Artificial Intelligence-A Game Changer For Climate Change and The Environment

8/24/2020 Artificial Intelligence—A Game Changer for Climate Change and the Environment
CLIMATE, ECOLOGY
Arti cial Intelligence—A Game Changer for

Climate Change and the Environment
BY RENEE CHO | JUNE 5, 2018
AI is continually improving climate models. Photo: Los Alamos National Lab
As the planet continues to warm, climate change impacts are worsening. In 2016, there
were 772 weather and disaster events, triple the number that occurred in 1980. Twenty
percent of species currently face extinction, and that number could rise to 50 percent by
2100. And even if all countries keep their Paris climate pledges, by 2100, it’s likely that
average global temperatures will be 3˚C higher than in pre-industrial times.
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the planet: arti cial intelligence (AI). AI refers to computer systems that “can sense their
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environment, think, learn, and act in response to what they sense and their programmed
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https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2018/06/05/artificial-intelligence-climate-environment/ 1/11
objectives,” according to a World Economic Forum report, Harnessing Arti cial Intelligence for
the Earth.
In India, AI has helped farmers get 30 percent higher groundnut yields per hectare by
providing information on preparing the land, applying fertilizer and choosing sowing dates.
In Norway, AI helped create a exible and autonomous electric grid, integrating more
renewable energy.
And AI has helped researchers achieve 89 to 99

percent accuracy in identifying tropical
cyclones, weather fronts and atmospheric
rivers, the latter of which can cause heavy
precipitation and are often hard for humans to
identify on their own. By improving weather
forecasts, these types of programs can help
keep people safe.
An atmospheric river over California.

Photo: NOAA

What are arti cial intelligence, machine learning and deep learning?
Arti cial intelligence has been around since the late 1950s, but today, AI’s capacities are
rapidly improving thanks to several factors: the vast amounts of data being collected by
sensors (in appliances, vehicles, clothing, etc.), satellites and the Internet; the development
of more powerful and faster computers; the availability of open source software and data;
and the increase in abundant, cheap storage. AI can now quickly discern patterns that
humans cannot, make predictions more e ciently and recommend better policies.
The holy grail of arti cial intelligence research is arti cial general intelligence, when
computers will be able to reason, abstract, understand and communicate like humans. But
we are still far from that—it takes 83,000 processors 40 minutes to compute what one
percent of the human brain can calculate in one second. What exists today is narrow AI,
which is task-oriented and capable of doing some things, sometimes better than humans
can do, such as recognizing speech or images and forecasting weather. Playing chess and
classifying images, as in the tagging of people on Facebook, are examples of narrow AI.
When Net ix and Amazon recommend shows and products based on our purchasing
history, they’re using machine learning. Machine learning, which developed out of earlier AI,
involves the use of algorithms (sets of rules to follow to solve a problem) that can learn from
data. The more data the system analyzes, the more accurate it becomes as the system
develops its own
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Deep learning, a subset of machine
accordance learning,
with the Columbiainvolves
Universityneural
Websitenetworks made up of multiple
Cookie Notice.
layers of connections or neurons, much like Close
the human brain. Each layer has a separate task
and as information passes through, the

neurons give it a weight based on its accuracy
vis a vis the assigned task. The nal result is
determined by the total of the weights.
AI considers its next move in chess.

Photo: viegas
Art created by deep learning. Photo: Gene Kogan
Deep learning enabled a computer system to gure out how to identify a cat—without any
human input about cat features— after “seeing” 10 million random images from YouTube.
Because deep learning essentially takes place in a “black box” through self-learning and
evolving algorithms, however, scientists often don’t know how a system arrives at its results.
Arti cial intelligence is a game changer
Microsoft believes that arti cial intelligence, often encompassing machine learning and
deep learning, is a “game changer” for climate change and environmental issues. The
company’s AI for Earth program has committed $50 million over ve years to create and test
new applications for AI. Eventually it will help scale up and commercialize the most
promising projects.
Columbia University’s Maria Uriarte, a professor of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental
Biology, and Tian Zheng, a statistics professor at the Data Science Institute, received a
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Microsoft grant to study the e ects of Hurricane Maria on the El Yunque National Forest in
Puerto Rico. Uriarte and her colleagues want to know how tropical storms, which may
worsen with climate change, a ect the distribution of tree species in Puerto Rico.
Photo: Kevin Krajick
Hurricane Maria’s winds damaged thousands of acres of rainforest, however the only way to
determine which tree species were destroyed and which withstood the hurricane at such a
large scale is through the use of images. In 2017, a NASA yover of Puerto Rico yielded very
high-resolution photographs of the tree canopies. But how is it possible to tell one species
from another by looking at a green mass from above over such a large area? The human
eye could theoretically do it, but it would take forever to process the thousands of images.
The team is using arti cial intelligence to

