Real-world solutions built on The People’s Network to tackle climate change.
Last year, COP26 turned its focus to science and innovation as tangible solutions to climate resilience. The theme was an obvious choice to Media Sourcery, having worked with organizations such as the UN and Everpoint Services to introduce new climate change solutions using The People’s Network that advance labor and economic equality.
Originally founded with the goal of moving data from point A to B with security and authentication, Media Sourcery has evolved to include workflow monitoring, automation, security, and a rules engine. CEO Larry Ketchersid found success quickly in healthcare solutions that saved more than a few lives by generating notifications for patient emergencies. So while healthcare may seem like a far cry from climate change solutions, it provided the building blocks for all that Media Sourcery does today.
This brings us to climate change and four key solutions Media Sourcery is currently enabling on The People’s Network: regenerative agriculture, vegetation management, clean energy, and supply chain transparency.
Regenerative Agriculture
Perhaps National Geographic said it best with The Solution to Climate Change is Just Below our Feet. Not only do plants pull carbon out of the atmosphere, but the way in which the plants are grown can reap dividends when it comes to reducing soil erosion and pesticides use.
“There are many solutions we should be pursuing to reduce and reverse the effect of climate change,” says Indigo CEO David Perry in the aforementioned National Geographic article. “But sequestering atmospheric carbon in agricultural soils represents the only solution I know of that is scalable, affordable, and immediate.”
A quick Wikipedia search further reveals regenerative agriculture as the hero of this story. Characterized by conservation and rehabilitation, regenerative farming has many benefits such as topsoil regeneration, improving the water cycle, and strengthening the sustainability and vitality of the land.
For farmers in Oklahoma and Mexico that Media Sourcery works with, regenerative farming is the difference between success and failure. As over-tilling threatens to leave land infertile, soil moisture and pH, weather, air quality, and air particle sensors on The People’s Network provide the data necessary to leave conventional farming behind for good.
Having teamed up most recently with Regennabis, an advisory, convening, and investment services firm, Media Sourcery is helping the Purephacha Indigenous People combat climate change within the Michoácan National Park using IoT and regenerative farming. This initiative will take the global stage at a UN event in May that seeks to highlight the natural intersection between climate change solutions, economic development, and technology.
In doing so, the project will address more than 10 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across environmental, social, and economic categories. For example, SDG number 14 looks at protecting oceanic life, which is threatened by traditional farming practices such as the heavy use of pesticides and fertilizers. The overlap between regenerative farming and SDG 11, sustainable cities and communities, is also a perfect match as communities are empowered to protect cultural and natural resources through agricultural practices.
Besides providing data to support regenerative farming practices using sensors on The People’s Network, Media Sourcery and Regennabis are also furthering social and environmental efforts through:
Incentivizing sharing data with farming communities via Hotspot rewards
Authenticating regenerative farming practices and supply chain transparency on the blockchain
Collecting data for proof of carbon credits on the blockchain
Supporting communities through a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO)
Vegetation Management
Vegetation management is a service provided to solar array installations to assist in operational efficiency by clearing vegetation, snow, and any dust or other particles obscuring the solar panels. Media Sourcery completes one piece of this equation by providing air quality and Helium-compatible weather sensors to companies like Everpoint Services, a leading energy solutions company that works directly with solar array operators, wind turbine farms, and other energy companies.
When CEO of Everpoint Services, Tyler Goodell, considers the benefits of technology to address challenges in air, return on investment (ROI) is top of mind.
Clean Energy
Recycling wind turbines is historically no easy feat. In fact, Bloomberg wrote a 2020 article with the bold title Wind Turbine Blades Can’t Be Recycled, so They’re Piling Up in Landfills. Media Sourcery and Everpoint Services hope to change this, with consultation from Helium’s Most Valuable Community Member, Nik Hawks.
For the initial implementation of this project, which will occur in January, Media Sourcery is implementing off-grid Hotspots. Because the turbines themselves are so large, often over 200 feet long, most of the locations for the recycling project will be wind turbine farms. This allows the installations to remain fairly static while monitoring the recycling process using tracking devices and air quality sensors on The People’s Network.
Besides cutting down on pollution and waste, this initiative helps close the loop on the life cycle of wind turbines and provides a blueprint for how other clean energies might be recycled. The data collected may also generate new innovations for circular design and more sustainable energy sources across a range of industries.
Supply Chain Transparency
Perhaps more than ever, supply chains require transparency. Empowering customers with product lifecycle knowledge often translates into safety around the product itself, labor equity, and environmental impacts. For example, while farm labor is sometimes synonymous with unlivable wages and working conditions, a transparent supply chain increases regulatory compliance and better labor treatment.
Media Sourcery provides the technology necessary to achieve supply chain transparency while connecting a range of Helium users including Digital Matter to provide proof of source, transportation traceability, and verification on The People’s Network.
Even better, it’s all connected: Media Sourcery’s regenerative farming projects in Oklahoma and beyond directly improve the quality of regenerative farms working to make their supply chains more transparent. This cyclical relationship represents a large step in the right direction when it comes to mitigating and reversing climate change.
Full Circle
There are countless ways to address climate change with The People’s Network, and Media Sourcery is already tackling 4 real-world examples . To learn more about what Media Sourcery is up to with the UN and beyond, register for The Uplink on February 22nd at 12 pm PT.
Source: blog.helium.com