Sustainability Is Fun

Invent Something to Help Others!
TIME Kid of the Year, Gitanjali Rao, a Green Inventor from Colorado
The first public health crisis that Gitanjali sought to address scientifically was the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. “When I saw the broadcast from Flint, I was appalled. I couldn’t believe how many kids my age were drinking lead poison every day.” So, in 2017, when she was just 13 years old, Gitanjali created Tethys to detect lead contamination in drinking water sources. With this invention, people can tell whether their drinking water has safe levels or not, in real time. For this invention, 3M awarded her a $25,000 prize for winning their Young Scientist Challenge in 2017. She went on to create Epione, an app connected to a testing device that detects how addicted someone is, or isn’t, to opioids. And her newest venture, Kindly, is an app that helps parents, educators, and students detect potential bullying situations– and stop them before they happen.