SeaFind

Everyone knows that threats to biodiversity such as pollution by non-degradable plastic pollution, waste dumping, oil spills, wildlife fish and mammal deaths/injuries exist, but no one knows where to start to solve it. With SeaFind we turn everybody into environmental detectives; protectors of biodiversity. 

SeaFind makes creating a difference social and popular. Users of SeaFind can quickly report environmental emergencies right outside their door using the ChatBot feature, and connect with scientists who are making a difference over the app’s chatting feature. It is also an “ideation” platform which people without the proper resources can use to share their protected ideas with investors from around the world who could fund them.

With this app in their tool-belt, they can become an authentic, real superhero. Without an immediate solution linking people in their daily lives to solving environmental degradation, we run the risk of an irreversible, dystopian future.

Disengagement leads to disenfranchisement leads to disillusionment leads to dissolution, where no problems are solved. SeaFind makes it possible for the world to care again because it connects you with a real community in real time that cares about what you want to do offers you solutions to do it. Together, we are able to solve problems which, alone, we cannot. In an environmental emergency, SeaFind is there. We are helping to relieve the anguish of people who come across injured animals and are helpless to do anything about it; we are here to help solve pollution outbreaks, instantaneously, and with real civic engagement. We are solving the problem of apathy and inertia. We banish apathy because we offer a way to solve problems in real time. And we prevent inertia, because it is easy, and convenient, to be the answer to a problem.

We are serving biodiversity. We are integrating, nurturing, and protecting all those who interact in a world that’s growing smaller everyday. We also offer a platform to those with ideas to solve environmental problems, but don’t know where to turn to voice them. Green startup businesses are growing exponentially, and we are a central, environmental hub for those looking for partners, investors, and eco-friendly marketeers. We allow people with ideas to buildup small businesses by buying local while thinking global.

But users don’t have to officially join a community, a real-time, global community in their pocket, that they can instantly reach out to and connect with. We are serving the altruism that lives within people who want to do something good, but many times don’t know how. SeaFind will engage our community with up-to-date eco news, incorporated with the ChatBot, so that if our community is just chilling and scrolling, they have the option to view news stories or research papers about things they care about or chat with the ChatBot about what is on their mind or what is immediately helpful to them, such as news on their favorite animal.

SeaFind links the world, solving problems in real time, giving hope to humanity again that together, we can solve monumental problems. SeaFind is the bridge connecting the world and your dreams of a pristine planet. 

SeaFind’s ChatBot turns us all into super heroes to aid in environmental emergencies,  in real time, with a camera option and instant connection to local environmental agencies, veterinarians, police, animal rescue volunteers. An example of this would be if you saw a bird half dead outside, lying on the ground. You could use the app to take a picture of it, then use the ChatBot to contact local veterinarians or animal rescue volunteers and send them your location. If you want to help yourself, you could ask the ChatBot what to do and it would reply with information on how to best help the bird to survive without endangering it or making the situation worse. Our app uses any sensor on the common smartphone that is helpful to a situation, such as a camera, and location services to connect with agencies in the area to rescue and aid.

SeaFind also provides easy access to news you care about and pressing stories that are important for all of us to know. Its ChatBot is able to share stories on animals you care about. There will be a news tab which shows both popular stories and subscriptions, allowing you to subscribe to specific news providers that you want to hear more from, or a specific topic you want to read more about.

SeaFind creates a social media family which allows you to connect to those who care about the things you care about, and share ideas and solutions to those who can help bring them to life — such as scientists working on resolving the same problems you care about (linking user accounts to allow chatting between users, and a group function). This “group” function connects people to each other over problems they want to help develop solutions to. Specific groups will become manifest with like-themes, such as a local area ocean plastics awareness group, or even something recreational, such as a city wide bird watching group.

This app can be coded in Java, and I plan to release it by October 31, 2019.

Simply put, it does not exist yet. Too often we see people trying to raise awareness for the environment, in ways such as reposting something onto their Instagram story/page, but not actually doing something to help. The initial hump to be of actual aid to the environment is too high. This is what my app fixes. Now, anyone can be a real superhero, because SeaFind makes it easy for anyone to help out.

SeaFind relies on social networking technology for the app to work. In order to create an account, make groups with others to solve environmental issues, contact rescue organizations, or message and speak with professionals, our app needs to use social networking technology. Another technology utilized by SeaFind is AI chatbot technology. To make interactions and learning easier, our app needs to use a ChatBot. An example of this is if you see a hurt animal laying on the ground, you can ask the ChatBot for help on what to do in order to help it.

