Your Mission: Through environmental investigation and community engagement, develop a platform that empowers local communities to understand, monitor, and protect their immediate environment while connecting to larger environmental movements.
Target SDG Goals:
- SDG 13: Climate Action - Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
- SDG 14: Life Below Water - Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources
- SDG 15: Life on Land - Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems
- SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation - Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation
- SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy - Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy
- SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities - Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
Discovery Challenge:
Environmental problems feel overwhelming because they're presented as global issues beyond individual control. Your challenge is to understand how environmental issues manifest in your specific community and how local action can contribute to planetary change. What environmental challenges do people in your area care most about, and what solutions already exist that need support?
What you'll do: Open the project and familiarize yourself with the interface
- Open the StackBlitz template: Planet Protector
- Other alternative: you can download the source code template from StackBlitz Download Project button if you want to use IDE.
DO NOT DELETE the existing files in the template:
- Package files
- Any other files you didn't create
ONLY EDIT the necessary files.
Investigation Challenge: What environmental changes are happening in your immediate area?
💡 Discovery Task: Spend time in your local environment (neighborhood, campus, nearby natural areas) observing and documenting environmental conditions. Become a community scientist.
Environmental Documentation Activities:
- Take photos of the same outdoor location daily for one week-what changes do you notice?
- Map local water sources (streams, ponds, storm drains)-where does the water go?
- Document local wildlife-what animals and plants do you see regularly?
- Observe air quality indicators-when is visibility better or worse?
- Track waste patterns-where does trash accumulate and why?
Key Observation Questions:
- What environmental changes have longtime residents noticed?
- Which environmental issues affect daily life for people in this area?
- What natural areas or environmental features do people value most?
- Where do you see environmental degradation happening?
- What environmental improvements have you witnessed?
Documentation Task:
Create an "Environmental Baseline Report" with photos, observations, and data about current environmental conditions in your focus area.
Research Challenge: What environmental issues do people in your community care about most?
💡 Discovery Task: Interview 5 community members (including different age groups and backgrounds) about their environmental concerns and experiences. Focus on their priorities, not yours.
Interview Guidelines:
- Ask about their personal experiences with environmental issues
- Learn what environmental problems affect their daily lives
- Understand what environmental improvements they've seen
- Discover what actions they've taken or want to take
- Find out where they get environmental information
Key Discovery Questions:
- What environmental changes have you noticed in this area over time?
- What environmental issues worry you most for your family/community?
- What environmental actions have you taken, and what motivated you?
- What prevents you from taking more environmental action?
- Where do you get information about environmental issues, and do you trust those sources?
- What would you want to monitor or track about your local environment?
Documentation Task:
Create a "Community Environmental Priorities Map" showing what different community members care about most and why.
Research Challenge: What environmental solutions and activism already exist in your area?
💡 Discovery Task: Identify 5 environmental organizations, initiatives, or informal efforts in your community. Learn about their work, challenges, and successes.
Environmental Action Research Areas:
- Formal environmental organizations and nonprofits
- Informal community groups and neighborhood initiatives
- Individual environmental advocates and activists
- School or institutional sustainability programs
- Government environmental programs and policies
- Business sustainability efforts and green initiatives
Key Investigation Questions:
- What environmental work is already happening that deserves more support?
- What challenges do environmental groups face in organizing and taking action?
- What successes have inspired continued environmental work in the community?
- How do different environmental efforts coordinate (or fail to coordinate)?
- What resources, information, or connections would help environmental advocates be more effective?
Documentation Task:
Create an "Environmental Action Ecosystem Map" showing who is doing what work and how they connect (or don't connect) with each other.
Research Challenge: What environmental information is missing or hard to access for community members?
💡 Discovery Task: Investigate what environmental data exists about your area and what information community members need but can't easily find.
Data Investigation Areas:
- What environmental data is collected by government agencies?
- What information do community members want about air, water, soil quality?
- How accessible is existing environmental data to community members?
- What environmental monitoring could help people make daily decisions?
- What long-term environmental trends would help community planning?
Community Data Needs Questions:
- What environmental information would help you make daily decisions (like when to exercise outside)?
- What environmental data would help you advocate for community improvements?
- How do you currently get environmental information, and what's missing?
- What environmental monitoring would help you feel more connected to your local environment?
- What environmental trends would you want to track over time?
Documentation Task:
Create an "Environmental Data Gaps Analysis" identifying what information exists, what's missing, and what community members most need access to.
