Paul Balsom Profile picture
Your source for insights, stories & news about our planet's most precious resource - water 🌊. I help founders tell better stories that drive revenue.
Apr 16, 2025 11 tweets 5 min read
No one talks about the garbage island in the Pacific.

But it’s larger than France, Germany, and Spain combined.

And it’s leaking toxic chemicals into the fish you eat.

Here’s what you were never told about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch: Image
Image
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch isn’t an island of trash.

It’s a massive accumulation of plastic and debris trapped by ocean currents in the North Pacific Gyre.

Estimated size:
- 1.6 million square kilometers
- 100 million kilograms of waste

Plastic that is decades old. Image
Apr 11, 2025 12 tweets 5 min read
The way Magic Johnson became a billionaire is insane:

• Retired from the NBA in 1991
• Built a $26B insurance company
• Owns the Dodgers, LAFC, Sparks & Commanders

He used his name, not the game, to build a billion-dollar empire.

Here’s how he did it: 🧵 Image Magic retired in 1991 after announcing he had HIV.

It could’ve ended everything.
Instead, it was the beginning.

In 1987, he quietly started Magic Johnson Enterprises.

By 1994, he was on his way to building one of the most community-focused business empires in America.
Apr 7, 2025 13 tweets 5 min read
California is running out of water.

But what if I told you the real crisis isn't drought.

It's decades of corruption, corporate theft, and a shocking loophole that lets billionaires hoard water while entire towns go dry.

The story no one talks about: 🧵 Image California produces:

• 80% of the world’s almonds
• 1/3 of the U.S. vegetables
• 2/3 of the U.S. fruits & nuts

But the land that feeds millions is also… drying up.

And it’s not just climate change.
Apr 4, 2025 12 tweets 5 min read
This looks like science fiction, but it's real.

A 16-year-old builds a robot that eats trash to save the oceans…

and it actually starts working.

No experience. No connections. Just pure obsession.

This is a true story:🧵 Image
Image
@BoyanSlat In 2011, 16-year-old Boyan Slat went diving in Greece.

But instead of fish… he saw plastic.

That moment broke him.

He asked a question no one had seriously asked before:

“Why can’t we just clean this up?”
Mar 31, 2025 12 tweets 4 min read
One pattern I’ve noticed in all brilliant brands:

They take boring products and make them irresistible.

Frank Green turned reusable bottles into a $29.9M brand.

Here’s the genius marketing behind it: 🧵 Image In 2013, Benjamin Young had one goal.

He wanted to eliminate single-use plastic.

But he knew one thing.

People don’t buy sustainability.
They buy what makes them feel good. Image
Mar 28, 2025 13 tweets 5 min read
Liquid Death is a $1.4 Billion brand.

It looks like beer. It markets like an energy drink. It’s just water.

Yet, it just raised $264M from investors like Tony Hawk, Wiz Khalifa, and Steve Aoki.

Here’s how they outplayed the giants spending billions (Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Nestle): Image In 2009, Mike Cessario attended the Vans Warped Tour

He noticed bands drinking water from energy drink cans to look cool

Water doesn't have to be boring.

That was the moment the idea for Liquid Death was born
Mar 26, 2025 12 tweets 4 min read
Microplastics are slowly killing you.

Scientists just discovered plastic inside human blood, lungs, heart and even the brain.

You consume an entire credit card’s worth of plastic every week.

Here’s why it’s happening, and what it’s doing to your body: Image Microplastics have been found in
• 94 percent of tap water
• 83 percent of bottled water
• 100 percent of marine life tested

The average person consumes a credit card’s worth of plastic every week Image
Mar 21, 2025 11 tweets 4 min read
Christopher Nolan has directed some of the most brilliant films of all time.

Yet, he doesn’t own a smartphone or use email.

Here’s why his obsession with focus is his ultimate competitive advantage:🧵 Image In an era where everyone is glued to their phones, Nolan does the opposite.

