Growing up in Mexico City, air pollution was a way of life for Valentina Casab-Klescova ’25.
She vividly remembers the thick atmosphere and tennis practices regularly canceled because the air quality was unsafe. Views of Popocatépetl, a volcano located just 40 miles southeast of the Mexican capital, were regularly obscured.
It was only after she left Mexico that Casab-Klescova realized just how intense the air pollution problem was.
“In Mexico City, there has always been air pollution,” she said. “Then I moved to the U.S. and it was never an issue. So it always had me wondering why that was the case. I did not think it was fair that people in other parts of the world had to deal with this.”
Casab-Klescova realized the injustice of air pollution, which fed an interest in the environment and a desire to combat climate change. It also led her to 91Ƶ, where the double major in applied sustainability and international studies has studied ways that urban areas can embrace green building techniques to help make populations healthier.
Casab-Klescova’s senior project engaged in a comparison of two cities radically different in politics, culture and geography that both have been successful in improving green spaces. “Making Every City A Green City” analyzed how Singapore and Barcelona, Spain, embrace biophilic design, the integration of natural elements as purposeful design features in urban landscapes to address climate change issues.
The project’s goal was to draw attention to the ways that integrating nature into the urban landscape can improve the overall livability of large cities.
“So many people are moving to cities every day. Urban populations are constantly increasing,” Casab-Klescova said. “They become so dense that cities are being forced to expand while taking down more ecosystems. Whenever people think of urban expansion, it’s always buildings and houses. Parks are a very important part of it, but many of those green spaces and parks are being torn down for the sake of new buildings.
“If these two places that are polar opposites were able to implement these structures, what is stopping the rest of the world? This proves that it is indeed possible.”
Known as “The Garden City,” Singapore has embraced the greening of its urban area since gaining independence from Great Britain. The calls for the greening of at least 80% of the city-state’s buildings by 2030 and the development of 1,000 hectares of green space by 2035.
Barcelona, meanwhile, is looking to greening to improve mental health for its citizens. A 2023 proposal known as the calls for the development of “superblocks,” clusters of smaller neighborhoods with limited roads and more green spaces with a primary goal of improving mental health by cutting noise and air pollution.
“Barcelona has been prioritizing the addition of parks and other green spaces, but does not have as many green roofs or walls as Singapore, which I thought would be a very interesting comparison,” Casab-Klescova said. “You have one city where it is heavily implemented and one that is really interested in implementing it and is going through the process.”
The senior project is just one component of Casab-Klescova’s multifaceted educational experience at Pacific that has helped her weave her interests in sustainability and international studies together. She has studied abroad twice, spending a semester in Perth, Australia, in Spring 2023 and two weeks in Costa Rica in Summer 2024. She leads two programs for Pacific’s Center for a Sustainable Society: the Default Veg program, which promotes plant-based foods and cooking, and an arts and crafts program that encourages crafting with recycled products.
Pacific also provided an outlet for her love of tennis. She was a key member of a that placed second at the Northwest Conference Championships in both 2024 and 2025.
The one thing that Pacific did not do for Casab-Klescova was narrow down her future plans. In fact, it has opened her mind to new avenues to feed her passion for nature and sustainability. She plans on taking a gap year after graduation, taking time to travel and consider the possibilities before attending graduate school.
“I’m leaning towards working in environmental policy, environmental management or environmental design. I recently heard about a job position where someone is the head of sustainability for a city,” she said. “I hope to do more research during my gap year to figure out what I want to go into. But I would love to help more cities be able to make these changes.”