Can AI Slow Global Warming & Save Earth?

I consider global warming to be Earth’s greatest threat and I believe that AI, represents our greatest hope. While I am certain about global warming, I am still searching for evidence to prove my point about AI: Maybe you can help.

Recently, I collaborated on a book on this topic, but the partnership did not work out.  So now I’m starting over, searching for AI companies, products, and ideas that can slow global warming.

These two forces have certain similarities and they began slowly, unknown or cared about by most people and then seemingly they exploded in our faces and became matters we could no longer ignore.

Risto Linturi, is a prominent technologist and futurist and my only Finnish friend. He recently shared his experience with me on global warming:

“The Baltic Sea used to freeze over every November and my father often took me cross-country skiing on it in the 1960s. We’d start in our own yard and ski to the shore and then over the ice to a nearby island. Back then, people drove cars over the ice: They even raced them on a track they made on the ice each year.

“But, about 20 years ago, the cars stopped racing because the climate had warmed so much. Not only will the ice not support cars anymore, but people also who cut holes to fish have to tread carefully because the ice is so thin.”

It happens that Finland is ranked as one of the world’s earliest and most aggressive practitioners of appropriate technology.   The respected  Environmental Performance Index (EPI), calls Finland a world leader. ChatGPT says, “a significant majority of Finns believe in climate change and that it stems from human-induced practices.”

Formerly a coal-burning nation, Finland has been moving since the 1970s into nuclear, solar, wind, and bioenergy resources. It 2029, it is on track to be the first country to ban coal altogether.

Government incentivizes citizens to use hybrids, EVs, or public transportation and it is proactive in the European Green Deal, a respected organization aspiring to transform the EU to carbon neutrality.

In short, Finland is doing just about everything right, and yet it is failing to stave off global warming.

The ice keeps melting and the 75 percent of the country that is forested is subjected each year to increasingly ferocious wildfires. It borders on the Baltic Sea which has risen by about 3.2 inches, which is more significant than you may think.

The point I want to make is that Global Warming did not suddenly come upon us. It was a gradual, insidious thing that started when the ice was still ample in Finland. There were early warning signs and voices, that may have concerned people, but most of us kept on doing what we had always done—at least for several years.

The Corporate Green Delimma

Many people like to rant about big companies, many of whom have unsavory track records related to environmental practices. For many years, they maintained a policy of denial on global warming and their PR spokespeople discounted critics as hippies and tree-huggers.

I am a long-standing tree hugger, and there is something in me that is incapable of loving large organizations, but I do understand that every corporate decision-maker in every large enterprise has faced an ethical dilemma spanning over 60 years.

On one hand, executives have a moral obligation to make Earth more sustainable. On the, they are obliged to shareholders, including pensioners and 401K holders to make profits each quarter. If they fail to do that, they will likely be replaced by someone who will.

I call this the  Corporate Green Dilemma. It has been an existential problem and I understand why so many executives see environmental compliance as a lose-lose situation.

But the times, they are changing:  After 60 years the evidence of global warming is overwhelming. According to my ChatGPT,  “a majority of the population accept the scientific consensus that global warming is real and that people and organizations should respond accordingly… sentiment favoring good environmental policies represents an overwhelming majority of people worldwide.

In short, it is rapidly becoming bad for business to be recognized as an enterprise polluter. People want to do business with companies that behave more like Patagonia, a long-standing leader in appropriate environmental practices as opposed to ExxonMobil, a recognized environmental savage

.

Even Exxon itself is suddenly and aggressively going green in a variety of ways.

Perhaps Exxon is merely Greenwashing, a term environmentalists use to describe companies that spend a few dollars on a modest green program and then millions on marketing to create the illusion of environmentally appropriate behavior.
Green has become good for business and resolution of the Dilemma is becoming a no-brainer.

So, we have most of the world’s governments and some of the world’s most polluting companies aggressively moving against global warming, but still, it is not enough. Many have announced deadlines for reaching zero emissions or being carbon neutral.

But still, it is not enough. Global warming is still increasing, year after year, and is on a trajectory where we could run out of years in a few decades.

I don’t think it is too late yet. But as my fictional hero, Capt. Jack Aubrey often declared, “There’s not a moment to lose!”  

The Tech Fix

I am among those who look at history through the prism of technological innovation.

It probably all began nearly 2 million years ago when an Ethiopian cave dweller had a dilemma of his own: More animals were eating people than people were eating animals. Determined to reverse it, he fashioned the first-hand axe. Since then, we have used technology to develop increasingly complex tools to improve life and work that would fix whatever needed improvement. The pace went downright bonkers once the microprocessor was introduced in 1971.

Despite this acceleration, AI did not suddenly burst onto the scene, each offering the possibility of changing so many things. Like global warming, it developed slowly, over time at approximately the same pace as global warming. But unlike global warming, we are not yet entirely sure whether it will be miraculous or insidious.

Until recently, AI was mostly a technology conversation piece whose potential was best described by its prowess at chess and the game of Go. Meanwhile, hundreds of billions of dollars were invested in AI research and development over roughly the same time as global warming started to emerge as a concern.

Then, in November 2022,  ChatGPT was introduced.  I have been fiddling and puzzling with it ever since. My recent book project started a few months later and we began speculating on how AI could slow the global warming process. In my view I was seeing AI as the world’s best hope and perhaps even its last hope.

Chat GPT’s Opinion

In March, I asked ChatGPT what AI could do to combat climate change and this is what I got:
“AI can't directly stop global warming, but it can play a significant role in supporting efforts to mitigate climate change. Here are some ways AI can contribute to combating global warming:

Energy efficiency: AI can optimize energy usage by predicting demand, managing energy grids, and improving energy storage. It can also help design more energy-efficient buildings, transportation systems, and industrial processes.

Renewable energy: AI can improve the efficiency of renewable energy sources like solar and wind power by optimizing their operation, maintenance, and integration into the power grid.

Climate modeling and forecasting: AI can help researchers and policymakers better understand the impact of climate change by enhancing climate modeling, simulation, and data analysis.

Carbon capture and storage: AI can help develop and optimize new technologies for capturing, storing, and converting carbon dioxide into useful products.

Precision agriculture: AI can help farmers optimize the use of water, fertilizers, and pesticides, thus reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts.

Climate policy and finance: AI can help policymakers identify the most effective climate policies and support climate finance by assessing risks and opportunities in investment portfolios.

·      Monitoring and enforcement: AI can improve the monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, and other environmental factors by analyzing satellite imagery and other data sources, thus enabling better enforcement of environmental regulations.

·      Climate adaptation: AI can help communities adapt to the effects of climate change by enhancing early warning systems, disaster response, and infrastructure planning.

·      Public engagement and behavior change: AI can help raise awareness about climate change and encourage sustainable behaviors by providing personalized recommendations and insights.

·      Climate research: AI can assist researchers in analyzing vast amounts of data, generating new insights, and speeding up the development of innovative solutions to combat climate change.”

Searching for AI players
My course has now changed and I am not sure I’ll get to write the book I had envisioned. But I do know that this is a topic of passion for me and I want to learn more, particularly about companies developing or using AI in ways that offset environmental damages.
If you can point me in the right direction please contact me via Facebook Messenger, LinkedIn Messenger, or old-fashioned email.