analyze the high-resolution photographs and
match them with Uriarte’s data—she has
mapped and identi ed every single tree in given
plots. Using the ground information from these
speci c plots, AI can gure out what the various
species of trees look like from above in the
yover images. “Then we can use that
information to extrapolate to a larger area,”
Uriarte’s team has identi ed every tree in explained Uriarte. “We usevisitors'
the plot data both
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some plots. Photo: Kevin Krajick learn [i.e. tousage
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Understanding how the distribution and composition of forests change in response to

hurricanes is important because when forests are damaged, vegetation decomposes and
emits more CO2 into the atmosphere. As trees grow back, since they are smaller, they store
less carbon. If climate change results in more extreme storms, some forests will not recover,
less carbon will be stored, and more carbon will remain in the atmosphere, exacerbating
global warming.
Uriarte says her work could not be done

without arti cial intelligence. “AI is going to
revolutionize this eld,” she said. “It’s becoming
more and more important for everything that
we do. It allows us to ask questions at a scale
that we could not ask from below. There’s only
so much that one can do [on the ground] … and
then there are areas that are simply not
accessible. The yovers and the AI tools are
going to allow us to study hurricanes in a whole There’s only so much that can be done
di erent way. It’s super exciting.” from the ground, said Uriarte. Photo:
Kevin Krajick
Another project, named Protection Assistant for
Wildlife Security (PAWS) from the University of Southern California, is using machine
learning to predict where poaching may occur in the future. Currently the algorithm
analyzes past ranger patrols and poachers’ behavior from crime data; a Microsoft grant will
help train it to incorporate real-time data to enable rangers to improve their patrols.
In Washington State, Long Live the Kings is trying to restore declining steelhead and salmon
populations. With a grant from Microsoft, the organization will improve an ecosystem model
that gathers data about salmon and steelhead growth, tracks sh and marine mammal
movements, and monitors marine conditions. The model will help improve hatchery,
harvest, and ecosystem management, and support habitat protection and restoration
e orts.
How AI is used for energy
AI is increasingly used to manage the intermittency of renewable energy so that more can
be incorporated into the grid; it can handle power uctuations and improve energy storage
as well.
The Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory operated by Stanford

University will use machine learning and arti cial intelligence to identify vulnerabilities in the
grid, strengthen them in advance of failures, and restore power more quickly when failures
occur.
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visitors' from By
renewable power sources, battery storage, and satellite imagery that can show where trees
growing over poweraccordance
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with problems
the Columbia in a storm.
University WebsiteThe goal
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that can automatically manage renewable

energy without interruption and recover from
system failures with little human involvement.
Wind companies are using AI to get each

turbine’s propeller to produce more electricity
per rotation by incorporating real time weather
and operational data. On large wind farms, the
front row’s propellers create a wake that
decreases the e ciency of those behind them.
Photo: Kenueone
AI will enable each individual propeller to
determine the wind speed and direction coming
from other propellers, and adjust accordingly.
Researchers at the Department of Energy and National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration (NOAA) are using AI to better understand atmospheric conditions in order to
more accurately project the energy output of wind farms.
Arti cial intelligence can enhance energy e ciency, too. Google used machine learning to
help predict when its data centers’ energy was most in demand. The system analyzed and
predicted when users were most likely to watch data-sucking Youtube videos, for example,
and could then optimize the cooling needed. As a result, Google reduced its energy use by
40 percent.
Making cities more livable and sustainable
AI can also improve energy e ciency on the city scale by incorporating data from smart
meters and the Internet of Things (the internet of computing devices that are embedded in
everyday objects, enabling them to send and receive data) to forecast energy demand. In
addition, arti cial intelligence systems can simulate potential zoning laws, building
ordinances, and ood plains to help with urban planning and disaster preparedness. One
vision for a sustainable city is to create an “urban dashboard” consisting of real-time data on
energy and water use and availability, tra c and weather to make cities more energy
e cient and livable.
In China, IBM’s Green Horizon project is using

an AI system that can forecast air pollution,
track pollution sources and produce potential
strategies to deal with it. It can determine if, for
example, it would be more e ective to restrict
the number of drivers or close certain power
plants
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Another IBM system in development could help Beijing air pollution. Photo: Kentaro
cities plan for future heat waves. AI would IEMOTO
simulate the climate at the urban scale and
explore di erent strategies to test how well they ease heat waves. For example, if a city
wanted to plant new trees, machine learning models could determine the best places to
plant them to get optimal tree cover and reduce heat from pavement.
Smart agriculture
Hotter temperatures will have signi cant impacts on agriculture as well.
Data from sensors in the eld that monitor crop

