Celebrating Innovation and Impact

Entrepreneurs for Planet Earth 2025 Winners Announced!

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who participated in this year’s Entrepreneurs for Planet Earth competition! 🌎✨

We were blown away by the creativity, passion, and heart each of you brought to the challenge of fighting hunger through sustainable, community-driven solutions. Your ideas were inspiring, your hard work showed, and you all made it incredibly difficult for our judges to choose just three winners! Thank you all for the time, energy, and creativity you brought to this challenge. 

After much thoughtful deliberation, here are this year’s amazing winners: 

🥇1st Place – Sustainabyte

Arjun Makineni & Jane Park 

🥈 2nd Place – Waste Not

Advika Bhatnagar

🥉3rd Place – Meal Mind

Rebecca Tochilnikov

Keep an eye out for an email about your awards and next steps. 

We want to once again thank our amazing judges—Mr. Michael Lockwood, Mr. Taran Singh, and Ms. Mimi—for thoughtfully reviewing and scoring each project. Your time and support are greatly appreciated. 

All participants will receive certificates. Check your email for details! 

Also, a quick reminder: Youth Leadership Council (YLC) applications are now open—we’d love to see some of you get more involved. And if you’re feeling inspired, consider volunteering with Climate Roots or applying for a YLC position! 

Thanks again for making this competition a success! We couldn’t have done it without you.

City of Fremont Earth Day

On Saturday, April 19th, we visited the City of Fremont’s Earth Day. We had a great time, visiting booths from Fremont LEAF, Daily Bowl, and other local organizations. From tasting honey to learning about composting with worms, we explored a wide range of fun activities that showed how small actions can make a big impact. Throughout the event, we connected with other community members who care deeply about the environment. Thank you to the City of Fremont for hosting such an exciting event! 

Capturing Growth: Our Time-Lapse Mushroom Project

(Project update by: Aditya Narula and Arjun Thakur)

We’re excited to share an update on our latest project: creating a time-lapse video of mushroom growth! This journey began with meticulous planning and a clear vision of how we would capture the magic of nature in action.

Getting Started

After receiving approval for our project, we dove into the preparation phase. Our first task was to gather the necessary materials to bring our idea to life:

  • Raspberry Pi 4 Model B: The brain of our time-lapse system, providing the processing power we need.
  • Raspberry Pi Camera: This high-quality camera will help us capture stunning images throughout the growth process.
  • Mushroom Block: The star of our show!

Once all the materials arrived, we wasted no time getting to work.

Setting Up

Our initial tasks were focused on the technical side of things. We set up the Raspberry Pi and began writing backend code in Python to facilitate the time-lapse capture. By utilizing specific commands tailored for the Raspberry Pi camera, we ensured our setup was primed for success.

In tandem with the technical setup, we designed and built an ideal terrarium to create a nurturing environment for our mushrooms. After preparing the mushroom block, we placed it in a suitable container filled with soil.

To optimize our filming conditions, we set up a recording station featuring the Raspberry Pi and camera. A black sheet positioned behind the mushroom helped enhance visibility, ensuring that the growth would be clearly captured.

Filming Begins

With everything in place, we initiated the filming process last week. As we monitor our setup, we’re excited to witness the gradual transformation of our mushrooms in real-time. We regularly check in to ensure that everything is functioning smoothly.

Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to capture this fascinating journey of growth! We can’t wait to share the final time-lapse video with all of you!!!

Article Published in TCV

We sincerely appreciate Tri-City Voice for featuring our segment on Climate Roots in a recent edition. This opportunity allowed us to share our journey—from our beginnings and initiatives to our current Entrepreneurs for Planet Earth competition.

By spreading awareness of our mission, we hope to inspire greater community engagement and connect with like-minded groups eager to collaborate for a healthier planet.

Thank you, Tri-City Voice, for helping us grow our reach and strengthen our connections!

Meet our Judging Panel

We’re excited to announce the incredible group of experts that will review submissions for the Entrepreneurs for Planet Earth Competition! These local educators bring years of experience in sustainability and environmental advocacy, and they can’t wait to see what you have come up with!

First up is Mr. Taran Singh, an advocate for sustainability who has campaigned in our local government and partnered with local groups. He cares for his own garden, an assortment of vegetables and native plants. He is also an avid artist, with his own published poetry collection.

