Hello,
My name is Sumit, a young high schooler, Founder of STEPTOSTEM, a 21st CE school tech community, also Computer Vision Intern at OpenCV and upcoming summer intern at Seagate Corp. Recently I brainstormed a product to solve world’s deadly insect infestation control using advancements in Edge IoT devices, making the solution affordable and feasible. Read the full project and device case study here: https://www.hackster.io/vilaksh01/clisensio-climate-sensing-and-insect-infestation-control-5665f1
Agriculture is both a victim of and a contributor to climate change. The loss of the world’s fertile soil and biodiversity, along with the loss of indigenous seeds and knowledge, pose a mortal threat to our future survival. According to soil scientists, at current rates of soil destruction (i.e. decarbonization, erosion, desertification, chemical pollution), within 50 years we will not only suffer serious damage to public health due to a qualitatively degraded food supply characterized by diminished nutrition and loss of important trace minerals, but we will literally no longer have enough arable topsoil to feed ourselves. Without protecting and regenerating the soil on our 4 billion acres of cultivated farmland, 8 billion acres of pastureland, and 10 billion acres of forest land, it will be impossible to feed the world, keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius, or halt the loss of biodiversity.
I have developed a unique to solution to protect rich farmlands of earth and prevent overdosage of chemicals used in agriculture. My device CliSensio - Climate Sensing and Insect Infestation Control is a new adaptive device which runs SensiML AutoML audio recognition on the edge to recognize disease spreading vectors, hungry pests and threatful species. CliSensio device firmware can be flashed for mosquito species identification, pest identifications and elimination response or both in near future.
Background:
1. Infestations of Insects turning Farmland into Deserts:
A peer-reviewed study which stated that the threat of rising temperatures and unpredictable weather patterns has multiplied tremendously. By 2050, droughts and insect infestations could destroy 26.2 percent of the World’s largest tea exporter, Kenya’s tea growing areas. A research study concluded that climate change is more dangerous than we can imagine, it could empty ‘World’s Grain Bowls’ - Rising temperatures will stimulate insects’ appetites – and make some prone to reproducing more quickly – spelling danger for key staples like wheat, corn and rice which feed billions of people.
While the world is still reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, several countries Brazil, Argentina, India, Pakistan and other East African nations are facing locust attacks which threaten to trigger food crisis in them.
"When it gets warmer, pest metabolism increases, " said Scott Merrill, a researcher at the University of Vermont and co-author of the study in the journal Science. And when pest metabolism increases, insect pests eat more food, which is not good for crops. Overall, "global yield losses of these grains are projected to increase by 10 to 25 percent per degree of global mean surface warming, " said the report. -
- France stands to lose about 9.4 percent of its maize to pests in a world that is 2 degrees C warmer, compared to about 6.6 percent of yield losses today due to pests .
- In Europe , currently, the most productive wheat producing region in the world, annual pest-induced yield losses could reach 16 million tons .
- Eleven European countries are predicted to see 75 percent or higher losses in wheat from pests , compared to current pest damage.
- In the United States , the world’s largest maize producer , insect-induced maize losses could rise 40 percent under current climate warming trajectories , meaning 20 fewer tons of maize per year.
- China , home to one-third of the world’s rice production , could see losses of 27 million tons annually .
Pandemic, war, climate change fuel fears of global hunger, food scarcity. The first challenge is to accept the problem. The second one is to accept responsibility. Climate change is unlike any challenge humanity has faced because unlike pandemics and wars, here we have a warning. We have time to prepare for the impending disaster, but we are not exactly making good use of it. We’re arguing and grandstanding, instead of acting. When the oceans rise, there is no fix. When the air becomes unbreathable, masks will not work. - The world needs to come together and find solutions to the climate disaster problems:
2.Losing Grassland Birds is another Widespread Ecological Crisis:
Growing unnecessary and competitive use of pesticides and insecticides that sweep out all insects affect the entire food chain of birds. Moreover, the insects are becoming resistant to the chemicals day by day but the birds which eat those insects barely survive for reproduction. Using lots of chemicals to boost farm yields but we tend to forget that due to excessive use of those pesticides, insecticides and inorganic manures, cross pollinating agents, the arthropods( 90% of living organisms found on earth are insects ) don’t get attracted to those plants or otherwise die due to excessive chemical exposure and pollution. More than 2, 000 pollinating insects are extinct by now and only 500 are left to become extinct if not protected - “Even if there is no insect disease in farms, farmers uselessly spray chemicals and kill useful insects like honeybees and other birds too.”
3.Eliminating threat species to our pollinators our best friend, bees:
Insects are pollinators and waste management experts, controlling other insects, keeping the soil healthy while also serving the most important function – being food for those higher up the food chain. In the absence of pollinators, many plant species will disappear.
4. Billions at risk of mosquito-borne diseases:
Climate Change Will Expose Half of World’s Population to Disease-Spreading Mosquitoes By 2050. These bugs can thrive in urban environments, often traveling alongside humans as we ship goods and travel around the world.
And, according to the study, these tropical mosquitoes are poised to expand their ranges, exposing a billion additional people to the diseases they carry in the next 50 years. It’s important to note that this study is on a global scale, and mosquito management efforts will need nation-by-nation or even city-by-city information while trying to combat the viruses. Detecting mosquito breeding grounds is more difficult which is one of the reason for such widespread population of mosquitoes.
With a changing climate and extreme weather like floods expected to become more frequent and intense, this could mean more outbreaks of mosquito-borne disease such as dengue in the coming years.New mosquito species would pose more burdens on public health system.
I am looking forward to Rainmatter Small Grants to support my project and turn it into a real-use case solution for our societies and restoring thriving nature. Reach me out here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sumit-kumar-343284199/