Inspiration
Today there's more carbon dioxide in our atmosphere than there has ever been before. 2/3 of weather crises are caused by humans and we're on the path to more and more climate disasters so it's clear that we need to work together to make a change. Natra helps everyone be a part of the positive change we need to make for the planet by giving everyone the tools they need to start helping the planet one day at a time!
What it does
Everyday, Natra gives you a daily tip or lesson that helps you start making habit changes that can actually result in a huge positive impact for the environment. For example, one thing that a lot of people don't think about is how many carbon emissions are released by emails sitting in their inbox. A single email sitting in your inbox releases 26 grams of carbon emissions, and since the average American gets 100 new emails per day, these emissions quickly add up between many people. Natra would give you a quick tip about deleting this emails and the positive change you could make in the environment by following this tip continually. Aside from these tips, Natra also offers an eco-friendly scanner where you can scan any product and find out if any ingredients in it are actually harmful to the environment to help you easily avoid unethical & unsustainable products. By helping many people move towards a more eco friendly lifestyle one easy step at a time, we are creating a huge change in the world!
How we built it
I built this app using the Flutter SDK and used a SQL Database as the backend along with Firebase for the authentication. By using the Flutter SDK, I was able to cross-compile the app for both iOS and Android, so it is out on both the App Store and Google Play Store!
Challenges we ran into
In building the app, the main challenge I ran into was my unfamiliarity with the Flutter SDK, and it was a steep learning curve trying to learn from the documentation and random YouTube videos, but after I became more comfortable with Flutter and integrated the backend through a SQL Database, it got a lot easier!
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Within the first month of release and less than 50 active users, Natra was able to save more than 9,320 gallons of water, $1,694, 51.5 kg of solid waste, and 325 kg CO2 emissions. Imagine this scaled up! With less than 1000 active users(assumed 3/4 active), we would save more than 90,000 gallons of water, 3,000 kg CO2, 500 kg solid waste, and $10,000!
What we learned
Over the process of building Natra, I learnt app development with Flutter and learned how to use a OCR API to scan ingredients and then use a searching algorithm to filter through these ingredients. However, aside from this I also learned a huge amount about the world around me and why its incredibly important to do my part to help protect it. Overall, building Natra has been an incredible learning experience and I am so motivated to spread its message further!
What's next for Natra
Since Natra is on the Google Play and iOS App Stores, the next step is just getting the word out there through social media platforms and other funding. I thought this competition would be a great step forward in spreading Natra and it's message!
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