These in-their-own-words pieces are told to Patricia Lane and co-edited with input from the interviewee for the purpose of brevity.

Claire Lee is painting a safer future. This 16-year-old high school student from Surrey, British Columbia, invented a recipe for high-quality, non-toxic, plant-friendly watercolour paints. Her Eco-Palette project is already helping to reduce waste in the art world. She is the recipient of a 2024 I-SEA National Youth Climate Action Award. 

Tell us about your project.

I started art lessons when I was five, and it quickly became my passion. Every Wednesday after school, I’d go to art school and spend a couple of hours painting images of the natural world and the impact of the changing climate. During these classes, we often worked with watercolours because of their fluidity and versatility, but many commercially available watercolour palettes contain harmful chemicals and litres of wastewater are thrown down the drain after each class. I have been aware of widespread water use restrictions since I was very young, and this........

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