Tech for Terra
Sustainability research and climate news show that the effects of the climate crisis will only continue to worsen over time. Along with conservation work, scientists explore problem-solving that relies on artificial intelligence (AI) to help slow down the impact of climate change and boost environmental sustainability.
Welcome to an Interactive Story
Climate change is the single biggest health threat facing humanity and wildlife. As satellite imagery maps Antarctic icebergs, drones drop seeds for reforestation, and weather forecasting predicts climate disasters, we wonder:
What is the relationship between AI and sustainability?
What is AI doing for our climate and why does it matter?
Role
UX Design, Sustainability Research
Year
Sep 2023 - May 2024
Client
NYU IDM Department
Topics
Climate, AI, Tech
Goals
Learning
In highlighting both the positive and negative contributions of AI-based climate solutions in Tech for Terra, students and activists will learn about current and future sustainability efforts and the crossroads of technology and climate.
Interaction
Using a website to convey the research, while allowing users to scroll through to interact with the information, the story creates a unique and hands-on way to navigate the story at their own pace via a nuanced learning experience.
Accessibility
To ensure that all users can easily understand, navigate, and interact with the content and functionality, the experience provides alternative content formats, uses clear language, and intuitive user navigation.
Storyboarding
When storyboarding, I categorized my research of sustainability efforts to form a clear narrative, dividing it into an introduction, consequences of the climate crisis, a history of AI-based climate solutions, examples of global use cases, implications of AI’s carbon footprint and energy emissions, and calls-to-action.
The storyboarding process relied on several iterations, especially following the critique stage. To prevent the website from favoring a particular narrative, I avoided the use of leading messaging and allowed users to decide whether or not to support such climate solutions, while providing the tools and research needed to do so.
The User’s Journey
Problem
Human emissions of heat-trapping gasses have so far warmed the climate by nearly 2° F (1.1° C) since 1850-1900, and will affect all regions of Earth in terms of melting ice, accelerated rising sea levels, exacerbating heat waves, and loss of wildlife.
History
A timeline of the history of climate tech serves to clearly outline the role that artificial intelligence has played from the 1900s until present day.
Use Cases
Researchers have used AI technology to enhance climate-related monitoring and planning by charting Antarctic icebergs for meltwater monitoring, mapping ocean plastic for targeted cleanup, analyzing atmospheric data to aid vulnerable communities with weather prediction and mitigation, and more.
Critique
The constant training of AI models on large datasets contributes to its growing carbon footprint. Efforts to lower AI’s carbon footprint have led to attempts to optimize AI algorithms to make them more energy-efficient.
Calls to Action
The end of the experience involves resources to encourage users to take climate action into their own hands, including links to the Environmental Defense Fund, Climate Action Network, and World Resources Institute.
Conclusion
Tech for Terra was an important story to tell as the climate crisis becomes increasingly relevant. I believe all efforts to fight the crisis deserve awareness, and we as humans can decide which to support or advocate against. The positive feedback and interest shown toward this project thus far has further shown the importance of climate education and critical thinking of sustainability innovations.
As an individual passionate about the climate, this is a project I am happy to continue building upon, including turning the project into a more immersive experience using spatial audio effects. Check it out: www.techforterra.org