AI helps in the fight against climate change. The practical impact of climate change would be the severe shifts in weather that is on the rise. Hurricanes, tornadoes, heat, droughts, wildfires and more. Some of this can be attributed to natural occurrences, like volcanic activity, changes in the earths orbit and rotation among other things. Here’s what the United States Environmental Protection Agency had to say in an article titled, Causes of Climate Change. The real culprit, however, seems to be man. Here’s what CalTech had to say in their article titled, What Is The Evidence for Human-Caused Climate Change?
AI Joins the Fight Against Climate Change
AI has joined the fight against climate change in a few different areas.
- Data Collection – The collection of real-time data at speeds currently unseen before.
- Prediction – Predicting weather patterns and direct consequences of climate change.
- Direct intervention – Becoming directly involved in addressing specific areas.
To see previous articles that address AI and the environment visit the AI Perspective for the 21st Century environment category.
Data Collection
Everything requires data collection to trouble shoot any issue. It can be an automated approach or a manual one. Obtaining and understanding the data is necessary. Cars can be diagnosed on a machine or manually from a well trained mechanic. In both cases, data is obtained, evaluated and used to guide us to next steps. It’s the same with AI obtaining data on our environment, whether that’s the melting ice caps, our oceans, impacts of deforestation, etc. This is the first step. It’s not a magic bullet, it’s part of the process. AI allows for the collection and evaluation of data quicker than peoples can do today. It’s our partner, not our competitor.
Prediction
Pattern recognition is one of those things that AI does best. Through predicting weather emergencies, fresh drinking water supplies and locations, the spread or deforestation and so much more, it can effectively alert quicker and help us to prepare for it, or to take steps to avert it.
Direct Intervention
AI is not only assisting to collect data and make predictions, but it’s also getting more directly involved.
| AI to recycle more waste | Automated waste sorting, smart collection systems, predictive analysis, food waste monitoring and more. |
| AI to clean the oceans | Fighting plastic pollution with machine learning. |
| Reforesting in Brazil using Drones | Brazil uses AI to fight against deforestation and apply reforestation. |
Summary
Climate change by itself is complex and there is an urgency to address this. Scientists around the world have assisted in this global issue and now AI is helping to combat the climate crisis. Data collection, prediction and direct involvement is happening today. AI has joined the fight along with scientists to battle climate change.