The largest problem in solving the global crisis of environmental destruction is actually getting people involved. We hear stories of groups getting involved on the news, we see people share videos of environmental destruction all over social media, but the truth is that most people don’t get involved because it is too much effort to do so. An example is if one found a hurt deer on the side of the road. You can expect most people to just pass it by, doing nothing because they are busy and it is too much effort. SeaFind is a clear solution to that problem. A person could use SeaFind to contact local animal rescue agencies with ease to help the animal. If everyone had this app on their phone, we could get the help of everybody to solve the greatest challenge of our generation. SeaFind also makes it easy to plan to do things such as get out and volunteer to pick up trash at a beach full of plastic waste, or simply report occurrences of destruction such as plastic washing up in a particular area. Lastly, using SeaFind, you can connect with professionals and scientists working on solving the same problems as you, which makes it easy for people who live in poor or rural areas to share the solutions that they come up with, which will help save the environment faster. Nothing like SeaFind currently exists, but with it, we can combine everybody’s knowledge and ability to save the Earth.

Currently, as SeaFind has not been created, so it is between its design/prototype phase. However, within a year, I plan to release it to all countries which it can be released to with little change from a US version, as it would be an international app. This would include all Western-style democracies and developed countries. Then, 5 years from now, I would try to release it in every country, including ones like China, for which I would have to create a social network just for their country. We envision this to make a global impact, to serve everybody on earth. So, in short, currently 0. In a year, maybe about 50 million people. By 2024, maybe about 3 billion people.

The goal of SeaFind is to get common people to actually participate in solving environmental degradation. With SeaFind, we can convince those who normally don’t want to, or aren’t able to, help out to do so. This will impact more than millions of lives, if we get everyone from around the world to work together, this can impact billions of lives, even every life on earth.

Some barriers that exist in the creation of the SeaFind app include financial, technical and cultural ones. Firstly, this project has not received any funding yet. It does not appear to be a high-cost project, however. Secondly, there is a lot of technical knowledge I need to learn in order to properly create this app. I don’t possess all of the technical skills already. Lastly, while there are cultures which are receptive to helping the environment, there are cultures around the world which are largely apathetic.

First of all, since it is not a high-cost project, I don’t need very much funding to make it. However, I do hope to receive some funding to expand this project later, either by investors or through scholarships. After that, I can teach myself all the technical knowledge required to create this app. I have taken three years of programming in school, so I am technically acquainted, and I don’t believe it will take very long to learn how to make the app. Finally, I assume that as climate change gets worse, not only will the necessity of action for it become more popular, but people will need a way to efficiently plan their ideas. This is where SeaFind comes in. So, as the world culturally shifts towards activism, as we are already seeing happen, the idea of an app such as SeaFind will become more and more popular.

I am part of a larger organization known as Pristine Academy which is a collection of students from around the world dedicated to solving environmental issues with the planet, primarily the ocean.

Currently, it is just myself, my dad, my mentor, and a couple of my friends.

The problem is clear, the reach is necessary, and this solution has never been done before. I am the person behind the idea of this app, and am learning the technical skills to complete it. I designed it myself, brainstormed and integrated its capabilities, and now I'm actually creating it. My friends are just like me, involved, interested, and capable of making this app real. James Bravewolf is an experienced person who has helped many other students realize their ideas and projects. My dad comes from a technological background and is familiar with aspects of this project.

On October 31st, we will begin outreach to ocean advocacy groups, environmental action committees, NGOs, and all individuals. Some favorable partnerships would be the Sierra Club, World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace, and any governmental environmental agencies.

In its prototype phase, which will be completed by late August, it will be available on the website, for anyone who wants to beta test it. Then, by October 31st, I plan to release it to multiple countries. For countries such as India and China, I plan to 'insource' volunteer members of the SeaFind community to help translate the app into multiple languages. This will take place around the world in places such as Europe, Africa, or South America. Our key customers are all life on planet Earth. Protecting this life and its biodiversity is in the interest of all.

I want to avoid the ultimatum of either paying for the app, or paying with your data. Much of this app can be sustained through donations or by selling aesthetic options on the app. Right now I am a one man show, and can bring SeaFind to reality on October 31st by my own initiative. As we gather momentum and popularity, I will reach out to biodiversity and machine learning specialists to expand SeaFind’s products and services.

Solve can give me a platform to share SeaFind with the world. What SeaFind needs is a shoutout, and a media storm, so people know that we are there and can join our community. Instant activism is a new way to make positive change. And SeaFind is a way to make this a reality.

We would like to partner with everyone from “mom and pop” startups, to Google, and everybody in between. Anywhere we can get the brand and app out in the media. We are open and flexible to fit the needs of each which we could piggyback with in order to promote the health of the environment and its citizens.

