Digital Solutions And Biodiversity: A Positive Feedback Loop
by Mike Hughes
Originally published on Forbes
Over the past 18 months, many city dwellers have started waking up to the sound of birds singing outside their windows and rays of morning sunlight stemming from clearer skies. Increased biodiversity emerged as one of the few silver linings of the global pandemic: reducing activity in once bustling urban centres has yielded this quiet reminder of nature. We must build on this newly re-established connection and help prevent the ongoing biodiversity loss caused by human activities in cities and industrial sites. The answer can be found in digital solutions, but also in our relationship with nature itself.
Living in cities, it can be easy to consume without considering where things come from – from animal protein in our food to the fossil fuels that are burned to generate electricity. Likewise, when we don’t see nature every day, it’s easy to feel disconnected from it; sustainability can become a theoretical concept, rather than something practical that requires active participation. Indeed, a consumer survey conducted by Schneider Electric just before the pandemic found that 90 per cent of UK consumers had no plans to do more to improve the planet’s wellbeing.
