• The Problem

• Climate Change

The Earth's climate has changed throughout history. Just in the last 650,000 years there have been seven cycles of glacial advance and retreat, with the abrupt end of the last ice age about 7,000 years ago marking the beginning of the modern climate era — and of human civilization. Most of these climate changes are attributed to very small variations in Earth’s orbit that change the amount of solar energy our planet receives.

• Facts About Climate Change

• Global Temperature Rise: The planet's average surface temperature has risen about 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit (0.9 degrees Celsius) since the late 19th century, a change driven largely by increased carbon dioxide and other human-made emissions into the atmosphere. Most of the warming occurred in the past 35 years, with the five warmest years on record taking place since 2010. Not only was 2016 the warmest year on record, but eight of the 12 months that make up the year — from January through September, with the exception of June — were the warmest on record for those respective months.
• Warming Ocean: The oceans have absorbed much of this increased heat, with the top 700 meters (about 2,300 feet) of ocean showing warming of more than 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit since 1969.
• Shrinking Ice Sheets: The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have decreased in mass. Data from NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment show Greenland lost an average of 286 billion tons of ice per year between 1993 and 2016, while Antarctica lost about 127 billion tons of ice per year during the same time period. The rate of Antarctica ice mass loss has tripled in the last decade.
• Glacial Retreat: Glaciers are retreating almost everywhere around the world — including in the Alps, Himalayas, Andes, Rockies, Alaska and Africa.'
• Decreased Snow Cover: Satellite observations reveal that the amount of spring snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere has decreased over the past five decades and that the snow is melting earlier.
• Sea Level Rise: Global sea level rose about 8 inches in the last century. The rate in the last two decades, however, is nearly double that of the last century and is accelerating slightly every year.
• Declining Arctic Sea Ice: Both the extent and thickness of Arctic sea ice has declined rapidly over the last several decades.
• Extreme Events: The number of record high temperature events in the United States has been increasing, while the number of record low temperature events has been decreasing, since 1950. The U.S. has also witnessed increasing numbers of intense rainfall events.
• Ocean Acidification: Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the acidity of surface ocean waters has increased by about 30 percent. This increase is the result of humans emitting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and hence more being absorbed into the oceans. The amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by the upper layer of the oceans is increasing by about 2 billion tons per year.

Source: https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/

• SDG 11 -

SUSTAINABLE CITIES & COMMUNITIES

More than half of us live in cities. By 2050, two-thirds of all humanity—6.5 billion people—will be urban. Sustainable development cannot be achieved without significantly transforming the way we build and manage our urban spaces. The rapid growth of cities—a result of rising populations and increasing migration—has led to a boom in mega-cities, especially in the developing world, and slums are becoming a more significant feature of urban life. Making cities sustainable means creating career and business opportunities, safe and affordable housing, and building resilient societies and economies. It involves investment in public transport, creating green public spaces, and improving urban planning and management in participatory and inclusive ways.

• Facts about sustainable cities & communities

• In 2018, 4.2 billion people, 55 percent of the world’s population, lived in cities. By 2050, the urban population is expected to reach 6.5 billion.
• Cities occupy just 3 percent of the Earth’s land but account for 60 to 80 percent of energy consumption and at least 70 percent of carbon emissions.
• 828 million people are estimated to live in slums, and the number is rising.
• In 1990, there were 10 cities with 10 million people or more; by 2014, the number of mega-cities rose to 28, and was expected to reach 33 by 2018. In the future, 9 out of 10 mega-cities will be in the developing world.
• In the coming decades, 90 percent of urban expansion will be in the developing world.
• The economic role of cities is significant. They generate about 80 percent of the global GDP.

Source: https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals/goal-11-sustainable-cities-and-communities.html

We all know how climate change and our cities are related to each other. Growing cities with growing population are causing pollution and affecting our climate.

• The Solution

Team Spacetime has come up with an innovative solution through Earthy! Earthy is an innovative mobile application that integrates NASA’s diversified data in creating an Augmented Reality to better-visualize the environmental problems happening around a particular area to calculate measures to be taken. It uses Artificial Intelligence in not only analyzing severe destruction that act as a disruption to the environment but also creates a set of solutions which is required to be carried out in order to ensure the proper functioning of that particular environment. Acting as a source of inspiration and entertainment, it facilitates its users into actively taking part in activities that

• Overview of solution

Earthy, an innovative mobile application powered by available NASA data on environment, climate, air pollution, water pollution, air quality index, deforestation rates, human density, etc. uses Augmented Reality in creating appropriate visualization of different problems happening around in a particular area and calculates different measures which is to be carried out in order to ensure proper environmental development necessary for appropriate habitat of both human and other species.

