Day #9: Innovation & Citizen Science

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You can also follow along with our campaign on our Facebook group. We will be reaching out each day with messages from our incredible Nobel Peace Laureates and youth-leaders working to build a healthier environment for us all.

The Tech-for-Good/Science-for-Good movements are on the rise worldwide - with engineers, scientists, and everyday innovators seeking to create a positive impact through their work. Environmental issues are one of many key focus areas for these individuals and groups. Worldwide studies on topics such as climate change, pollution, and deforestation are essential for guiding the actions we take as individuals and communities. Likewise, there are countless groups working to address such issues head-on through transformational ideas in technology and engineering. Together, these innovators show that science and technology, when applied correctly, can be important tools in protecting the environment.

Inspiration:

2017 Billion Acts Awardee Harshwardhan Zala was already an aspiring tech innovator and social entrepreneur at the age of 10. Raised in a small community in India, Harsh took on the initiative to fund and direct his own tech education. As a teenager, he saw a disturbing landmine video and was inspired to design a drone that remotely detected and disarmed landmines after learning of the high-risks to landmine removal. The first edition of his drone was finished by the age of just fourteen. Alongside his organization, Aerobotics7, Zala has continued to develop such technology that can address a myriad of global problems. The removal of all remaining landmines continues to be one of Harshwardhan's biggest aspirations. WWL is a social campaign to tackle not only the eradication of remaining landmines but also the regeneration of the physical spaces left behind.

Education:

• Why Does Technology Matter? - UNEP
• These Women are Using Technology to Save the Planet
• How Technology and the Environment are Related

• Join a citizen science project! Citizen science initiatives invite public volunteers to join community-driven or global scientific research projects. Public volunteers have been especially important for scientific research around the effects of climate change, the spread of different forms of pollution, and patterns of ecological change. Get started today with a project such as the Global Earth Challenge™ which seeks to become the world’s largest coordinated citizen science campaign by developing a new mobile application for data collection, and a platform for global citizen science data. The Global Earth Challenge™ by Earthday.org encourages public volunteers worldwide to monitor threats to environmental and human health in their communities.
• Learn more about the mission of Aerobotics7 and World Without Landmines!