Fighting Wildfires through Invention
At the age of 13, Prisha Shroff saw something that made her want to change the world. She was in the car with her family on the way home, when a big wildfire came in sight and forced them to turn back.
"I saw it in person,.5, she says. "The air pollution was so bad that we were told not to step outside of our car, or outside of our house. "
At the same time, Prisha remembered seeing other wildfires on the news. She thought, "This isn't just a small problem, it's a worldwide problem." And she decided to look for a way to help.
The opportunity came when she attended her middle-school science fair. For her project, Prisha decided to design a system that could discover and put out wildfires. Using A. L and satellite imagery （卫星影像）, it could know where wildfires would take place and also discover active fires.
In 2021, Prisha won the Lemelson Award for Invention, whose goal is to encourage young future scientists, engineers, and inventors to solve some of the world's biggest challenges. "That was the first big prize that I'd gotten, she says. "It really gave me confidence to find ways to solve big problems, and that I have the ability to make a big difference. "
Now 16, Prisha is working hard on her design to help fire stations. It is a drone sent to an active fire to spread retardant （阻燃剂）. " If they discover a wildfire, the drone can fly there, put it out, and come back。"Prisha says.
Prisha is crazy about creating solutions to not only mitigate （缓解）wildfires, but also the effects of climate change in general. "This is our planet, we should take care of it, " she says. Prisha now runs a special program at her school, and has spoken at the United Nations about the importance of learning certain knowledge and coming up with more inventions to help fight against climate change.
To future young inventors, Prisha says the key is to not simply hope something happens, but to actually try hard to make it happen, "You don't need to change the whole world, but you can still change someone's whole world, " she says.
