Space Apps Challenge 2018

We are Chris, Sarah and James - Team Keele Runnings! - Chris Briggs a PhD student working in machine learning and AI; James Mitchell a PhD student working in User Centred Design; and Sarah Briggs, a Sustainability Project Officer, all from Keele University in England.

Our app addresses the disconnect between environmental degradation and what everybody can do to contribute to a sustainable future that protects our planet and its myriad ecosystems.

Real Earth uses satellite images of our planet’s natural environments to highlight the beauty and value of the planet we call home.

Real Earth is a html and javascript web app optimised for mobile devices. Version 1 of the app includes 3 key environments - rainforests, glaciers and cities. Real Earth includes embedded videos, carousels of images showing environmental change over time, dropdown menus with information about environmental phenomena, causes of environmental issues, and actions people can take to overcome them. Additional links to scientific papers and data are provided to encourage users to learn more about the environments and issues in the Real Earth app.

By raising awareness of key anthropogenic environmental catastrophes, and highlighting actions based on scientific data and research that could help overcome these problems, we aim to cut through the fake news and cynicism surrounding the real environmental challenges facing both our and future generations if we fail to act. We have also mapped the environmental issues to relevant UN Sustainable Development Goals to raise awareness of everyone’s ability to contribute to these targets that world leaders have committed to achieve by 2030.

The aim for Real Earth is to expand the ecosystems covered to raise awareness of further environmental catastrophes including sea-level rise, ocean plastics, ocean acidification, ice sheets melting, natural hazards such as flooding, and war and conflict. So many of these large-scale environmental problems are disconnected from our everyday lives, so with Real Earth, we hope to reconnect people to their role in helping overcome these problems, and create hope that with collaboration and partnership, we can achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and make our planet a place where our generation and future generations can continue to thrive.

The app has been built using Github and is hosted here: https://github.com/confusedmatrix/nasa-space-apps-2018

The main challenge we faced was finding suitable images especially satellite images without cloud cover! We had to adapt our strategy to avoid losing too much time.

Access Real Earth here: https://nasa-space-apps-2018.appspot.com

Resources:

Github

Googlecloud and Googledocs

Pixabay

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/

https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300

https://www.carbonbrief.org/deforestation-in-the-tropics-affects-climate-around-the-world-study-finds

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229086194_The_Value_of_the_World's_Ecosystem_Services_and_Natural_Capital

http://theconversation.com/extinction-is-a-natural-process-but-its-happening-at-1-000-times-the-normal-speed-99191

https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/78/3/660S/4690010

https://www.orangutans-sos.org/take-action/learn/palm-oil/

http://www.fao.org/docrep/007/y5019e/y5019e03.htm

http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/3_foodconsumption/en/index4.html

https://www.fsc-uk.org/en-uk/about-fsc/why-choose-fsc/fsc-for-your-business/why-use-fsc-certified-wood

https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018-revision-of-world-urbanization-prospects.html

https://www.worldbank.org/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4710587/

http://www.who.int/airpollution/data/cities/en/

https://www.who.int/airpollution/en/

https://theconversation.com/green-corridors-protect-cyclists-and-pedestrians-from-pollution-26786

https://www.nature.com/articles/532441c

https://www.c2ccertified.org/about

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/83837/retreat-of-jakobshavn-glacier-greenland

https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/glaciers/information.html

http://www.pas.va/content/dam/accademia/pdf/es41/es41-kulkarni.pdf

https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2785/unexpected-future-boost-of-methane-possible-from-arctic-permafrost/

https://ideas.ted.com/methane-isnt-just-cow-farts-its-also-cow-burps-and-other-weird-facts-you-didnt-know-about-this-potent-greenhouse-gas/

http://www.wrap.org.uk/food-waste-reduction

https://theconversation.com/its-time-to-wake-up-to-the-devastating-impact-flying-has-on-the-environment-70953

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/es9039693

https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions