Inspiration
We were contemplating on how we could see real change on the planet when it comes to climate change. We realized that individualized targeted apps would not cut it with the rate at which climate change has been escalating in the recent years. The universal government system has to take responsibility for climate change and hold the emitters accountable. Thus, we wanted to create an app that would
What it does
The app contains options for two accounts: a resident and a UN officer account. The UN officer account is linked so that they can access a database of business emission data (that we obtained through CDP Worldwide) and see how much tax revenue the UN has collected, by charging them $50 per metric ton of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere. The app also has a resident account where the average citizen can input their household data and see how many tons of CO2 they have emitted throughout the entire year. The citizen can then use this value to calculate how much they have to pay. The purpose of the two accounts was that it would create a positive feedback loop. If the businesses have to pay more money in order to keep up with their current, environmentally harmful business practices, then they will naturally transition into greener business practices and products. If the consumer has to pay for every ton of carbon they release, then they will stop purchasing products that emit more carbon and lean towards environmentally businesses as well, creating overall low demand and supply for carbon-emitting businesses.
We also added side features in order to help the UN Officer and resident account feel more engaged with the app, such as a map that highlighted were most of the companies which were emitting carbon were located and a survey that gauged the general public's reaction towards the carbon tax.
How we built it
In order to develop this mobile app, we incorporated the use of many different softwares and databases. The primary functions were build on Android Studio. We utilized the constraint layouts inside the IDE to create a seemingly realistic UI experience. We edited the appearance inside the XML file and implemented the actual programs using Java. Additionally, we also used MongoDB to generate a connection between the database and our laptop, which allowed us to save and backup data. Other softwares that we used include Google Maps API, RStudio and Microsoft Excel.
Challenges we ran into
We ran into problems when we were connecting to MongoDB Atlas as we were not able to retrieve the data that we had uploaded onto the cloud, yet we were still able to use it as a backup for our database and send requests from our client application.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Despite not having previous knowledge of MongoDB Atlas, we were able to upload document based data from the CDP into the cloud and create a secure connection.
What we learned
We learned how to use Android Studio and MongoDB Atlas. We learned that there can be different types of cloud-based data systems and that the document-based data on the cloud was the best fit for our project as it allowed us to input each company as one entry.
What's next for Nymph
Nymph will include even more data, not only from large corporations, but from small businesses as well in order to create a fair-playing ground when it comes to taxes. Additionally, Nymph will implement a system were residents will not have to pay the tax if they are under a certain level of household income, as those with less income create less carbon emission.
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