Next, meet Mr. Michael Lockwood, an adventurer who has traversed from the Southern Sierra Nevada Mountain Range to the Okavango Delta of Botswana. He has been teaching at James Logan High School for over 25 years and finds teaching the next generation of scientists extremely rewarding – maybe more so than catching crocodiles in the Everglades!

And last but not least, we welcome Ms. Mimi, an educator at the Alsion Montessori School. She deals with gardening, chicken care, beekeeping, repairs, and teaching students some of these skills. Ms. Mimi has assisted with projects such as an Alsion community garden, where students could cultivate their own plants at school and bring them home to continue raising them.

To our competitors in the Entrepreneurs for Planet Earth Competition: good luck!

Welcome to the Team, Justin!

We are excited to announce that Justin Kim will be joining us as the social media content creator for the Healthy Recipes program! Justin is a second-year graduate student studying manual therapy and holistic health. His views on nutrition and health have inspired him to directly impact people’s health goals. Beyond his studies, Justin loves cooking and creating videos. By combining his hobbies and perspectives, he will take charge of creating some of our Instagram posts; he aims to create informative yet entertaining content that promotes our healthy and affordable dining recipes program. We’re excited to see Justin’s artistic contributions on our social platforms!

Thank you, Dale’s Hardware

We sincerely appreciate Dale’s Hardware for allowing us to set up our booth outside the store February 15 & 16. This opportunity helped us connect with the community, raise awareness about our mission, and promote the upcoming Entrepreneurs for Planet Earth Competition.

Over the weekend, we had tons of engaging conversations with people, many of whom were excited to learn about sustainable food movement in Fremont. We made valuable connections to further our mission. Thank you, Dale’s Hardware!

Climate Change Forum

On Saturday, March 25th, we had the opportunity to attend the Climate Change Forum at Sunnyvale Presbyterian Church, an intergenerational climate discussion co-hosted by Elders Climate Action and Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action and sponsored by AAUW Sunnyvale-Cupertino. It was an incredible experience to connect with people across generations, all united by a shared passion for environmental action. We took away a lot of insight from the presentation and speaker panel, including student activists from the SVYCA and representatives from the city council. It was truly inspiring to see how students and elders came together to discuss climate issues, take action, and remind us of the power of intergenerational climate action.

Thank you so much to the organizers for hosting such a meaningful event and inviting us!

Thank you for your support!

We’re thrilled to share that, with your generous support through GoFundMe and other avenues, Climate Roots has fundraised over $3,000! Your contributions are key in turning big ideas into impact.

Thanks to you, we’ve recently launched Entrepreneurs for Planet Earth, a business competition engaging young minds in the production and distribution problems of food waste and empowering them to tackle food insecurity!

We couldn’t have reached this milestone with you and we can’t wait to show you what’s next! Thank you!

Launching Entrepreneurs for Planet Earth

Exciting news for young entrepreneurs passionate about making a difference! The Climate Roots’ Entrepreneurship Competition is now live and accepting applications from middle and high school students. This innovative competition, hosted by us, challenges young minds to develop sustainable business ideas that address food insecurity while creating a lasting impact on both planetary and human health. 

Competition Details 

Who can participate: Open to all middle and high school students!! 

Prizes: 
1st Place: $1,000
2nd Place: $500
3rd Place: $300 

Why Participate? 

This competition offers a unique opportunity for people passionate to: 

  • Develop practical business skills 
  • Create sustainable solutions for real-world problems 
  • Gain valuable experience in entrepreneurship and climate action 
  • Make a step-by-step impact on their communities 

How It Works 

Participants will work on building business ideas that tackle food insecurity while considering environmental sustainability. The competition encourages creative thinking and problem-solving skills, allowing students to explore the intersection of entrepreneurship and climate action. 

To help inspire participants, sample videos are available to showcase projects that are to the level of what is expected and provide guidance on developing ideas. 

Here’s an example below. You can check out our full playlist linked here.

Join the Movement 

Entrepreneurs for Planet Earth Competition is more than just a contest. It’s a platform for young students to make a real difference. Don’t miss this chance to be part of a solution to one of our world’s most pressing issues. Remember, the future of our planet depends on the actions we take today. Are you ready to rise to the challenge and become an entrepreneur helping the planet and its inhabitance?