I’m Rushil, a senior at Palm Desert High School in Southern California’s Coachella Valley. Growing up in this windy desert, I often noticed the foul, rotten-egg odor emanating from the Salton Sea, a constant reminder of the region’s air quality crisis. Alongside the ever-increasing presence of landfills and waste facilities, events like the 2019 fire at the Sun Valley Recycling Center--which shut down schools across the Valley--have made me question how waste is managed and who is most affected when environmental engineering fails.

While researching the Ellen Macarthur Foundation, I discovered the concept of a circular economy: a way of rethinking waste, design, and environmental justice all at once. But what made that concept come alive for me was the land itself. The desert around the nearby Salton Sea is already a canvas for environmental storytelling. Art installations like those of DesertX--and the more deeply layered symbols of Indigenous 3D art--are a perfect example; such pieces require physical interaction, turning scientific concepts into visual experiences that make themselves and their value evident the moment you see them.

I’ve realized that solving environmental problems requires more than data or policy. I became drawn to the idea that art can help people see what science is trying to say. Around the Salton Sea, I saw how the air, the water, and even what we call “waste” could become part of a story of innovation and imagination creating equity. This insight forms the backbone of this initiative. 

Please support and engage with our work; I invite you to explore how YI4CE can serve as a platform to turn our mission into reality.