What On Earthfest?
My time at a festival of oddities and inspirations, from Smart Tampons, Green Racing, to Robotic Mushroom Composters.
This weekend in London, I had a chance to work as something of a stagehand for quite a memorable show: Earthfest.
The event sat somewhere comfortably between being a tech conference and a yuppie festival, held in London King's Cross, in order to promote sustainability, innovation and environmentally friendly companies.
At some point, some young protesters snuck into the event, before getting kicked out after barking into a microphone, rather incoherently. It was a shame, because I'm sure they had something relevant and important to say to us. Given that everyone at this Festival shared a vision of sustainability and social progress, I do wonder if that was really the right venue to protest at... but still, it's clear that there's a lot of "greenwashing", alongside the presence of corporations with highly questionable practices.
Often the premise of justice or wellbeing is irrevocably tied up with ambitions for profit and branding. Sadly, technology is not always driven by the need for societal improvement, but rather, comes into existence as a byproduct. A congealed layer of skin formed around the redistribution of scarce resources by competing giants of commerce or government (or, under the often unholy cabal of their intermingling).
In particular, Tesla and Google, are two companies that I don't think can be scrutinized enough, in spite of how progressive, kind and forward-thinking many of their employees are. And despite the fact they were key sponsors for the event, too.
That said, the turnout of people, as well as the showcases by various emerging companies, were nothing short of wonderful. Not only did I learn a lot, but I was inspired by a handful of innovations.
A steel bin, with a futuristic design, containing Fungi that composts food waste through an automated machine. Then the compost is taken to gardens or farms to improve the soil. Not only did the idea have a clear return of investment, but it seemed to be simple, small and easy enough to use that all big corporations could have them installed in their offices, alongside the other forms of systems disposal and recycling.
Next there were Particulate Matter sensors in Camden, London. They provide data on air pollution levels in this densely populated city. The intention is to empower students and citizen science, partnership with councils. Crucial to their financial operating model, they sell air quality data to councils and other such groups.
Hopefully, this group gets to share its data, insights and model not just with the rest of the UK, but with Latin America too. Taking Mexico City as an example, where air pollution is often worse but the ability to collect data is only a fraction as good as it is here.
Then there were the Smart Tampons that record Microogansims causing thrush, BV, STIs, as well as gathering data with fertility implications and other gynecological health information.
Given that in science today, we have catalogued only about 0.1% of the total microbial species and that more than 99% of (catalogued) microbes are unculturable using standard lab techniques, this Smart Tampon could be used to identify novel microbial species and strains. In turn, advancing women’s health and scientific knowledge in general. This topic is fascinating, so in a previous letter, I discuss other ways microorganisms can be used to advance technology too.
Formula E races green, ditching rare earths; and instead, uses biomatter like veg-oil dynamos, belching 90% less carbon, slashing emissions, nitrogen, sulfates - even oil guzzling. Across races, over half the waste recycled, hitting 90% in the EU and US. Recycling Rangers preach reduce, reuse to teams and fans. Elon Mush should take some notes.
I also learnt more about Doctors Without Borders. Regarding their funding model, they reject donations from governments. Since they have no partisan ties, it means they are one of the few NGOs operating in North Korea and other remote and isolated regions of the world.
They use Data and Science, but don’t disregard anyone’s health or safety, even if the probability of them succeeding in saving them is less than 0.5%. As a Data Scientist, often lost in a matrix of numbers, I appreciate people who deliberately overlook statistics when something as critical as survival is concerned.
I noticed that a lot of these emerging companies are led and driven by women of varying backgrounds and ages. It's not surprising, given how societal structures, marginalizing such groups, also gives them motivation for empowering others and enforcing change. Perhaps also because women typically have a deep, intuitive understanding of the value of life. Yet this new age of technology, solving real social and environmental issues, is exciting for everyone.
After the event, I felt inspired to continue developing sustainable and responsible uses of AI into my work and research. There are amazing people working on risky but life-changing ideas, if only we get opportunities to meet them, like the one I had at Earthfest.
Read on to learn more about sustainability with tech, science and culture.
Focusing more narrowly on AI and implications for sustainability, read on to learn about flaws in current standards and regulation when it comes to long term assurance for environmentally friendly AI laws.