Our Blue Backyard

Hi, I’m a high school student in San Francisco. A few years ago, I learned about oyster shell recycling. After shells are collected from restaurants, they can be put back in the ocean to create reefs–reducing landfills, cleaning the ocean, and preventing coastal flooding. I started volunteering at the Wild Oyster Project to pick up…

December 2025: This was a big year for water research. Here are three studies with huge implications for us all: Exciting New Water Technology: MIT engineers developed new technology to pull water out of the air using ultrasound. Most atmospheric water devices are extremely slow because they rely on heat to let water evaporate over…

Scientists in China have published evidence that oyster farms may be naturally removing carbon in indirect ways, not just through the carbon capture of their shells. The experiment showed that oyster beds can reduce phytoplankton levels (due to oysters’ filter feeding). Phytoplankton respire carbon, so this decrease in phytoplankton results in an overall carbon decrease…

November 2025 I realized that I haven’t given an update lately on my Shell Savers App. I’m excited to say that we are expanding to 55 restaurants in California and Texas! I chose Texas as the next state because they have a large volume of oyster from the Gulf. All together, we will help these…

October 2025 I recently created a Water Justice Index by applying the research I’d done during my summer internship with a California water rate consultant. After tracking and reporting all 268 water district prices, I wanted to take the analyses further and explore how they might affect economically vulnerable communities, as I discovered lots of…

September 2025 The New York Times recently published a huge article on how increasing ocean acidification is affecting oyster farming: (article) Some really important take aways from the article are: A few companies are building seawater processing facilities that can take out acid and returning more alkaline water to the ocean. These are pilot projects,…

August 2025 Expanding on my learning with the sierra club, I want to investigate new solutions to the rising sea levels in San Francisco, especially the Bayview neighborhood. Nuclear waste and other toxins are rising with the water. I want to investigate the following concepts: In order to expand this green business movement and provide…

July 2025 This summer, I completed an internship with Sanjay Guar and Charles Diamond of Water Economics, LLC. I was able to look into the water rates of 269 California Water Agencies, collecting data on their monthly rates to formulate into an interactive tool. Looking into the price structuring strategies did cause me some concern,…

June 2025 Seagrass beds are under-recognized coastal protectors. They slow waves and trap sand, which raises seabeds higher and prevents shoreline erosion. During storms they decrease wave energy. They are natural breakwaters that also clean ocean water and shelter fish. Unlike concrete barriers, seagrass strengthens over time, and it even stores carbon underwater as it…

May 2025 This week, I was lucky enough to communicate with Professor Sarah Ugalde of the University of Tasmania. Dr. Ugalde had just published one of the pioneering studies quantifying the potential of oyster shells to capture carbon. Here are excerpts from our conversation: Oliver: How does oyster shell recycling work in Australia? Dr. Ugalde:…