Topher White: What can save the rainforest? Your used cell phone
Topher White: O que poderá salvar a floresta tropical? O seu telemóvel velho.
Through his startup Rainforest Connection, Topher White transforms used cell phones into guardians of the rainforest. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
as a tourist,
for the very first time,
pela primeira vez,
of the forest that struck me the most.
da floresta o que mais me marcou.
um calau-rinoceronte.
a rhinoceros hornbill.
a uma grande distância.
over a great distance.
was in fact a gibbon reserve,
era uma reserva de gibões,
was coming out of the forest that time
proveniente da floresta, nessa altura,
had actually noticed it.
uma reserva de gibões.
rehabilitating gibbons,
do tempo a reabilitar gibões,
to spend a lot of their time
muito do seu tempo
that takes place on the side.
madeireira ilegal mesmo ao seu lado.
the insects, and the rest,
dos insetos, e do resto,
in recordings you heard,
nas gravações que vocês ouviram,
at great distance.
who were posted around this sanctuary
posicionados à volta desse santuário
to guard against illegal logging,
contra a extração madeireira ilegal.
again as tourists, out into the forest,
mais uma vez como turistas,
who was just sawing a tree down,
acabado de cortar uma árvore,
centenas de metros do posto de guarda.
from the ranger station.
to hear the chainsaws,
a floresta é muito, muito ruidosa.
the forest is very, very loud.
que nos tempos modernos de hoje,
that in this modern time,
from a ranger station in a sanctuary,
do posto de guarda de um santuário,
someone who has a chainsaw gets fired up.
alguém a usar uma motosserra.
but in fact, it was quite true.
mas de facto, era verdade.
com o corte ilegal de madeira?
always to come up with a high-tech,
arranjar sempre uma alta tecnologia,
tem de ser dimensionável,
it has to be scalable,
while were there was that
quando lá estivemos
de que precisávamos já lá estava.
that would allow us to stop this
que nos permitisse parar com aquilo,
already in the forest?
O que já havia na floresta?
dedicated, three full-time guards,
três guardas a tempo inteiro,
o que se estava a passar na floresta.
what was happening out in the forest.
a grande surpresa,
out in the forest.
conectividade na floresta.
bem no meio do nada.
way out in the middle of nowhere.
da estrada mais próxima,
from the nearest road,
um excelente serviço de telemóveis.
but they had very good cell phone service,
were on Facebook all the time,
no Facebook o tempo todo,
that in fact it would be possible
que, de facto, seria possível
of chainsaws programmatically,
informaticamente,
to go up in the trees.
um aparelho no cimo das árvores.
to listen to the sounds of the forest,
para ouvir os sons da floresta,
network that's there,
to this issue for them.
uma solução para eles.
to talk about saving the rainforest,
salvar as florestas tropicais,
de que sempre ouvimos falar.
definitely all heard about forever.
have heard about saving the rainforest
sobre salvar as florestas tropicais
has never changed:
é muito urgente.
it's super urgent,
foram destruídos ontem."
have been destroyed yesterday.
about half of the rainforest remains,
cerca de metade da floresta ainda existe,
problems like climate change.
urgentes, como a alteração climática.
that I didn't realize at the time:
conhecido que não percebi na altura:
mais gases de efeito de estufa
for more greenhouse gas
camiões e navios do mundo, juntos.
trains, cars, trucks and ships combined.
para a alteração climática.
to climate change.
that takes place in the rainforest
que acontece na floresta tropical
like the illegal logging that we saw.
que vimos.
enforce the rules that are there,
na floresta a aplicar as regras locais,
into this 17 percent
estes 17%
in the short term.
impacto a curto prazo.
fastest way to fight climate change.
de combater a alteração climática.
Parece alta tecnologia.
