My Story

Hello! My name is Myles Bao and I am the founder of Green Alpacas. I’ve cared about the environment for as long as I can remember. At first, it started with simply the three Rs. Reduce, reuse, recycle. I would never buy the large boxes with 24 different smaller chip bags inside, I tried to use plastic cups multiple times instead of throwing them away, and I always recycled whenever possible. However, as I grew older the severity of Earth’s situation began to dawn on me. Even today, I’m constantly learning more about the permanent damage we have done to the environment and how little time we have left to save it.

I must first credit my mother for instilling this passion for the environment in me. She’s the greenest person I have ever met. She grows most of the vegetables we eat without any fertilizer. She’s often outside battling the hot sun, mosquitos, flies, and poison ivy as she works to procure the sweetest tomatoes and crunchiest cucumbers for us. I remember my mom started a recycling initiative in elementary school and soon the entire school started to recycle. I was equally proud and embarrassed by my mom at the time. She’d be in the center of the cafeteria on certain days yelling at kids to put the milk cartons in one place and the cooked food in another. However, I can only admire her passion for protecting the environment.

As I’ve done my research I’ve tried my own hand at helping the environment. I started a small business working to develop a 100% biodegradable plastic. It’s called Terramica and if you ever feel like supporting them and Green Alpacas I highly recommend it. However, as I built my own business and started working to sell my product to customers I realized that having biodegradable products was one-half of the issue. The plastic industry was so large and cheap that many companies either couldn’t afford to switch or simply didn’t have the ability to uproot their infrastructure. And so, I decided to create Green Alpacas. Our mission, but simply is to help companies switch to green products. This sounds simple at first but it requires the sacrifice, patience, and cooperation of the companies we work with. With the world’s current technology it’s inevitable that green products will be more expensive and potentially less user-friendly than PET products. However, with the right partnership, we can eliminate these potentially less user-friendly options and help companies allocate the funds to go green.

My Story

Hi! My name is Justin Lee. I am Asian American senior in McLean high school, Virginia. My hobbies are drawing and skating, I have been part of the debate team, and I am currently a coxswain in the McLean Crew club. Aside from personal activities, I often volunteer for the community when an opportunity arises.  

For as long as I even knew about pollution, I did my part to reduce waste. I recycled what I could, steered away from one-use plastics, and reused anything that I could. I did this because… who doesn’t? Every person shares the responsibility of looking after our planet, and I was just doing what I’ve been taught from the start. Researching and learning about shivering consequences of pollution such as the great garbage patch, as well as personally experiencing a portion of global warming through rapid decrease in snow each year, I learned that maybe throwing a water bottle into the blue bin won’t fix our environmental problems. I believe that in order to create a sustainable future, we must replace harmful habits as soon as possible and encourage others to help make a difference.

Recently, I helped the McLean Trees Foundation protect Churchill Road Park in order for future generations to enjoy it as much as I did. I worked with others to pull out invasive species from the ground and trees, as well as spread seeds for local plants to grow. After this experience of working with my hands, I was ready to take it one step further with Green Alpacas.

With a role in Green Alpacas as a product manager, my job is to help East Asian community organizations find the products they need that provide a more environmentally sustainable function. I want to be able to help others break habits that create kilogram after kilogram of unnecessary waste. Many people don’t bother to work towards environmental friendliness because it is not easy or convenient. By working with Green Alpacas and these organizations I can help make a transition towards this eco-friendly goal more achievable.

My Story

Hi, My name is Zayya Htut, I am a high school senior from Mclean High School in Virginia. My role at Green Alpacas is as outreach manager. I have a background and interest in biochemistry and ecology. (a lie lmfao) Having grown up partly in the states and in urban Yangon, Myanmar, I am well acquainted with the ecological struggles both here and in Asia. My goal at Green Alpacas is to help us facilitate the most change and the strongest initiatives to better the environment and provide green opportunities to businesses and local establishments.