Hey everyone, Seán here, founder & developer @ openlittermap.com

I have been in ethereum since the original dao which I consider to be one of the most inspiring movements that I ever experienced online. I want us to get back to that vision of fixing real world problems with new and innovative technology.

My work pioneering the citizen science on litter and plastic pollution started pre-iPhone in 2008 when I began researching the gamification of crowdsourcing.

Inspired by OpenStreetMap, the most comprehensive map of the world crowdsourced by 10M+ volunteers, I created OpenLitterMap as its real-time data collection layer.

Litter is an important catalyst for the development of humanities impact mapping capacity as litter is globally ubiquitous, familiar and notorious. These characteristics give litter mapping an incredibly low barrier to entry for public scientific inclusion.

Unlike the study and resolution of climate change - which is complicated by the study of an invisible odourless non-toxic CO2 molecule floating around in the sky at 100s of parts per million, litter & plastic pollution is empirical. You can see it, touch it, count it, and pick it up.

Litter is the first application of this technology. When many people of litter they think about cleanups. I think about global real-time impact quantification. Starting with litter and plastic pollution we are creating real-time impact mapping platform that helps people quantify the environment and real-world around them.

I am creating an intervention that intends to transform our relationship with technology & the environment.

After doing x2 masters I taught myself how to code, built openlittermap, and since then we have received over 500,000 images from over 8,000 people in over 100 countries.

About 10 years ago I wanted to do a PhD on the citizen science of litter and plastic pollution but to this day, none exist.

This is what brings me to gitcoin.
Our 20th century systems are incompatible with 21st century concepts.
There is 300 million tonnes of plastic in the oceans and 5/8 billion connected online without training who are handing away all their data to a handful of data collection companies.

It’s up to us to transform public education and create better systems that can create more value from our technology.

My only funding now comes from Gitcoin.

I am desci only.

Looking forward to launching littercoin.eth soon and transforming my workflow with AI.

https://github.com/OpenLitterMap/littercoin-eth

Thanks for your support,

Seán