EcoGuide

Inspiration

Within the ongoing discourse on climate change, there has always been a persistent stream of misinformation clouding the narrative. Some voices downplay the magnitude of the issue, while others divert attention away from the root causes. These mixed messaging complicates our ability to formulate necessary solutions. Access to reliable and accurate sustainability education is especially limited in underprivileged and minority communities. When disadvantaged communities lack access to accurate knowledge about climate change, they find themselves disproportionately vulnerable to its ramifications. One large concern within the scientific field in general is that inadequate and blatantly wrong knowledge about climate change can perpetuate existing wrong notions about it. For instance, air quality issues disproportionately affect low-income neighborhoods due to pollution sources, such as factories and highways. If these communities are unaware of the long-term health risks associated with air pollution, they will be less likely to advocate for cleaner environments or seek appropriate healthcare, further exacerbating already prevalent health inequalities.

In the ever-evolving landscape of climate change, we're grappling with a significant challenge that demands our attention: misinformation and unequal access to sustainability education.

That’s why our mission is to empower those who are underrepresented in these conversations. Our goal is to craft educational resources that are universally accessible and culturally sensitive in the aims of bridging the information gap.

What it does

Our carbon footprint analyzer estimates your carbon footprint utilizing data from over 200 countries.

But that's just the beginning. EcoGuide goes the extra mile by offering personalized suggestions for reducing your carbon footprint through AI-powered recommendations, enabling you to take practical steps toward a greener lifestyle.

We don’t stop at calculations because we believe in tangible action. We calculate exactly how many trees you would need to plant in order to offset your yearly emissions, and link you directly to a trusted international non-profit to donate!

Confused by conflicting information about climate change? EcoGuide is here to help. Ask us anything related to climate change, and we'll provide accurate, science-backed answers that clear up any misinformation. Additionally, we recognize the power of visual learning, so we offer informative data visualizations to enhance your understanding.

EcoGuide is committed to fostering continuous learning. Our platform offers a curated collection of resources suitable for all educational levels. Explore articles, documentaries, and research papers covering a diverse range of topics related to sustainability. Our aim is to provide a comprehensive learning experience that empowers you to be a proactive advocate for the environment.

We're all about building a community of change-makers. EcoGuide connects you with a carefully curated list of organizations that champion sustainability. Whether you're passionate about conservation, renewable energy, or environmental justice, our recommendations help you channel your support where it matters most.

How we built it

We used Python as our primary language to develop the backend and to request data from Google’s PaLM 2 API. We utilized datasets such as the World Bank’s World Development Indicators dataset and the International Monetary Fund’s Climate Change Dataset. For the front-end, we built the UI/UX leveraging Streamlit and Framer.

Challenges we ran into

During the project, we encountered challenges stemming from a tight time frame, a need to address biases in LLMs by designing a neutral prompt, and juggling multiple commitments, as the hackathon demanded substantial time and dedication.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

One accomplishment that we are proud of is finding practical use cases of Google's PaLM 2 model. We are also proud of our diligent teamwork and efficient planning, consistently helping each other and working together on a fulfilling project in a collaborative, fun environment!

What we learned

This project has provided us insight into the barriers of progress caused by education inequality and the importance of bridging the knowledge gap for underprivileged communities. On the technical side, this project was an amazing opportunity to apply what we had learned in theory to an impactful, tangible application for the first time. It was an amazing experience for every one of us involved to try out creating a website from scratch as well as finding use cases for LLMs!

What's next for EcoGuide

We hope to continue finding ways to make our LLM more trustworthy and to minimize bias. We also aim in presenting statistical evidence to the user of the impact of climate change. Our commitment to impartiality includes crafting prompts that steer clear of predisposed biases, allowing the LLM to generate objective information.

Additionally, we plan to deploy this project as a resource online.Our intention is to make this resource accessible to students, particularly those in under-resourced communities. We plan to establish connections with local school districts as well as national volunteer organizations to facilitate distribution. By doing so, we envision a broader audience benefitting from this educational resource, playing a pivotal role in closing the information divide prevalent within our society.

Built With

• framer
• imf-climate-data
• palm
• python
• streamlit
• worldbank