Dubai Student Develops Gamified App to Drive Sustainability and Youth Engagement
Dubai, UAE – Arnav Kedia, a Grade 11 student at GEMS World Academy in Dubai, has taken a remarkable step towards promoting sustainability and environmental awareness among young people. Arnav’s innovative mobile application employs gamification to encourage his peers to embrace a more sustainable way of living, making it an essential tool in the city’s drive for a greener future.
Arnav’s concept centers around a mobile application that falls within the sustainable tech industry, offering an engaging approach to motivate young individuals to adopt an eco-friendly lifestyle. The app integrates gamification elements, turning sustainability practices into a fun and rewarding experience.
In an interview, Arnav passionately stated, “We can leverage technology to bring about meaningful changes that lead to significant environmental benefits. The core idea of my application is to use gamification to inspire young people to embrace a sustainable lifestyle. It features a virtual wallet where users earn points by actively participating in various sustainable activities like recycling, reusing, and using public transport.”
How the app works is both innovative and rewarding. Through image analysis, the app detects users’ participation in positive actions, such as recycling or using eco-friendly transportation, and rewards them with virtual points for their efforts. These points accumulate in an AI database system, allowing users to reach milestones and exchange their points for vouchers and concessions from environmentally friendly retailers and service providers. This ingenious approach aims to trigger a paradigm shift in the youth’s mindset, encouraging environmental conservation.
Arnav’s motivation for developing the app stems from the realization that many individuals still lack awareness of the potential disastrous consequences resulting from even a slight global temperature rise. As he emphasized, a mere increase of one degree in global temperatures could lead to catastrophic outcomes such as a seven-meter rise in sea levels, complete melting of Greenland’s ice, and the disappearance of half of the highest glacier on Mount Everest.
The ambitious student believes that technology can play a pivotal role in shaping a sustainable future for humanity. By channeling the inherent drive of humans to accomplish goals and witness progress, Arnav is confident that gamification will act as a catalyst for driving engagement in environmental issues. Drawing inspiration from the immersive setting of video games, he seeks to use competition and achievement-based mechanics to motivate young people to actively participate in sustainability efforts.
Recent brutal heatwaves and natural disasters have only fueled the youth’s passion for careers centered around sustainability. Arnav acknowledges that today’s youth will likely bear the brunt of climate change consequences, which emphasizes the urgency for action. With a combined population of over two billion people, Generation Z has the potential to be the driving force behind preventing planetary destruction.
Arnav’s vision is powered by the belief that technology, coupled with innovative environmental engineering, can pave the way to a sustainable future. His app, with its gamified approach, not only encourages individual actions but also fosters collective engagement in environmental preservation.
In a world facing pressing environmental challenges, the initiative of Dubai’s youth is a beacon of hope, pointing towards a future where technology and passion for sustainability converge to protect our planet and secure the well-being of generations to come. As Arnav’s app gains traction and recognition, it serves as a reminder that small actions, gamified and incentivized, can lead to significant positive impacts on our environment.