Design Challenge: Based on your research, what specific environmental challenge will your platform address?
💡 Synthesis Task: Analyze all your research to identify one specific environmental challenge that community members care about and where technology could be genuinely helpful.
Problem Definition Criteria:
- The problem is identified as important by community members, not just global statistics
- Local action can make a meaningful difference on this issue
- Community members want better information, coordination, or action tools for this issue
- Existing environmental efforts would benefit from this solution
- Technology can support (not replace) community environmental action
Critical Reflection Questions:
- How does your chosen problem connect local experiences to larger environmental systems?
- What community-identified solutions exist that need support rather than replacement?
- How will your platform increase rather than decrease community environmental engagement?
- What would environmental justice look like for your chosen issue?
Implementation Challenge: Design an environmental platform that amplifies community knowledge and action.
💡 Development Task: Create a simple prototype that supports the environmental work community members are already doing or want to do.
Community-Centered Design Requirements:
- Include environmental advocates as design partners throughout development
- Test with community members who have different levels of environmental knowledge
- Ensure the platform supports local environmental action rather than just global awareness
- Design for different technological comfort levels and device capabilities
- Create ways for users to contribute environmental knowledge, not just consume it
Technical Development Guidelines:
- Start with simple data collection and sharing features
- Include ways to connect users with local environmental groups and actions
- Design for offline functionality since environmental monitoring often happens outdoors
- Prioritize user privacy while enabling community environmental organizing
- Create features that help users understand local environmental conditions and trends
Action Challenge: How does your platform connect environmental awareness to community action?
💡 Action Integration: Design features that help users move from environmental awareness to environmental action, individually and collectively.
Action-Oriented Features:
- Connect users with local environmental volunteer opportunities
- Enable coordination of community environmental monitoring
- Provide tools for community members to report environmental concerns to relevant authorities
- Support organization of community environmental improvement projects
- Create pathways for users to share environmental knowledge and teach others
Community Organizing Support:
- Help users find and join local environmental groups
- Support coordination of community environmental campaigns
- Provide tools for community environmental advocacy and policy engagement
- Enable sharing of environmental success stories and solutions
- Connect local environmental efforts to larger environmental movements
Environmental Investigation Portfolio:
- Environmental baseline report with observations and documentation of local conditions
- Community environmental priorities map showing what people care about and why
- Environmental action ecosystem map of existing efforts and organizations
- Environmental data gaps analysis identifying information needs and barriers
- Problem definition statement focused on community-identified priorities
Solution Documentation:
- Environmental platform prototype designed with community input
- Community co-design process documentation showing partnership approach
- Environmental action integration plan connecting awareness to community engagement
- Environmental justice framework ensuring equitable access and participation
- Sustainability plan for ongoing community ownership and platform evolution
On Environmental Awareness:
- How did your understanding of local environmental issues evolve through community investigation?
- What surprised you about community environmental priorities compared to global environmental messaging?
- How did direct environmental observation change your relationship with your local environment?
On Community Environmental Action:
- What did you learn about existing environmental efforts in your community?
- How do individual environmental actions connect to community and systemic change?
- What role can technology play in supporting (vs. replacing) community environmental organizing?
On Environmental Justice:
- How do environmental issues affect different community members unequally?
- What barriers exist to community environmental action, and how can technology address them?
- How does your platform support environmental justice and community empowerment?
On Local-Global Connections:
- How do local environmental actions contribute to addressing global environmental challenges?
- What did you learn about connecting personal environmental responsibility to systemic change?
- How can community environmental platforms balance local action with global awareness?
Your project succeeds when:
- Community members report feeling more connected to and knowledgeable about their local environment
- The platform helps people take environmental actions they want to take but couldn't coordinate before
- Local environmental groups report improved organization, communication, or volunteer recruitment
- Users report learning from each other about environmental solutions and local environmental conditions
- The platform helps surface environmental concerns that need policy or systemic attention
Your platform contributes to environmental protection when:
- It helps community members monitor and document local environmental conditions
- Users engage in more local environmental actions through platform connections
- Environmental data and knowledge sharing improves community environmental decision-making
- The platform supports coordination of community environmental improvement projects
- Local environmental advocacy is strengthened through better information and organization
Your Impact Potential:
This approach demonstrates how technology can support community environmental stewardship and action rather than creating environmental awareness without pathways for engagement. You've learned to center community knowledge and priorities in environmental platform design.
You're ready to protect the planet by starting with the places and communities you know best!
Submit Your Project Here