If there is one thing that can heal the soul, its nature (and therapy). I can go on about how amazing nature is. After watching the documentary Biggest Little Farm on Hulu, the way the environment works in a system will always be beautiful to me.
I try my best to do the little things that help the environment but I didn’t truly understand my carbon footprint till I started making an app in one of my classes this semester. Since January my classmates and I have been developing an app that allows people to track their greenhouse gas emissions. Big credit to them, they have all worked so hard on it.
We created a user-friendly app that shares information about the carbon emissions they produce and reduce. We encourage the users to use alternative modes of transportation and try to reduce the number of gasoline vehicles on the road.
From making this app I will walk away with more knowledge about my carbon footprint on the world, but especially the island. Here are some things that I have learned:
1. Gas is terrible for the planet
We created a graph that shows how much CO2 is produced by each mode of transportation the user uses. Gas is the main source of air pollution so it negatively affects their CO2 reduced.
2. Normalize walking, biking, and public transportation
In my hometown, public transportation, biking, or walking to get from point A to point B was known as embarrassing. Since moving to Hawaii, I realized how amazing it is because it involves exercise and reducing CO2 emissions. Our app encourages the users to use alternative transportation like these to help their overall footprint. In order to help the environment, we need to make these small changes rather than using gas to get to places that are a short distance.
3. Incentivizing the app
I didn’t think this would have been a big problem but our group had to find a way to give users an incentive to join the change. We decided to make it goal-based. Although, I thought it should be a given to save the environment.
4. In one week you can reduce 48 pounds of CO2 and save more than 7 trees
Okay well, I can’t release the whole app yet. When it’s done I will share it with everyone. In the meantime, visit https://projectfootprint.com/ who is also encouraging residents to reduce carbon emissions.