Right now, SeaFind is incorporating basic AI technology through its ChatBot. Our goal, even at the first stage, is an emotionally intelligent system that can begin to assess immediate problems and can access all the people in the area who will be notified at the press of a button. For example, a person, walking along the beach, finds an injured deer. He opens his SeaFind app, goes to the ChatBot, snaps a photo, and sends it to the ChatBot. Immediately, SeaFind is able to analyze and determine that it is a photo of an injured deer, which then immediately decides the best next course of action. It collates a list of designated animal rescue volunteers, the police, a veterinarian, and an animal control officer. All the person on the beach has to do is select who to contact, and with the click of a button, they are notified of the emergency which requires immediate response. If we were honored enough to win the prize, we would immediately use this money to upgrade our artificial intelligence response to crisis. Focusing on animal, human, and environmental health recognition, predictive modeling of potential trouble spots by collecting repetitive submissions from the same area. Another big step we would take with the prize, would be to link to places such as MIT Seagrant and the Lamont-Doherty lab at Columbia University. And lastly, we would use it to help brand and advocate community response to urgent, real-time events.

The SeaFind app, free to use, will create an army of eco scientists from the 4th grade to 70 years old. As cliche as it may sound, SeaFind is giving voice to the voiceless. It’s giving environmental science to those who thought that caring about the environment was only for the economic powerhouses and the first world. Every person who has our free app will be able to report to a worldwide community that their pond is polluted, or that their drinking water is bad, and then make these issues personal, because they are part of the SeaFind community, and their face is real. They are no longer just a statistic. Now that they are our friends, they are real, and their contaminated drinking water, is our contaminated drinking water. We prevent disconnect. We bring solutions to people who think that they are forgotten, and we are supplying answers directly from the SeaFind community to solve real-time problems. This is the true positive face of a global community. If we were honored enough to receive this prize, we would use the money to expand SeaFind to every corner of the earth, every country, every person, so that they would have the opportunity to join the SeaFind community, and bring their concerns to a global awareness platform.

SeaFind can help the migration challenge facing the world today in two ways. First off, it can do so by helping pinpoint real-time problems of people on the move, such as sanitary conditions, lack of food, disease breakouts, endangered children, environmental degradation, and so much more. Secondly, once these people on the move have reached the cities, SeaFind can help by using predictive modeling to assess food needs, health problems, infrastructure issues, living arrangements, and the impact on the environment. If we were honored enough to receive this prize, we would use it to directly make an impact and assist in the refugee crisis, and to also get them to begin to be a part of a community that teaches them the values of the environment, its importance, and that we should have a helping hand in it by supporting it.

Right now, SeaFind is going to incorporate basic AI technology through its ChatBot, but it is planned to develop into something much more advanced. An example of this ChatBot’s use would be a person, walking along the beach, who finds plastic waste from the ocean washing up along the shore. He opens his SeaFind app, goes to the ChatBot, snaps a photo, and sends it to the ChatBot. Immediately, SeaFind is able to analyze and determine that it is a photo of ocean plastic pollution, and it stores the data of this incident. It then immediately decides the best next course of action. It collates a list of designated environmental volunteers, the police, and climate control activists. All the person on the beach has to do is select who to contact, and with the click of a button, they are notified of the emergency. Then, there is another person the next day who reports the same thing. Using predictive modeling, the AI labels this area as a ‘trouble spot,’ which raises awareness of the issue in the area. If we were honored enough to win the prize, we would use the prize money to upgrade our AI ChatBot technology to upgrade our artificial intelligence response to crisis. Focusing on animal, human, and environmental health recognition, predictive modeling of potential trouble spots by collecting repetitive submissions from the same area. And lastly, we would use it to help brand and advocate community response to urgent, real-time events.

SeaFind is a very ambitious project. If anything can get environmental activism to be popular and a “social norm,” it would be SeaFind, an all-in-one, cool, social media app not just for activists, but for everybody living on this planet. SeaFind boldly sparks change and innovation because it makes it free and convenient to serve your planet. Using social media technology, people on SeaFind will socialize in groups of their choosing, over things they care about, brainstorming solutions to the problems they find urgent. This app will include everyone from underprivileged people who have no other people to reach out to, normal, middle class citizens who have nothing better to do and decide to do something to help make a difference, and brilliant scientists who are developing amazing solutions to the environment’s greatest problems. SeaFind stands up to the problem of apathy, and gets everyone involved no matter who they are. If we were honored enough to receive this prize, we would use the money to expand SeaFind to every corner of the earth, every country, every person, so that they would have the opportunity to join the SeaFind community, and bring their concerns to a global awareness platform.