How Augmented Reality is helping Sustainability in 2020

Greenhouse gases are increasing, rainforests are disappearing, the oceans polluted, too much waste produced, too many resources used.

The only thing that helps here is sustainability and rethinking!

According to UNO, sustainability is about “acting in such a way that future generations have the natural resources to lead an equal, if not better, life than the present generations”. In short: Leave some of this beautiful planet and natural resources for your children and grandchildren.

Sustainability is more than just a short trend that will soon fizzle out again — no, sustainability is on everyone’s lips these days and the awareness of resource-saving actions and living is demonstrably gaining ground in today’s society.

Megatrends in terms of sustainability

The megatrend 2020 Neo-Ecology, for example, describes the social change process towards a resource-efficient and sustainable economy. And believe it or not, neo-ecology is reaching every area of our everyday lives. Fruit nets instead of plastic bags when shopping, the ban on plastic straws, cotton buds and cutlery by the EU Plastics Regulation, organic markets on every corner and, last but not least, the personal purchase decision, which is always pervaded by that quiet voice in our head asking us whether so much plastic, consumption and driving a car is necessary at all.

The thinking, actions, and values of our global society are changing; sustainability is becoming more and more ingrained in the minds of humanity. Group M studies from Germany show that 57 percent of those surveyed are now strongly interested in the topic of sustainability and 52 percent think they need to do more to protect the environment. There is still a long way to go, sure, but more than half of those surveyed are aware of the seriousness of the situation, knowing that if we don’t get our act together and start living sustainably and resource-efficiently, our planet won’t be as it is for much longer. The problem lies in the fact that most do not get to see the danger of our earth with the own eyes — we act true to the motto “if we don’t see the danger, it does not exist.”

Augmented Reality wants to change that.

AR can visualize climatic conditions so that people can really see what is really going on in the world. Or teach playfully about sustainability, the environment, and green living.

Based on the successful concept of Tamagotchi, the mobile game ÖkoGotschi was developed, which enables children to learn about sustainability and CO2 reduction, make better lifestyle decisions, and have fun while doing so. The startup Polycular developed the app, which, while hiking through national parks and tourist areas in Salzburg, brings objects to life that encourage sustainable living. You play the hero Ökogotschi, who can only survive if the player makes good decisions regarding consumption and energy. With their skills and knowledge, the users change their behavior to fulfill missions and receive rewards.

Books with AR features can also create environmental awareness by communicating important sustainable information to children.

See How the World’s Most Polluted Air Compares With Your City’s

The New York Times published an article in late 2019 entitled “See How the World’s Most Polluted Air Compares With Your City’s”. The article is about raising awareness of air pollution in cities. After all, our planet suffers from serious environmental pollution. It is responsible for 9% of all deaths worldwide, which comes up to 5 million people. The article features a mobile AR application that makes the “invisible” pollution that is everywhere visible to our naked eye. To see that happen, the user simply had to open the article in the New York Times App and press the AR activation button. The location is automatically retrieved, as the app visualizes the dirt particles floating in the air. In addition, an equation is given which indicates the degree of air pollution in µg/m³. The lower the number before this equation, the better the air quality.

getbaff x sustainability

getbaff also offers a sustainable solution, as our AR tech allows pre-existing analog surfaces to be linked to digital content without the need to modify them first.

Companies, for example, only have to print flyers with the same simple motif. This flyer can then be filled with different videos at regular, desired intervals. The recipients can keep the flyer and scan it again and again.

For example, a clothing store could augment the flyer in spring with the spring/summer collection and in autumn with the autumn/winter collection.

Super sustainable, because this way flyers don’t have to be reprinted, so time and resources are saved — if it’s a recurring customer, there is no need to print and update the wasteful paper content.

We are also using augmented reality to expand the packaging of food products, for example, and give customers easy access to a wealth of information about the products they buy. And all this via the most important device for them — their smartphone.

After all, there are so many brands that take the trouble to continuously improve their social and environmental performance, but the information is often hard to find because it’s just floating around somewhere on their company’s websites.

Through AR, this information about their brand’s sustainability or origin history can be revitalized and, above all, made interactive. This last element is so important in attracting the emotional attention of customers.

AR is able to raise awareness of the current environmental situation. The tech contributes to making problems visible, educating people about sustainability, and showing that our planet is in immediate danger.

The fact is: we must change our behavior to save our planet from destruction.