've always had a great interest in the three E's: environmentalism, engineering, and electricity. My interest in these three stems from vastly different places. I attribute my appreciation of the environment to my experience with California Academic Decathlon and my own experience living near an industrial city, Vernon. Firstly, my experience growing up has been shaped by factors outside of my control such as who I was born to, where I was born, and most importantly, where I was raised. I grew up in Maywood, a fairly small city surrounded by cities such as Bell and Vernon. The biggest negative externality on my growth has been the city of Vernon, with the Exide battery recycling plant which led to lead contamination in various neighborhoods such as Maywood and Boyle Heights. I've just recently become aware of the effects, as they've torn up all the green-zones in my immediate area, because of the high levels of lead in the grass. Another factor that led to my interest in the environment was the 2024-25 Academic Decathlon topic, "Our Changing Climate". That year, I learned the fundamentals of environmental science and delved deep into the effects of the Anthropocene. It expanded my view and I became more climate-conscious. This led me to narrow down my options within the engineering field down to things involving the environment. Circling back, since elementary school, STEM has always been heavily promoted, and I became really interested in all things engineering, involving myself with clubs such as Robotics and MESA in high school, which both are heavily STEM-focused. Together, my lifelong interest in STEM and my recent discovery of the environmental movement have spurred me to pursue a career in environmental engineering. I believe another person that led me to this decision was a senior that I had met during Academic Decathlon who was moved to pursue Environmental Studies at Yale. I believe the path of least resistance for me will be one involving electrical engineering or applications. I used to be like many others, I thought that a job in the trades was dead-end, that becoming an HVAC technician or a plumber would be the worst thing possible. However, after an experience in the summer of 2025 at the LAUSD Management and Operations branch. Here, I was meant to learn mostly about engineering, but the senior painting advisor initiated a conversation with my group. He's become one of the people I respect the most. I saw how a job like painting could be extremely fulfilling and even lucrative. During this internship, I got to experience all different types of engineering and all the trades. Two particular professions caught my eye, electrical technicians and electrical engineers in the sustainability department at LAUSD. I found out that electricity is involved practically anywhere, even waterworks! With that in mind, I want to be someone who develops effective electrical systems to combat the Anthropocene effect on our climate. Continuing my journey with this in mind, I've taken classes such as physics, an introductory Arduino class, and learned about electromagnetism through Academic Decathlon. To move forward, we must look out for our planet first.