EnviroPal

Ready to reconnect with nature? You're in the right place! EnviroPal is a mobile app powered by Google's Gemini API to inspire users to better give back and better connect to the world around them.

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Inspiration

In a world that is becoming increasingly reliant on technology, it is SO important that we continue to appreciate, experience, and respect the world around us. Unfortunately, since life has become incredibly fast-paced, automated, and technology-centric, getting outside can daunting. This is further exacerbated by all the terrifying media surrounding climate change and natural disasters. These (unfortunate) realities sparked the idea of an inspirational mobile application that breaks down the act of "touching grass" into bite-sized pieces that are fun and can be carried out by everyone! Enter EnviroPal! A fun and easy way to gain inspiration to connect with, appreciate, and give back to the world around us.

What it does

EnviroPal uses Google's Gemini API to generate two kinds of projects for users to complete: Go Green and Touch Grass. Go Green projects aim to guide users to take steps to help the environment, a feat that is incredibly important in our day and age. Touch Grass projects are geared towards nature-based self-care for users because there is nothing better for the soul than a good environmentally-based factory reset!

How I built it

I built EnviroPal using Expo, React Native, and Google's Gemini API. Gemini is used to generate project ideas, descriptions, and project-specific tasks or users to carry out. Expo and React Native enable EnviroPal to work on multiple different mobile devices, instead of being specific to iOS or Android.

Challenges I ran into

Mobile development using React Native and Expo.js on a Windows machine was a bit of a learning curve, as was using and integrating the Gemini API.

Accomplishments that I am proud of

Pretty much everything! This was the first mobile app and multi-stage project that I completed alone, and I felt like I learned so much! I have a LOT to learn about app development, but I am happy with where I am starting and what I was able to accomplish during LA Hacks.

What I learned

I learned pretty much everything when creating EnviroPal. EnviroPal is the first mobile application I have made, and it was also my first time integrating AI with a project. I learned a lot about React Native and the Expo framework in addition to Google's Gemini API. LA Hacks is/was also my first hackathon, so I definitely learned a lot about the Hackathon process and experience as a whole!

What's next for EnviroPal

I would like to expand EnviroPal to be account based (i.e., provide a login, security, and persistent storage) for users. I also think it would be cool for EnviroPal to be expanded into a social media-esque app, so that users can earn points, achievements, and connect with friends on the app. I think this could be a cool way to de-toxify certain aspects of social media and push people to appreciate the world around them.

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