é ouvida na floresta,
is heard in the forest,
of the chainsaw,
GSM network that's already there
da rede GSM padrão que já lá existe,
and stop the logging.
e interromper os cortes.
and finding a tree that's been cut.
e encontrar uma árvore cortada.
uma árvore por satélite
a tree from a satellite
and fastest way to do it,
mais rápida e barata,
eles não foram capazes de fazê-lo,
they weren't able to do it,
tão rápido e barato.
were actually cell phones,
fossem telemóveis,
by the hundreds of millions every year,
às centenas de milhões, todos os anos,
which of course we should do,
e claro que devemos contar,
Podem ouvir os sons da floresta.
to the sounds of the forest.
os colocar nesta caixa que veem aqui,
that you see here,
engineering challenges
desafios de engenharia
under a tree canopy,
sob as copas das árvores,
sob as copas das árvores,
under a tree canopy,
solar panel design that you see here,
de painel solar que veem aqui,
byproducts of an industrial process.
subprodutos de um processo industrial.
por me permitirem fazê-lo.
for allowing me to do that.
this is a device up in a tree.
está em cima de uma árvore.
is that they are pretty well obscured
é que eles estão bastante obscurecidos
possam ouvir os sons das motosserras
they are able to hear chainsaw noises
de 3 quilómetros quadrados,
about three square kilometers,
a área ficaria desprotegida.
it would make the area unprotected.
we took it back to Indonesia,
levámo-lo de volta à Indonésia.
pela extração ilegal de madeira.
by illegal logging.
illegal chainsaw noises.
os sons de motosserras ilegais.
um alerta em tempo real.
Everyone had just gotten back down.
Todos já tinham descido novamente.
and they all quiet down,
e todos fizeram silêncio,
o som da motosserra
até essa altura.
until that moment.
deter estes lenhadores.
to actually stop these loggers.
arrived close to where the loggers are.
perto do local onde estavam os lenhadores.
where I'm actually regretting
a começar a arrepender-me
do que está atrás desta colina.
the other side of this hill.
que eu — que vergonha!
tinha que ir, subindo,
nunca tinham sido interrompidos antes —
been interrupted before --
event for them,
que eles nunca mais voltaram.
they have not been back since.
the entire operation works,
toda a operação funciona,
on the spot was that
tempo útil e travar as pessoas,
in real time and stop people,
they won't come back.
para que eles não voltem.
because we told a lot of people,
porque contámos a muitas pessoas,
amazing stuff started to happen.
coisas realmente fantásticas.
started to send us emails, phone calls.
a enviar-nos e-mails, telefonemas.
throughout Asia,
pessoas por toda a América do Sul.
people throughout South America,
poderiam usar isto.
we thought might be exceptional,
o que pensámos ser excecional,
pretty good cell phone service.
serviço telefónico bastante bom.
of the forests that are most under threat.
periferia das florestas mais em risco.
really amazing happened,
realmente fantástico,
their own old cell phones.
enviar-nos os seus telemóveis velhos.
people who are already there,
no terreno, pessoas que já lá estão,
and use the existing connectivity,
as ligações existentes,
que nos têm sido enviados
that are being sent to us
os seus telemóveis
something else in their afterlife,
após a sua vida útil, digamos assim.
puder ser completamente reciclado,
can be completely recycled,
um equipamento totalmente otimizado.
an entirely upcycled device.
de nenhuma solução de alta tecnologia.
because of any sort of high-tech solution.
o que já lá estava,
what's already there,
de que, se não forem telemóveis,
that if it's not phones,
going to be enough there
em novos contextos.
in new contexts.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Topher White - Conservation technologistThrough his startup Rainforest Connection, Topher White transforms used cell phones into guardians of the rainforest.
Why you should listen
In 2012, Topher White founded Rainforest Connection, a startup which converts recycled cell-phones into solar-powered listening devices to monitor and protect remote areas of the rainforest. Now an established NGO, Rainforest Connection has helped stop illegal logging and poaching operations in Sumatra, and the system is being expanded to three more rainforest reserves in Indonesia, the Amazon and Africa.
With a background in physics and engineering, White worked as web chief of ITER and co-founded Enthuse, a sports engagement and mobile rewards platform. For Rainforest Connection, he’s fashioned a simple device made of discarded cell phones and solar panels that detects and sends alerts when it picks up the sound of chainsaws in protected rainforests, allowing for intervention in real time.
Topher White | Speaker | TED.com