Welcome! 👋
Hey, I’m Yameen - a 15-year-old Activator at The Knowledge Society (TKS), Editor at students x students, TEDx Speaker, podcast host, STEAM Student, and Army Cadet.
I’m incredibly passionate about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Gene-Editing (GE). Currently working to leverage GE technologies to cure genetic diseases (prev. LCA10).
My mission in life is to impact the lives of others. There are so many underrepresented in our country (and globally), and I believe it’s up to us to take advantage of our opportunities and create a better world for them!
It’s been a wild ride, and I’m so glad to have you joining me! But, you didn’t come here to learn about my life goals; you came to learn about my month.
So, here you go!
April! 🌺
April was a slower month for me. It was the month of Ramadan, and I had a Mock Trial tournament to prep for, but I did start something exciting: TKS Earthshots! Although this month was limited in progress (i.e. this newsletter will be short), there were a few important experiences.
I’ll have all that and more in this month’s episode of My Structurally Unstructured Life! Welcome to my April!
TKS Earthshots.
After wrapping up the PIE Challenge, we were introduced to our final challenge of the year: Earthshots.
If you were with me for some time, you’ll remember the TKS Moonshot challenge I did last year. A moonshot was essentially solving a problem 5, 10, or 15 years in the future. Now, on the other hand, an earthshot involves solving a problem of the past.
My teammate (Mir Ali) and I have been working for the past two weeks to find a problem that we wanted to tackle. After some time, we narrowed it down to food waste in the retail sector.
Here’s our current problem statement (draft version as of right now):
As the country with the third most food waste globally, the US wastes ~20M tonnes of food per year. In other words, 40% of all food produced in the US goes uneaten annually. Leading up to that moment, 25% of America’s freshwater supply, 350 million barrels of oil, and $408B is wasted. The majority ends up in landfills: 20% of all landfill volume is food waste and the FAO estimates that the carbon footprint of this waste is 3.3 billion tonnes of CO2 per year. Fruits and vegetables account for 42% of food waste, as a result of the retail sector which is responsible for 39% of all food waste. A significant factor resulting in this waste is “ugly” produce - perfectly edible produce that may look too big or small, but need to be thrown out because of retail cosmetic standards. The USDA estimates that supermarkets lose $15 billion annually in unsold fruit and vegetables alone (because of “ugly” produce). The opportunity for a solution to sell usually wasted foods poses new saving and emission-reduction opportunities for retailers.
Our next step is to begin solution ideation - we’re going to be spending the next week or so reaching out to different companies who have worked in the food waste space and begin creating a solution that solves the challenges of current companies while creating a unique incentive for stakeholders.
With the final presentations on May 21, we only have a few weeks left to create, validate, and implement a real-life solution to this problem. Stay tuned for my next newsletter discussing our solution, successes, and lessons learned!
Mock Trials.
This month, I was also able to compete in a Mock Trial tournament for OJEN (Ontario Justice Education Network). Earlier in the year, my team and I had hoped that we would be able to compete in person in court, however, with the COVID situation, it was forced online.
Nonetheless, it was a great experience to work with the rest of my team and develop a solid opening statement for the competition. We’re still waiting for direct/cross-examinations before we begin our closing statements.
I’m not allowed to share too much information, but I will once the competition ends in June - stay tuned!
That’s it…for now!
Although this was a short newsletter, April had some amazing experiences: from taking part in the month of Ramadan and chatting with friends I haven’t talked to in a while (you know who you are 😂) to competing in a mock trial tournament, it was a good month. In the coming month of May, however, there’s a lot more to be excited for! From new positions to presentations for the earthshot challenge, I’m hyped for what’s next.
So until then, enjoy your May!
- Yameen ✌️