Technological advancements have brought the world great things and hugely changed the way we live. Our planet is probably less happy with this development, and little explanation is needed there. Technology has made us more productive, efficient, and rich. But all that comes at a cost because now we drain the earth of its resources in order to produce the goods that fulfill our never-ending greed, keep our bellies full and our houses warm.

Of course, technology is not the problem. In the case of the environment, it is very likely that it will be part of the solution. That is why I want to present you with examples of how two of the most discussed technologies could help us protect the planet and its inhabitants.

Blockchain
In 2018, WWF in Oceania started a project to stop illegal fishing and slavery in the fishing industry using blockchain technology. Blockchain makes it possible for consumers to track the entire journey of their fish – or other products – which revolutionizes the current systems of approval and traceability. Exactly knowing where a fish came from should stop illegal fishing activities and protect the fishes population.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)
In China, the WWF and Intel are working together to protect wild tigers and their habitats using Artificial Intelligence (AI). One of the most important components of achieving this goal is being able to oversee in tiger population numbers and allocation trends. China was already using sophisticated camera traps, which trigger and make a photo when they detect movement, to monitor the tigers. The problem was that these cameras could easily be triggered accidentally, for example by other animals, and take hundreds of thousands of photos. Analyzing all these photos would be impossible. The AI technology makes it possible to ‘teach’ the camera to only take a photo when a tiger is in the shot. Moreover, AI makes it possible to detect individual tigers because the stripes on their fur have a unique pattern, just like human fingerprints. All this information is tagged to each photo, making it way easier and faster to analyze. This is good news for the tigers because the more we know about how big each population is and where they are, the better we are able to defend them.

Discussion
Of course, Blockchain and AI technology have many more uses that could help us protect the environment. In addition, there are many more interesting and innovative technologies that could also achieve this goal. How do you think Blockchain and AI can be used to save the planet? What new, interesting innovation is going to be used to deal with this issue? Do you really think a technology or an innovation is going to be the solution to climate change and environmental damage? Or do you think something else will (i.e. change in government policy or human behavior)?.

Let me know in the comments!

Reference
https://www.wwf.org.nz/media_centre/?uNewsID=15541
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/08/here-s-how-technology-can-help-us-save-the-planet/
View at Medium.com

How Environmental Technology is Helping the Earth

http://programmes.putin.kremlin.ru/en/tiger/multimedia/photos/57594

According to the United Nations, the world’s population will rise to an estimated eight billion by 2024, and almost ten billion by 2050. This means that, in the future, there will be over two billion more people on this planet than today. All these people have to eat and providing sustainable food will become a very important task. Luckily, scientists may yet again provide us with a solution. I would like to discuss two developments regarding food technology.

Lab to table.
Over the past few years, scientists have made huge steps in the development of ‘lab-grown meat’. In 2013, a Dutch professor created the world’s first lab-grown hamburger without killing any animal. He used animal cells and grew them under controlled conditions to create his patty. Since then a lot of companies have focussed on commercializing this technology. Lab-grown meat might be a hit because it could improve animal treatment and reduce the impact that livestock meat production has on the environment.

Some scientists are skeptical, though. For example, it is unclear whether it is possible to set up an efficient, environmental friendly large-scale lab-grown meat production facility.

Genetically modified crops
Genetically modified crops are already a success story. By altering its DNA, these crops can become cheaper, resilient against diseases, grow bigger and faster, and all that with an improved nutrient profile. Companies who invest in this technology already make a lot of money.

It seems fair to assume that genetically modified crops will feed the world by 2050. However, it could be a little bit more difficult than that.

Many of the extra two billion people who will walk the earth by 2050 will be born in Africa. Most companies investing in genetic modification want to improve large cash crops, like corn and soy. These crops are not often cultivated in African countries. Most companies are not interested in improving ‘African’ crops because they are worried that they would make fewer profits. Thus, African countries might not benefit from genetically modified crops.

This is, of course, ridiculous because the potential for genetically modified crops is enormous and this technology could feed the world if it was made available for everyone. I wonder if that will ever be the case.

Food for thought
Which technologies do you think could help feed the world by 2050?
Would you care about the fact that your burger was made in a lab?
What is your opinion about the ethics of the genetical modification of food?
How would you make sure that everyone could benefit from genetically modified crops?

References
Cox, L. (2017, April 3) Feeding 8 billion. Retrieved September 2019 from Disruptionhub: https://disruptionhub.com/3292017-topical-blog-post-foodtech-feeding-8-billion/
Dormehl, L. (2019, April 22) Burgers are just the beginning: embracing the future of lab-grown everything. Retrieved September 2019 from Digitaltrends: (https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/is-lab-grown-meat-real-life-or-is-it-just-delicious-fantasy/
Al Jazeera (2019, June 23) UN: World population expected to rise to 9.7 billion in 2050. Retrieved September 2019 from Al Jazeera: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/06/world-population-expected-rise-97-billion-2050-190618085808201.html
United Nations (2019, June). World population prospects 2019: highlights. Retrieved September 2019 from United Nations: https://population.un.org/wpp/Publications/Files/WPP2019_10KeyFindings.pdf
Chapman, W. (2019, July 10) Africa to lead world in population growth. Retrieved September 2019 from US News: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2019-07-10/africa-to-lead-world-in-population-growth
Diehl, P. (2018, December 23) How GMO’s can feed the world. Retrieved September 2019 from TheBalance:https://www.thebalance.com/can-genetically-modified-food-feed-the-world-375634