Technology and the environment are often seen as being at odds with each other, but Chris Jones from TurnOnVPN brings us some good news about how technology is being used to secure our planet’s future.
It’s an indisputable fact that the introduction of technology has helped simplify a lot of complex processes and actions. The advancement of technology has enabled instant communication between people in different parts of the world. It has also enabled the development of medicine and pills for many different health issues, as well as the ability for people to travel from one place to another in a matter of hours. Developments of existing technologies are being made daily, making it difficult for individuals to keep up with the trend.
However, technology has not helped to fully solve the issue of harmful human impacts on the environment. Although a lot of people have the impression that technological developments damage the environment, scientists have reiterated that technology can be instrumental in mitigating the harm wrecked on the environment.
The Internet of Things
Technology has improved our environment immensely. One of the most prominent technologies utilized by environmental scientists is the use of the Internet of Things or IoT. Howver, we should bear in mind that while IoT technologies are powerful and convenient, they are highly vulnerable to hacking. Devices can only be thoroughly protected if the traffic is properly encrypted, with a Wi-Fi network or VPN encryption. That said, let’s look at how IoT is adopted for the betterment of our environment.
1. Protecting our Endangered Species
Several technological methods are helping to save endangered animals in different places around the world. Collars fitted with a GPS system and sensors are used on animals like gorillas, orangutans, and tigers. These collars track the animals’ movements and have a system in place to notice the sounds these animals make, thereby helping to prevent attacks from larger or more dangerous animals. In other parts of the world where animal habitats are quite close to human settlements, the animals are fixed with SIM-based collars to ensure they never wander off to the human communities.
The health of endangered species is also being considered. There is a technology that ensures the risk of terminal diseases in animals is reduced.
2. Tackling Deforestation
A platform that snaps satellite images, Global Forest Watch, is offering its services to non-profit organisations that aim to tackle deforestation. Global Forest Watch supplies these organisations with real-time data by taking count of trees in a particular region. This solves the issue of forest management and kicks against illegal deforestation.
Infosphere Stream, a software that combs through climate information received from sensors, was recently developed to quicken the period of time needed to assess the climate data. What used to take months now takes minutes thanks to the IBM-developed software. Infosphere works with sensors placed in countries across North and South America. The information that’s gathered and analysed is then utilised to predict and prevent natural disasters.
3. Reducing Paper Waste
Maplewave, a Canadian company with the aim of reducing the amount of paper waste generated by organisations, is advocating the use of digital contracts. Maplewave has set up branch offices in various nations to convince other companies to share in their vision. Producing paper makes use of a lot of the earth’s resources. For the creation of a sheet of A4 paper, it has been estimated that 5 litres of water are used up in the process.
Also, about 50% of the waste generated by companies is composed of paper. The adoption of digital contracts by firms would go a long way towards reducing waste generation.
4. The Use of Smart Cars
The generation of fumes by conventional fossil-fuel using cars has contributed to climate change. Hence, governments of the world initiated an electric vehicle initiative. Smart vehicles have a lot of advantages like providing us with cleaner air, more efficient use of vehicular energy, and non-dependence on petrol, diesel, and the likes.
Technology can save the earth from the numerous issues that industrialisation has caused in the past decades. Increased focus on the health of the environment has led to the production of electric vehicles, initiatives to stop deforestation, and devices to save endangered animals.
