My favourite chores growing up has always been directly related to the outdoors such as raking the leaves on the lawn, or weeding the garden to make room for the tulips . In my free time, I enjoy running in the Mundy Park forest and taking in all the flavourful and fresh air I can. So, when I entered high school, I was able to further pursue this likeness for the outdoors by joining and eventually leading the school environmental club. With this final project as my attempt to really making a positive impact in our community, the action that I came up with was to create a tool that helps people identify and deal with invasive plants. With support from experts, I hope to code an AI that is able to identify local invasive plant species from a photo and provide accurate/simple steps to removing it, based on the information that I researched and put together.
Below is a simple plan I constructed to go about to starting this project:
WEEK 1– Research & Recruitment
– Reach out to my mentor and the leader of the Environmental Council that I am a part of (Adrian Pettyfer), and reach out to the Principal of Technology implantation of SD43 (Dave Sands). I hope by pitching my idea to them, they could offer me insight on whether it is a realistic project and help create an achievable timeline, along with support throughout the entire process.
– Create a list of 10 common invasive species in BC and their noninvasive but similar looking counterparts.
In the TedTalk “Not All Giving is Good,” we learned a lesson that “Everything is complicated.” In the presentation, Alison Stuart describes this lesson by sharing her experiences of the difficulty protecting the wildlife but also the livelihoods of the families in Kenya. Based on the main title of her presentation and her experience with this first lesson, I interpreted it as that giving has to be done with a clear goal and a deep understanding of how your action is actually aligned with your goal. The idea that “Everything is Complicated” teaches us the need to do our own research before doing something impactful and the need to be able to take clear actions that support the right causes.
The action project that I am planning to carry out is sustainable because it combines our evolving technology with ongoing environmental concerns to create an educational and long-term solution for managing invasive species in our local community. Invasive plants are one of the greatest threats to biodiversity, so an AI tool that supports early detection and rapid response allows communities to address threats before they become uncontrollable. For example, a student or community member could use the tool while walking in a local park to identify an invasive plant and receive simple steps to remove it properly. Because the tool can be reused and is available for anyone with a device, it can be used as a permanent community resource. For example, our school’s Environmental Club could integrate this tool into their gardening sessions. Furthermore, because this tool is digital, it can be updated to include new invasive threats as they emerge, ensuring the project remains relevant as the local climate and ecosystem change.
This action provides opportunity for not just garden clubs but for anyone in the community to make a positive impact for the environment around us and contribute to a larger map of invasive species distributions. Below are some ideas I brainstormed to ensure that I am making the positive impact that I intend:
- Having a “Clear Log” feature: where users can report once they have finished removing the plant. This provides proof in numbers.
- Before & After Photos: encouraging users to take a photo of the empty spot or the pile of pulled weeds. This provides visual proof of impact.
- Mapping in BC: having a single web dashboard to show pins on a map where removals have happened. This turns individual actions into a visible community achievement
