{"id":92073,"date":"2019-04-17T00:09:01","date_gmt":"2019-04-17T00:09:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.microsoft.com\/?p=432362"},"modified":"2019-04-17T00:09:01","modified_gmt":"2019-04-17T00:09:01","slug":"artificial-intelligence-takes-on-ocean-trash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2019\/04\/17\/artificial-intelligence-takes-on-ocean-trash\/","title":{"rendered":"Artificial intelligence takes on ocean trash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Inspiration sometimes arrives in strange ways. Here is the story of how a dirty disposable diaper led to the development of an artificial intelligence (AI) solution to help rid the world\u2019s coasts of massive amounts of waste and garbage.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It starts in 2005: Camden Howitt is surfing off Puerto Escondido on Mexico\u2019s wild west coast when, suddenly, a floating diaper smacks him in the face. He paddles back to shore in disgust, only to stumble upon a discarded toilet seat lying on the sand.<\/p>\n

When Howitt returns home to New Zealand half a world away, his heart sinks when he sees how much trash and other refuse is also washing up on its geographically isolated, and once pristine, 15,000-kilometer (9,300-mile) coastline.<\/p>\n

Many people might merely shrug at such a seemingly intractable global problem and see it as just too hard to fix. But not Howitt. His mission became clear: He would dedicate his life to protecting paradise.<\/p>\n

Camden Howitt, Co-Founder of Sustainable Coastlines.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Co-Founder Sam Judd came up with the idea of forming a non-profit organization while surfing in the Gal\u00e1pagos Islands in 2008. A year later, the two created Sustainable Coastlines<\/a> in New Zealand to educate, motivate, and empower individuals and communities to clean up and restore their coastal environments and waterways.<\/p>\n

It was the start of an obsession, and one that has just attracted a grant from AI for Earth<\/a>: Microsoft\u2019s US$50 million, five-year commitment to put AI in the hands of those working to protect our planet across four key areas \u2013 agriculture, biodiversity, climate change, and water.<\/p>\n

Microsoft President, Brad Smith (middle), during his visit to New Zealand with Camden Howitt (right) and Sustainable Coastlines development lead Dr Sandy Britain (left).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThis kind of initiative is exactly what our planet needs \u2013 something simple, but effective, that can easily be adopted at grass-roots level to make a difference, empowering every community to keep their environment clean and make the world a better place for future generations,\u201d Microsoft President Brad Smith said on visit to New Zealand in March.<\/p>\n

At Lyall Bay, near the capital Wellington, Smith braved a blustery day to see the organization\u2019s litter-busting technology in action. He helped collect garbage from the beach, then logged and categorized it in the Sustainable Coastlines\u2019 uniquely comprehensive database.<\/p>\n

Since it started, Sustainable Coastlines and its growing legions of volunteers have removed enough trash from shorelines around New Zealand and the Pacific to fill the equivalent of nearly 45 shipping containers. They have picked up tens of millions of individual items, 77% of which are single-use plastic.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an impressive achievement, but the problem of ocean garbage is getting worse and is a global scourge that has no boundaries. Howitt \u2019s vision now is \u201cto combine my deep love for the outdoors with a passion for designing systemic tools for large-scale change.\u201d To get there, Sustainable Coastlines has teamed up with  Microsoft and its innovative technology partner, Enlighten Designs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To find out more, I recently visited Sustainable Coastlines\u2019 headquarters in the nation\u2019s most populous city, Auckland.<\/p>\n

New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern (middle), at the opening of The Flagship Education Centre, with Sam Judd (left) and Camden Howitt (right).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Howitt looks more or less how you might expect a passionate, ocean-loving environmentalist to look. His beard is long and rugged, his tan is deep, and his determination is strong. Before long he is proudly showing me around the building, The Flagship Education Center, which was opened by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in October last year.<\/p>\n

His organization is determined to be sustainable in practice as well as in name. The building captures and recycles its own water. Membrane roofing both insulates and breaks down airborne pollutants into non-toxic by-products. All gray and black water is treated and composted on site. Its offices are powered by state-of-the-art solar panels and batteries that contribute excess power to the city\u2019s standard electricity grid.<\/p>\n

Later, Howitt opens up about the scale of the environmental challenges and myths confronting his homeland of long beaches and hundreds of islands at the western edge of the South Pacific. Over the years, a carefully constructed clean-and-green brand has made foreign tourism a massive money-spinner for New Zealand\u2019s economy. And, many Kiwis honestly regard themselves as \u201ctidy\u201d citizens.<\/p>\n

Yet the World Bank ranks New Zealand as the planet\u2019s tenth-largest per capita producer of urban waste, well ahead of the United States at 19th. \u201cThat\u2019s a top ten that no one wants to be in,\u201d Howitt says. \u201cAs New Zealand\u2019s population rockets and we consume like there\u2019s no tomorrow, we could easily rise in that ranking.\u201d<\/p>\n

He hopes new technologies and solutions can help reverse this disturbing trend.<\/p>\n

Enlighten Designs has built a platform that employs intelligent digital storytelling and visualization tools as part of Microsoft\u2019s Cognitive Services suite. And, together with Microsoft, it is also developing a national litter database that will not only track the impact of clean-up efforts on waste but also generate accurate, scientifically valid data and insights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Inspiration sometimes arrives in strange ways. Here is the story of how a dirty disposable diaper led to the development of an artificial intelligence (AI) solution to help rid the world\u2019s coasts of massive amounts of waste and garbage. It starts in 2005: Camden Howitt is surfing off Puerto Escondido on Mexico\u2019s wild west coast […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":92074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[135,50],"class_list":["post-92073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-microsoft-news","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-recent-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}