At DiPiero Simmons McGinley & Bastress, PLLC, we pride ourselves on doing what we can to boost our local and nationwide communities. As part of that dedication, we understand the importance of education and how crucial it is for aspiring students and professionals to receive a college degree. We decided to start a scholarship in 2018 that was specifically geared toward first-year college students. The Fall 2020 submission period just came to a close.
We were humbled by the amount of applications we received as well as the overall quality of every essay. The essays were fantastic and we enjoyed reading them! We’d like to thank everyone who applied.
We’re pleased to announce we’ve chosen a winner.
Congratulations to Celine Moubayed of California!
Celine is attending UC Hastings College of the Law.
The essay topic was as follows:
If you could create an invention that would solve one issue in the world, what would that invention be and why?
Here is her winning essay:
The Cure for a Diminishing Essential Resource
“ZzZzZ!” My alarm signals the start of my day but more imminently, the beginning of my morning routine. I reach for my phone and with it the glass of room temperature water taking my first sips as I stagger into the bathroom. I use the restroom, flush the toilet, and step into the steaming shower. After I brush my teeth, get changed, and grab a water bottle,I am officially ready to begin my day. We take it for granted, but it’s essential to life! I’m sure you didn’t even notice it in my morning routine. Maybe you notice it after an intense workout or while driving home from work: that quench in your throat, the need for an instant refreshment, the yearning for water. But, this resource is not infinite.
Consider your own mourning routine. How much water do you utilize? How much water do you waste? In the United States on average, a family of four uses four hundred gallons of water a day! (“How the Average American Wastes Water”, 2019) That equates to a loss of around one trillion gallons spent each year for every one United States household. (Mooney, 2015)
By 2023, the number of people living under severe water stress is expected to rise to 3.9 billion individuals, nearly half of the world population. On a more microgeographic scale, the top three cities that utilize the most expensive, in-demand, water per month are Seattle, Los Angeles, and Boston. (“How the Average American Wastes Water.”, 2019) What do these three cities have in common? They are all located near a large ocean. Now, you may be asking why these cities don’t make use of the seemingly endless supply of water from the Pacific or the Atlantic Ocean. These sources, along with 97% of the water on Earth, contain extremely salty, undrinkable water, and the process of removing oceanic water and treating it to drinking water standards on a large scale, also known as desalination, takes an enormous supply of money and energy.
While the world faces this water scarcity, we are simultaneously facing a climate crisis. One of the factors with negative contributions to the climate crisis is plastic waste. To combat this, many companies have begun to manufacture reusable water bottles. In my community and globally, they have become extremely common and are often viewed as a status symbol. (Mull, 2019) A recent study reported that in 2018, nearly 36 percent of individuals in the United Kingdom own and regularly use a reusable water bottle. (Tiseo,2020)
Based on all the issues above, this is my inventive solution: a reusable water bottle with a desalination filter on the cap. The cap acts as a water filtration system allowing users to drink cleaner water, from any source. The possibilities are endless. According to the United Nations, nearly 2.4 billion people or forty percent of the world’s population, live within 60 miles of the coast. (“Factsheet: People and Oceans.”, 2017) Using this new invention allows individuals to tap into this neglected water source that may be right in their backyard, while also contributing to less plastic waste. Just by using this reusable water bottle individuals save around $200 a year, preserve 1,460 plastic bottles a year, and possibly put a halt to his impending, global water shortage. (Tiseo,2020)
Now, imagine waking up, using the restroom, getting ready and, before hopping in your car, filling your reusable water bottle with salt water, allowing it to filter during your drive to work. While you sit at your desk, and you feel that burning sensation in your throat, you can reach for your new water bottle, conscious free, knowing that you are positively contributing to the issues of climate change and water scarcity.
Work Cited
“Factsheet: People and Oceans.” The Ocean Conference: United Nations, New York 5-9 June 2017, United Nations, June 2017, www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Ocean-fact-sheet-package.pdf.
“How the Average American Wastes Water.” CreditLoan.com®, CreditLoan.com Blog, 27 Feb. 2019, www.creditloan.com/blog/how-the-average-american-wastes-water/.
Mooney, Chris. “The Incredibly Stupid Way That Americans Waste 1 Trillion Gallons of Water Each Year.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 17 Mar. 2015, www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/03/17/the-incredibly-stupid-way-that-america-wastes-1-trillion-gallons-of-water-each-year/.
Mull, Amanda. “How Fancy Water Bottles Became a 21st-Century Status Symbol.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 4 Nov. 2019,www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/02/luxury-water-bottles/582595/.
Tiseo, Ian. “UK: Ownership and Usage of Reusable Water Bottles 2018.” Statista, 29 June 2020, www.statista.com/statistics/831927/ownership-and-usage-of-reusable-water-bottles-united-kingdom/
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For more information on the next open scholarship period which will be for Fall 2021, please see our law firm’s scholarship page. Congratulations again, Celine!
