One thing is certain — Big Data can protect our plant and thus has a key role to play in environmental preservation. At a time when the phrase “go green” is universally understood and promoted, there’s no denying the game-changing abilities Big Data brings to eco-friendly initiatives.
Big Data is extremely versatile, a necessity for the many different environmental needs. It can be used to monitor an area as vast and expansive as the Amazon Rainforest, or it can monitor a small city’s water supply. With the ever-expanding options of providers of Big Data as a service, businesses and enterprises can find the exact product they need. There’s something for everyone, which means there’s a way to protect the environment on every level — individual, community, country and global. Along with versatility, Big Data brings two other important traits for enhancing environmental protection. First, it allows entities to gather more data than ever before. There’s really no limit. The second part is increased speed and ease of obtaining data. In the past, most environmental data came from individual scientists out in the field. It was a slow, laborious process that didn’t provide useful information for many months or years. With Big Data that same information is gathered much quicker which leads to rapid implementation.
Here are some ways Big Data can protect our planet.
Deforestation
Deforestation is one of the greatest concerns for the environment. Thousands of acres of woodlands are destroyed every day. It causes enormous, negative impacts on the environment. It’s an unfortunate process that removes not only life-sustaining trees, but also hundreds and thousands of other plant and animal species. On the side of companies responsible for deforestation, Big Data provides alternative solutions to the immense tree-cutting done every day — lowering the carbon footprint and decreasing the negative impact on the ecosystem.
Endangered Species
Besides simply chopping down trees, which itself causes harm to the environment, deforestation also causes problems for numerous plant and animal species. As they lose their natural habitat, the probability that these plants and animals will survive drops significantly. When a forest is razed, a community of plants and animals is also destroyed.
By implementing Big Data, companies can effectively monitor both plant and animal species in danger of extinction. Information is gathered and plans are created early enough to fight the problem and preserve the species.
Poaching
Poaching is another serious environmental issue. A problem throughout the world, but especially in Africa, poaching takes the lives of thousands of animals each day. Elephants are especially vulnerable, along with other big-game African animals. Traditionally, forest rangers and other land protectors have faced an uphill battle in prosecuting poachers because of the enormous areas they’re responsible for. They can only cover small parts of an entire area. With Big Data, however, their reach is significantly expanded. Trouble areas and animals can be pinpointed and actions taken to prevent poaching.
Oil Dumping
The New York Times recently published a story about one of the city’s departments using Big Data to catch restaurants that were illegally dumping cooking oil down the drains. They had a 95% success rate. Similar environmental issues in cities throughout the country can also be averted with Big Data.
Residential Water Waste
This topic is especially relevant for those in the West, especially California, battling through a drought. Too many residents use too much water for watering lawns and gardens. Broken and ineffective sprinklers along with overwatering come together to form an awful combination of water waste. Wasting water is something most cities can’t afford.
Cities may be able to monitor how much water you use in a month, and you may be able to monitor when you watered, but other important information goes undiscovered. What is the average amount of water put out on your lawn each hour? How much does your lawn need. How much of your water is going to waste? How many gallons are you using watering and how much could you save by decreasing? Big Data is essential in order to forge ahead and provide our progenitors with a sustainable future. The more info gathered, the better protected the environment becomes. Species are saved, placing is limited, and other potential crisis are averted.
Some opinions expressed in this article may be those of a guest author and not necessarily Analytikus. Staff authors are listed https://datafloq.com/read/5-ways-big-data-protect-planet/82
