Gen AI and the Climate: How Many Water Bottles Does It Take to Save the World?
Gen AI and the Climate: How Many Water Bottles Does It Take to Save the World?
Every ChatGPT conversation uses the equivalent of a water bottle. Generate an image? Even more. As generative AI becomes part of daily life, its environmental footprint grows - and yet it might also be one of our fastest tools for creating climate solutions.
This workshop explores that paradox.
What we'll cover:
The real environmental cost of generative AI (water usage, energy consumption, carbon emissions)
How AI is already being used for climate action - and where it could go next
The accessibility gap: why good climate tools often don't exist (spoiler: they're expensive and slow to build)
A hands-on introduction to "vibe coding" - using AI to build simple tools by describing what you want in plain English
What you'll do: Together, we'll brainstorm climate tools that would actually be useful in your daily life - tracking apps, community resources, behavior change tools. Then we'll build one together in real-time: a working food waste tracker that you could use this week.
No coding experience needed. Just curiosity about how technology shapes (and could help) our climate response.
Sponsored by Lovable All participants receive 100 free Lovable credits.
Lovable is an AI-powered builder that turns your ideas into working apps and websites. Just describe what you want, and it builds it for you. No coding experience required.
Who should come: Anyone thinking critically about AI's role in our climate future. Climate educators, activists, community organizers, or anyone who's wondered "could I actually build that?" when they spot a gap in available tools.
Facilitated by Dr. Indra Mckie, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at UTS/UNSW researching human-technology interaction.