moisture, soil composition and temperature
help AI improve production and know when
crops need watering. Incorporating this
information with that from drones, which are
also used to monitor conditions, can help
increasingly automatic AI systems know the
best times to plant, spray and harvest crops,
and when to head o diseases and other
problems. This will result in increased e ciency,
enhanced yields, and lower use of water, Moisture sensors monitor soil water
fertilizer and pesticides. content for irrigation management.
Photo: USDA NRCS
Protecting the oceans
The Ocean Data Alliance is working with machine learning to provide data from satellites
and ocean exploration so that decision-makers can monitor shipping, ocean mining, shing,
coral bleaching or the outbreak of a marine disease. With almost real time data, decision-
makers and authorities will be able to respond to problems more quickly. Arti cial
intelligence can also help predict the spread of invasive species, follow marine litter,
monitor ocean currents, keep track of dead zones and measure pollution levels.
The Nature Conservancy is partnering with

Microsoft on using AI to map ocean wealth.
Evaluating the economic value of ocean
ecosystem services—such as seafood
harvesting, carbon storage, tourism and more—
will make better conservation and planning
decisions possible. The data will be used to
build models that consider food security, job
creation
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A Taiwanese ship suspected of illegal
accordance with the ColumbiaThis can help
University decision-makers
Website Cookie Notice. determine the
shing. Photo: US Coast Guard
most
Close important areas for sh productivity and
conservation e orts, as well as the tradeo s of potential decisions. The project already has
maps and models for Micronesia, the Caribbean, Florida, and is expanding to Australia,
Haiti, and Jamaica.
More sustainable transport on land
As vehicles become able to communicate with each other and with the infrastructure,
arti cial intelligence will help drivers avoid hazards and tra c jams. In Pittsburgh, an
arti cial intelligence system incorporating sensors and cameras that monitors tra c ow
adjusts tra c lights when needed. The systems are functioning at 50 intersections with
plans for 150 more, and have already reduced travel time by 25 percent and idling by more
than 40 percent. Less idling, of course, means fewer greenhouse gas emissions.
Eventually, autonomous AI-driven shared transportation systems may replace personal

vehicles.
Better climate predictions
As the climate changes, accurate projections are increasingly important. However, climate
models often produce very di erent predictions, largely because of how data is broken
down into discrete parts, how processes and systems are paired, and because of the large
variety of spatial and temporal scales. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) reports are based on many climate models and show the range of predictions, which
are then averaged out.
Averaging them out, however, means that each

climate model is given equal weight. AI is
helping to determine which models are more
reliable by giving added weight to those whose
predictions eventually prove to be more
accurate, and less weight to those performing
poorly. This will help improve the accuracy of
climate change projections.
AI and deep learning are also improving

Photo: CC BY-SA3.0 weather forecasting and the prediction of
extreme events. That’s because they can
incorporate much more of the real-world complexity of the climate system, such as
atmospheric and ocean dynamics and ocean and atmospheric chemistry, into their
calculations. This sharpens the precision of weather and climate modeling, making
simulations more useful for decision-makers.
AI has
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AI can help to monitor ecosystems
accordance and
with the wildlife
Columbia and their
University interactions.
Website Its fast processing
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speeds can o er almost real-time satellite data Closeto track illegal logging in forests. AI can
monitor drinking water quality, manage residential water use, detect underground leaks in
drinking water supply systems, and predict when water plants need maintenance. It can
also simulate weather events and natural disasters to nd vulnerabilities in disaster
planning, determine which strategies for disaster response are most e ective, and provide
real-time disaster response coordination.
What are the risks of arti cial intelligence?
While AI enables us to better manage the impacts of climate change and protect the
environment in addition to transforming the elds of business, nance, health care,
medicine, law, education and more, it is not without risks. Some prominent individuals such
as the late physicist Stephen Hawking and Tesla CEO Elon Musk have warned of the
existential dangers of uncontrolled arti cial intelligence.
The World Economic Forum report identi ed six categories of AI risk:
Performance. The black box conclusions of AI may not be understandable to humans

