## Inspiration

Our team's mission is to build tools that help everyone act against climate change.

While it's common knowledge that climate change is an urgent problem that we need to address immediately, we sought a solution that puts the problem at the forefront - starting with the habits that almost everyone participates in, online shopping. We designed Neutral to make it easy to figure out how much greenhouse gas you're emitting with every purchase you make. It's difficult to put the impact of every online purchase into perspective. With Neutral, we hope to put these insights at the front-of-mind for the user so they can make more informed, considerate decisions about their purchases and the ultimate impact they have on the Earth.

While it's difficult in a first world country to live 100% carbon neutral, we built Neutral to allow users to easily calculate their carbon footprint, and take immediate action to offset it by donating to our line-up of trusted NGOs dedicated to our mission of tackling the climate change crisis.

## What it does

**Neutral is a web application that empowers users to understand their carbon footprint, learn how to reduce their emissions, and ultimately, offset the emissions produced by each and every one of their purchases made online.**

Using the ISO 14064-3 carbon reporting standard, Neutral comprehensively reports the direct and indirect carbon emissions of a user's online purchases, based on the product type and price. Neutral's user-friendly data dashboard visualizes the historical carbon emission data, delivering the insights in metrics digestible and relevant to the average user. The integration and effectiveness of the Neutral dashboard is designed to allow users to easily understand their carbon footprint and drive immediate action to offset their footprint.

## How We built it

We built a Chrome Extension and data dashboard web application. We set up a MySQL database containing Carbon Emission data on various product and category types. We utilized Google Cloud's NLP API to categorize purchase items based on their description features and calculate the total carbon dioxide emitted directly and indirectly from the purchase.

## Challenges I ran into

Our main challenge was determining how to calculate the carbon emissions of a given good sold online. With no APIs readily available on carbon emission data, one of the few options we had was to scrape an unsupported [site](https://www.cleanmetrics.com/carbonscopedata/browseeiolci.aspx) for carbon emission metrics.

We also ran into difficulties with designing the layout of the data visualization dashboard. The ultimate mission of our project was to build a dashboard that allowed users to easily understand their carbon footprint. And so, the data we summarized and visualized was designed with the goal of making the typical carbon footprint metrics more digestible and relevant to the average user.

## Accomplishments that we're proud of

## What we learned

## What's next for Neutral

We implemented some simplifications in order to be able to deliver a working project in time. Moving forward, we'd like to support Neutral on all e-commerce sites and product types.
# 🌍 FootPrint Mayhem

## 🚀 Inspiration

Climate change is daunting, and it often feels like individual efforts don’t matter. That’s why we created *FootPrint Mayhem* – a fun, addictive way to turn eco-friendly actions into a game! Think Duolingo, but for saving the planet.

---

## 🎮 What It Does

FootPrint Mayhem makes sustainability part of your daily routine with these features:

* **Track** your daily carbon footprint.
* **Take quizzes** to learn about eco-friendly habits.
* **Earn points and streaks** for consistent actions.
* **Compete with friends** on a leaderboard.

Every small step counts, and we make it engaging and rewarding!

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## 🛠️ How We Built It

Our tech stack:

* **React** for a smooth, responsive UI.
* **Tailwind CSS** for easy, stylish design.
* **Firebase** for backend and authentication (with some creative improvisation!).
* **Express** for quick backend logic.

We kept things modular with components like Dashboard, UserInputForm, and LevelQuiz for maintainability.

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## 🧩 Challenges

* **Component integration** felt like a jigsaw puzzle.
* **Balancing education and fun** was tricky.
* **Last-minute pivots** when libraries failed us.
* **Simplifying complex data** without overwhelming users.

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## 🏆 Accomplishments

* A functional **dashboard** that makes carbon data interesting.
* A **streak system** to keep users coming back.
* **Quizzes** that are both fun and educational.
* A project that promotes real-world habit changes.

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## 🎓 What We Learned

* **Flexibility** is key – when tools fail, adapt!
* How to make **data visualizations** user-friendly.
* **Gamification works** in driving positive habits.
* Saving the planet *can* be fun with the right approach!

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## 🔮 What’s Next?

* **Detailed tracking** of more eco-friendly actions.
* **Social features**: challenge friends and share progress.
* **Real-world rewards** through partnerships with local businesses.
* Expanding **quiz topics** to deepen sustainability education.
* **Mobile apps** to track progress on the go!

---

🌱 *FootPrint Mayhem: Making the world greener, one streak at a time!*
## Inspiration

We wanted to reduce global carbon footprint and pollution by optimizing waste management. 2019 was an incredible year for all environmental activities. We were inspired by the acts of 17-year old Greta Thunberg and how those acts created huge ripple effects across the world. With this passion for a greener world, synchronized with our technical knowledge, we created Recycle.space.

## What it does

Using modern tech, we provide users with an easy way to identify where to sort and dispose of their waste items simply by holding it up to a camera. This application will be especially useful when permanent fixtures are erect in malls, markets, and large public locations.

## How we built it

Using a flask-based backend to connect to Google Vision API, we captured images and categorized which waste categories the item belongs to. This was visualized using Reactstrap.

## Challenges I ran into

* Deployment
* Categorization of food items using Google API
* Setting up Dev. Environment for a brand new laptop
* Selecting appropriate backend framework
* Parsing image files using React
* UI designing using Reactstrap

## Accomplishments that I'm proud of

* WE MADE IT!
We are thrilled to create such an incredible app that would make people's lives easier while helping improve the global environment.

## What I learned

* UI is difficult
* Picking a good tech stack is important
* Good version control practices is crucial

## What's next for Recycle.space

Deploying a scalable and finalized version of the product to the cloud and working with local companies to deliver this product to public places such as malls.