Using AI to Help the Environment By: Caroline Tew

Recently there has been an outcry among the younger generation for a more environmentally friendly future, from Greta Thunberg to a climate change strike in New York City where thousands of students skipped school to protest and call for governmental level change concerning our environment. While technology like cars, air conditioning, computers, etc. are largely seen as primary contributors to this environmental mess we now find ourselves in, technology can also help us find ways to save our Earth. 

More and more animals are going extinct every day, largely due to deforestation and displacement. How can AI help? For example, Microsoft in partnership with the Snow Leopard Trust is using AI to gauge the snow leopard population. The Snow Leopard Trust has many remote cameras around the world capturing photos and trying to identify snow Leopards, without AI there is much manual labor required to sort through every photo (the camera is often triggered by other animals). Using a technique known as deep learning the AI teaches itself to automatically sort through the photos taken to find snow leopards. Being able to accurately gauge the snow leopard population is essential when making decisions about how to best protect them. Many other technology companies are also innovating and using AI to help track wildlife like, Google’s Wildlife Insights and Microsoft's other AI ventures.

As animals feel the impact of human environmental neglect, so does nature, as people and industry continue to chop down forests for wood and to make space for new cities. Many different technologies come together here to try to plant more trees. Google Earth and researchers at ETH-Zürich in Switzerland have worked together to design a mapping software that predicts where the best places to plant trees are. In addition, to help physically plant trees the popular drone technology can help save time, money and plant with more efficiency. One person can control up to 15 drones (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkNdrTZ7CG4), drones are able to spray the ground to protect tree seeds, and fire seed capsules into the ground to plant. Technologies, and technologies like these, will help to reforest areas leading to an increase in trees and ultimately decreasing the amount of carbon dioxide in our environment.

One of the most infamous effects of our environmental issue is global warming/ climate change, which has disrupted weather patterns and increased worldwide temperatures. NASA’s AI gathers data and examines how the world is changing because of climate change, identifying which areas are at the highest risk for severe weather conditions. AI can also help simulate our environment and allow researchers to test possible ideas about reducing climate change and how their solutions might unfold in the environment without actually having to release the invention. Some products like smart thermostats, apps to track our carbon footprint, these technologies help make the general public aware of how they are impacting the environment and help them make more environmentally conscious choices in their daily lives.

Technology may be one of the roots of the environmental situation we find ourselves in today however, it can also be one of the solutions. As technology and AI continue to develop we find new and better ways to reduce human impact on the environment. We should not rely solely on technology to fix all our problems, each and every one of us should take matters into our own hands and do what we can to help the environment, and even come up with innovations to help.