Global warming and climate change have been increasingly hot topics, no pun intended, especially during this scorcher summer the Middle East has been experiencing.
Stemming from this global dialogue, two Lebanese brothers, Mohammad and Hisham Natour, have created an online networking project to raise awareness about environmental issues and to demonstrate a small way people can collectively make an impact.
"The idea for O2 Engine came from our love for planting and as way to encourage people to care about their environment and the earth. Myself and my elder brother founded the site and worked on the whole project from initial concept to final stage," Hisham Natour told StepFeed.
O2 Engine is an online network that encourages individuals to plant sunflowers and then upload the data to the site. The total number of plants are taken into account and an updated count of the amount of oxygen produced through the sunflower network is featured on the site.
A specific average is used to determine the amount of oxygen produced and users are encouraged to regularly update information about their plants to keep the calculation accurate. By the end of the year, the brothers have set a goal of having 10,000 users.
"People need to believe in their role in saving the earth. Despite the tiny effect one small sunflower plant can have on the environment, there is an accumulative effect if many people unite."
Watch an interview that Hisham Natour did with TeleLiban about the project below.