“If I'm generating my material and writing my own scripts, being on a smartphone all day wouldn't be very useful for me.”

Nolan does use a flip phone.

No apps. No notifications. Just to call people.
Mar 7, 2025 11 tweets 4 min read
The Earth is 70% water, yet billions struggle with water shortages.

Drinking water from the ocean would solve everything.

Can seawater desalination save the world: Image Only 2.5% of Earth’s water is fresh.

Less than 1% is available for drinking.

Meanwhile, demand is rising, climate change is straining water sources, and droughts are becoming more frequent.

The water crisis is real.
Mar 5, 2025 11 tweets 4 min read
Imagine drinking plain water, but your brain tastes sugar.

Pepsi, Ashton Kutcher, and Mila Kunis are betting millions on this science nobody understands...

Here’s the wild story of how two college students built a hydration empire: Image It all started as a bachelor’s thesis.

Lena Jüngst and Tim Jäger, two German students, were inspired by a book called Neurogastronomy by Gordon Shepherd.

The book revealed a crazy fact: 80% of what we "taste" is actually smell.

That gave them an idea...
Mar 3, 2025 10 tweets 4 min read
The most underrated health hack in the world:

Water.

Most people are dehydrated, but drinking more water actually destroys your health.

Here's everything you need to know about hydration that no one is talking about (bookmark this): Image Dehydration isn’t just about thirst.

- Fatigue – Slows down enzymes, making you tired.
- Mood Swings – Even mild dehydration causes anxiety.
- Headaches – Triggers migraines.
- Dizziness – Affects blood pressure & balance.

The scariest part is... Image
Feb 28, 2025 10 tweets 4 min read
In 1854, a deadly cholera outbreak was ravaging London.

Thousands were dying, and no one knew why.

But ONE man cracked the case without modern tech and saved millions of lives.

Here’s the untold story of John Snow: 🧵 Image Cholera was a mystery.

The dominant belief?"Miasma theory"—the idea that diseases spread through “bad air.”

Doctors tried everything to “clean the air,” but people kept dying.
Feb 26, 2025 12 tweets 5 min read
This is the secret sales strategy no one knows about.

…Yet it helped:

• Xerox land its biggest deal
• Russell Brunson build a $100M empire
• Charlie Munger double sales in 9 divisions

Here’s how it can 10x your business too: 🧵 Image Most people try to reach everyone.

But Chet Holmes had a different idea:

Focus on the right people.

His Dream 100 Strategy helped businesses land billion-dollar clients.
Feb 19, 2025 11 tweets 4 min read
Nestlé doesn’t just sell chocolate or coffee.

They control something far more valuable: Water.

And they’ve built $2.8 BILLION empire out of it.

This is the dark story behind bottled water🧵: Image Water is life.

It’s the most essential resource on Earth.
And yet, one company has fought for decades to privatize it: Nestlé.

For years, they’ve extracted millions of gallons from public water sources.

While communities run dry, Nestlé profits. Image
Feb 10, 2025 11 tweets 4 min read
In 1965, Singapore faced a water crisis that could have derailed its future.

Today, it’s one of the most water-secure nations in the world.

Here’s the untold story of how Lee Kuan Yew turned scarcity into self-sufficiency with ONE bold move: Image When Singapore gained independence in 1965, it lacked natural water sources.

• No major rivers or lakes.
• Relied heavily on imports from Malaysia.
• Water shortages threatened its survival as a nation.

The situation was dire. Image
Image
Jan 31, 2025 13 tweets 4 min read
The world cannot survive without this teenager.

At 18, he dropped out of college to clean 90% of the ocean by 2040.

He proved everyone wrong by creating robots that eat trash.

This is the story of the largest cleanup in human history: Image At 16, while diving in Greece, Boyan Slat saw more plastic than fish.

That moment changed his life—and possibly our planet.

It sparked his famous question: "Why can't we just clean this up?"