and thus it may be impossible to determine if they are accurate or desirable. Deep
learning could be risky for applications such as early warning systems for natural
disasters where more certainty is needed.
Security. AI could potentially be hacked, enabling bad actors to interfere with energy,
transportation, early warning or other crucial systems.
Control risks. Since AI systems interact autonomously, they can produce unpredictable
outcomes. For example, two systems came up with a language of their own that
humans couldn’t understand.
Economic risks. Companies that are slower to adopt AI may su er economic
consequences as their AI-based competition advances. We are already seeing how
brick and mortar stores are closing as the economy becomes increasingly digitized.
Social risk. AI is resulting in more automation, which will eliminate jobs in almost every
eld. Autonomous weapon systems could also hasten and exacerbate global con icts.
Ethical risks. Since AI uses inferred assumptions about groups and communities in
making decisions, it could lead to increased bias. The collection of data also raises
privacy issues.
To deal with these risks, the World Economic Forum states that government and industry
“must ensure the safety, explainability, transparency and validity of AI application.” More
interaction among public and private entities, technologists, policy-makers and even
philosophers, and more investments in research are needed to avert the potential risks of
arti cial intelligence—and to realize its potential bene ts to the environment and humanity.
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6  0 0    6
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Joe Wiseman  
These are good strategies given the reluctance of many of our political leaders as well as
Guest
much of the population to accept and take action on climate change.
 0   Reply  2 years ago
Ravi Amblee  
How about absorbing CO2 with AI pro ciency?

Guest
How about replicating solar power plants with AI dexterity?
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks& eld-
keywords=The+Ugly+Fight%3A+Unleashing+Arti cial+Intelligence+Against+Global+War
ming
this0website,
continuing to use   youReply  1 year ago in
consent to Columbia University's usage of cookies and similar technologies,
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Ali Amaan  
Considering that it’s only recently that AI has become the talk of
the town, we can only imagine it’s potectial in bringing up startups solving newer
Guest problems ever so e ortlessly.
 0   Reply  1 year ago
Joy Green  
A great article with lots of good examples. However there is an extremely important and
Guest
pressing risk missing from your analysis. The e ect of AI on power dynamics. The
current paradigm for AI developmement is concentrating power in a few unaccountable
tech companies and hollowing out democratic institutions. The use of AI and machine
learning for surveillance capitalism is distorting our behaviour and societies at a mass
level and enabling unprecendented levels of manipulation because the transparency is
asymmetric and one-way. We are already seeing the e ects of this in social media and
politics. This is not due to AI… Read more »
 4   Reply  1 year ago
Yatika Sharma  
This seriously is a great thing knowing how AI is helping in various ways.Moreover I

Guest
recently read an article about the same https://hackernoon.com/why-we-are-
automating-food-waste-management-with-ai-9b1kp28qk and highly recommend others
to go through this.
 0   Reply  11 months ago
Hakim  
Here is an interessting paper on the use of AI and machine learning to model

Guest
greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural soils:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969720338602
Thank you for sharing!
 0   Reply  2 days ago
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8/24/2020 Artificial Intelligence—A Game Changer for Climate Change and the Environment

Arti cial Intelligence—A Game Changer for

AI is continually improving climate models. Photo: Los Alamos National Lab

And AI has helped researchers achieve 89 to 99

An atmospheric river over California.

and as information passes through, the

AI considers its next move in chess.

Art created by deep learning. Photo: Gene Kogan

Arti cial intelligence is a game changer

Photo: Kevin Krajick

The team is using arti cial intelligence to

Understanding how the distribution and composition of forests change in response to

Uriarte says her work could not be done

How AI is used for energy

The Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory operated by Stanford

that can automatically manage renewable

Wind companies are using AI to get each

Researchers at the Department of Energy and National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Making cities more livable and sustainable

In China, IBM’s Green Horizon project is using

Hotter temperatures will have signi cant impacts on agriculture as well.

Data from sensors in the eld that monitor crop

The Nature Conservancy is partnering with

More sustainable transport on land

Eventually, autonomous AI-driven shared transportation systems may replace personal

Better climate predictions

Averaging them out, however, means that each

AI and deep learning are also improving

What are the risks of arti cial intelligence?

The World Economic Forum report identi ed six categories of AI risk:

Performance. The black box conclusions of AI may not be understandable to humans

Get our newsletter

Email address Join Us

Secure and Spam free...

Join the discussion...

 Subscribe   newest  oldest  most voted

 0   Reply  2 years ago

How about absorbing CO2 with AI pro ciency?

 0   Reply  1 year ago

 4   Reply  1 year ago

This seriously is a great thing knowing how AI is helping in various ways.Moreover I

 0   Reply  11 months ago

Here is an interessting paper on the use of AI and machine learning to model

 0   Reply  2 days ago

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