This interactive, user-friendly mobile application lets one visualize all the troubles and problems man causes to an environment in better monitoring specific areas. It also helps one in identifying and calculating measures to be carried out for the proper development and functioning of a particular area with one goal in mind- Sustainable Communities.

• How it Works

The interface is quite simple. Logging in, you look up to your location to find and monitor data on problems happening near you. An appropriate visualization helps you understand the extent of the problem and the impacts it creates on human health as well as its long term effects.

The app lets you dive deeper into the problems with augmented reality, where you learn about how serious these issues are and why you, out of all the individuals should care. Seeing the conditions of your area- earthy uses Artificial Intelligence in calculating a set of tasks- that proceeds one to a list of challenges to solve those problems that are creating massive effects on the environment.

Solving the problems, one can actively visualize the change of shift on different data that was previously caused due to the environmental destruction (caused by man). Once the mission is carried out, the shift in environmental transformation can also be observed via the newly established Augmented Reality that earthy produces to let others know on how our world can be changed, our climate can be changed with collaborative effort and how each of us can make a difference.

With the proper approach of development, one can oversee how the city looks with all its new data and outlook after the missions are carried out. Solving different environmental problems one not only completes his/her missions but also earn points and climb up the global leader board. Earthy’s one true incentive makes all these actively tough challenges seem easy. Sharing one’s contribution to the environment- he/she not only encourages other but also promote the change one can achieve with active support and calculative measures that Earthy does for you using Artificial Intelligence.

• The Features

• It helps one visualize the extent of destruction caused by the environment due to man-made pollution through augmented reality.
• It helps one visualize different data (available from NASA) to better understand the extent of this destruction on environment and on human health.
  
• It calculates a set of instructions and actions to be carried out in order to ensure the proper functioning of the environment.
  
• It helps one visualize post-development sight of that particular area where once it was devastated due to the pollution caused by man.
  
• It creates a sense of awareness among individuals in a particular area to carry out different activities to ensure an appropriate environment for humans and others.
  

• Our Future Plan

As Earthy creates a massive awareness, it will encourage every single of the 7 billion individuals to actively taking part in climate actions. Proper scaling will help us ensure real-time development of the environment as climate warriors’ work around enabling visible growth of data and set of actions through Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence conspicuous from all around the globe.

• our mission and VISION

Earthy works in creating awareness among its users by introducing them to the problems happening; particularly around their location. Introducing them to the vibrant data on air quality index, water pollution, soil pollution, and deforestation rates, etc., Earthly lets its users know about the extent of environmental destruction happening around them. This, as a result, creates an active incentive for them to work hard in establishing the environment that they prefer to reside in, a sustainable community helping us establishing the idea of sustainable cities preached in SDG 11.

The sense of responsibility that Earthy creates in ensuring proper engagement of every individual in a particular area showing them the extent of destruction by a proper visualization of data is what makes it unique. Using the in-built Artificial Intelligent, Earthy calculates a list of things- that is, a set of missions to be carried out by its user. This set of missions caters to the development of a particular area where its users lie. In fact, it is through these set of mission, users of earthy utilize the proper development actions which is stated on the application. Once the mission is carried out, Earthy renews the model of Augmented Reality making the changes visible promoting the statement- “every action matters”.

• data used:

• https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/products/mcd12q1v006/
• https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/products/mcd15a3hv006/
• https://discnrt1.gesdisc.eosdis.nasa.gov/data/Aura_MLS_NRT/ML2O3_NRT.004/
• https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/GLCF_GLS_TCC
• https://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather

• Tools used:

• Adobe Photoshop CC
• Adobe Illustrator CC
• Adobe After Effects CC
• Android Studio
• Unity 3D
• Blender
• Audacity
• Invision App
• NaturalReader Online TTS Service

• programming Languages Used:

• Java (Android Studio)
• C# (Unity 3D)
• HTML5, CSS3. Javascript (App Prototype - Invision App)

• Github Repository:

• https://github.com/mdabeerhussain/earthy

• App Prototype:

• https://invis.io/UZUGHZL5HQN