July 2024 Young Planet Leader – Aarin Botha

Aarin Bothra is a rising junior at Oswego East High School in Oswego, Illinois. He is passionate about the environment, STEM, and astronomy. He loves to innovate and create meaningful change in his community. He noticed from a young age that his local community had constant flooding and, after doing research, learned that this was due to the lack of native plants. He went on to co-found an environmental activism nonprofit, Seeds of Hope, which creates seed libraries that allow community members to receive free, native seeds that they can plant in their local areas.

Seeds of Hope is currently in five schools and libraries in the Chicagoland area and has acquired funding from T-Mobile and the Batelle Climate Fund. He is also a passionate innovator and helped invent Algae Air, an algae-based biofiltration air filter for schools, which received a patent and $7,500 in funding from the Lemelson-MIT program.

In his free time, Aarin’s favorite hobby is to stargaze and use his telescope. He also loves to learn languages (currently Japanese), cook, and code. Through his environmental work, he seeks to inspire others to contribute to positive societal change and sustainable solutions.

Like, and share to support July’s Young Planet Leader Aarin Bothra.

Follow Aarin’s work:

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/aarin-bothra-137127274/ (LinkedIn)
• https://www.ourseedsofhope.com/ (Seeds of Hope Website)
• https://www.nctv17.org/news/area-students-pitch-sustainability-ideas-at-inaugural-blast-event-in-naperville/ (Seeds of Hope News Feature)
• https://lemelson.mit.edu/teams/oswego-east-high-school-inventeam (Algae Air)
• https://capture.udel.edu/media/2023+Diamond+Challenge+Summit-14-Algae+Air/1_gyms21dx/299549962 (Algae Air Pitch)