“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”
As rightly said by Arthur C. Clarke, there’s no denying the fact that the world needs magic for its saving, a magic none other than technology itself or to state in better words “sufficiently advanced technology”.
We live in interesting times, in a VUCA world. A world which is Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and ambiguous. The moment a solution is invented another complex issue arises and the process repeats. These times require a solution which understands, adapts and customizes with the dynamic complications.
We wake up daily to the devastating news of climate change, depleting resources, we grief for a while and then return to our routines. But these tough times only led to the invention of IoT, AI, Big Data that are ready to our rescue, to save us, to save our planet, the only one with life.
Innovation has helped us streamline our lives. It has made the world a better place, helped with fending off the deadliest diseases, and tackled the most convoluted issues for us. The next challenge that remains for us that of the environmental changes we face. Keeping in mind the potential these technological innovations has; environmental scientists are now safeguarding the environment with technology.
This article will shed some light on what these technologies are, and further article will delve into their importance in rescuing our ailing planet.
The NEED
Humanity is in a tough situation. Indeed, even as the total populace skyrockets, we presently can’t seem to start arranging decisively how we’ll live economically with the restricted assets available to us. The world’s driving superpowers have developed their economies of mass utilization to the detriment of the poor people. Even the societies at the forefront of advancement are not invincible. In all actuality, for most of us who live in the solace of the main world, it’s improbable we’ll use access to our valuable assets, yet the instances of economies losing resources quickly is a terrifying reality check. It’s past time to begin rolling out some genuine improvements in how we consume our planet’s resources.
Technologies at a Glance
Big Data
With the increase of dependence on data in this data-driven economy, Big Data has taken the world by storm. Big Data is defined as:
“Big Data technology can be characterized as a software-utility that is intended to analyse, process and extract the data from an incredibly perplexing and huge informational situations which the Traditional Data Processing Software would never be able to manage.”
Big Data benefits by analyzing the past as well as real time data to forecast trends, promoting cost-saving measures and planning resources better.
Internet of Things (IoT)
The “Internet of Things” is now not just a hyped word, it has the power to transform living. IoT is defined as:
“The Internet of Things (Iot) is an arrangements of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and advanced machines furnished with Unique Identifiers (UIDs) and the ability to transfer information over a system without expecting human-to-human or human-to-PC connection.”
Through Iot data is sensed and collected from connected devices, then data is shared over the internet where the data is processed and used for various purposes.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence (AI) frames the reason for all the computer learning and decision making of all the complex problems. AI is defined as:
“AI is defined as ability of a machine which require a certain level of intelligence which was before only deemed to be incorporated by humans. It’s the power to imitate the intelligent human behavior.”
The applications of AI include machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), machine vision and speech recognition.
Technologies saving the world Agriculture
Farmers are utilizing new-age advances to change cultivation methods by the way that there is a need to take care of additional with less and the need to address the impact of modern cultivating. Technologies like AI and ML interprets the data collected and analyses and process the data for providing information for better yield. These technologies can also help by using the historical data on weather forecasts, historic production, price of the commodity to predict the amount of seeds to be sown.
- The world’s human population stands at around 7.6 billion and is expected to reach 11 billion by 2100, so it’s the need of the hour to use these technologies to produce more by consuming lesser resources
- The components of environment – soil, water, weather, vegetation– vary from place to place. These factors determine the success of crop growth and success of farming, through Precision Farming these variations can be measured, mapped and managed precisely
- Precision Farming also known as “smart farming” is a key segment of sustainable increase. This combines remote sensing, robotics, IoT devices, big data analytics and other emerging technologies into a combined system of high-resolution crop production
With the use of these technologies in farming, the agricultural yield can be improved, and potential environmental risks will be reduced. The other benefits include minimum fuel usage, minimum soil compaction, less manual labor and timely cultivation.
Waste Management
The speed at which waste is created universally has been recognized as one of the issues that can compromise general well being and the environment, if not appropriately managed. Our attention has been progressively brought to the need to manage, recycle, reduce and reuse the mountains of waste produced in urban communities consistently. While this is by no means an easy task, technology has stepped in to assist us with everyday management tasks to make them more sustainable.
- According to the World Banks What a Waste 2.0 report, around 2.01 billion metric tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) are generated worldwide annually, with at least 33% not managed in an environmentally safe manner
- Managing the mountains of waste is effectively improving through IoT applications. Through Sensor enabled smart bins, automated route optimisation of waste collecting trucks, information regarding fill level, temperature, location, or any other data is gathered which are used for planning automate route for areas in urgent need of clean up and disposable units, having unused rooms
- Polish company Bin-e has developed “smart waste bins” that can identify and sort waste into four categories: paper, glass, metal and plastic. The Bins then compress the waste and informs the sanitation laborers of fill levels for each waste classification. Effective categorization and segregation are a upcoming trend. It’s still getting refined for larger scope implementation
- · Data collection and analysis enables transfer of information through various partners such as stores and restaurants for directing surplus amount to the people in need, smart refrigerators are facilitating families to keep the track of their edible resources that includes their expiration dates, providing recipes that involves the food items about to expire
Biodiversity
“Biodiversity is life on Earth, and every extinction chip away at it, undermining the stability of the planet”, said by Olivier Langrand, executive director of CEPF, which explains why saving biodiversity is a critical aspect.
- As said by Alan Eddison, “Modern technology owes ecology an apology”, scientists have started shifting their focus on restoring the ecological imbalance and technology has been widely used for remedying the wildlife
- Smart collars having GPS, meters and sensors embedded for tracking the endangered species, predictive analysis for animals to collect information about all the species on earth and work extensively to safeguard them, are few examples
- The other used cases include remote monitoring through sensors, predictive analysis through Big Data analytics and AI-based anti- poaching security system
Conclusion
To conclude, there are a great deal of different approaches to add to the conservation of the earth with technology. A greater part of these applications is generally utilized and achieve critical changes. For an innovative development like AI, IoT and Big Data, to truly support us, it must have the option to decrease the effect of destructive practices, diminish harmful waste items, or improve economic and social conditions at worldwide scales such that planetary conditions and processes can be pushed towards a progressively better and sustainable economic state. A technology can only be effective if it reaches enough population at a reasonable cost and drive significant, positive changes in our planet’s fundamental signs.
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This article is written by Kalyani a Marketing student from IMT Ghaziabad and a Maths graduate from Delhi University.
