The UN’s sustainable goal #12 (Responsible Consumption and Production)’s call for “engaging consumers through awareness-raising and education on sustainable consumption and lifestyles” creates an opportunity to use Virtual Reality to educate people about sustainable consumption and reduction of waste. Virtual reality has the potential to better convey this message because its use provides an opportunity to (sometimes literally) highlight aspects of our everyday experience that we are otherwise numb to.
This project, “Trash Magnet,” uses Google Cardboard to allow the user to walk through two city blocks, picking up litter (discarded aluminum cans) using a “trash magnet.” As the user continues to walk, the clump of litter gets bigger and bigger. The goal is for this to make the user become aware of the amount of litter present in our everyday lives so that they become motivated to not litter and to pick up trash.
This project was created for the VR for Social Good course at the University of Florida.
Models used:
- Aluminum cans (4 models)
- Asphalt roads
- City blocks
- Magnet: self-created in Blender
- Storefronts