Topher White: What can save the rainforest? Your used cell phone
Topher White: 如何拯救热带雨林?——你的旧手机
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,
作为一名旅游者,
for the very first time,
婆罗洲的热带雨林,
of the forest that struck me the most.
给我下了最深刻的印象。
名叫犀鸟。
a rhinoceros hornbill.
over a great distance.
隔着很远的距离。
一个长臂猿保护区,
was in fact a gibbon reserve,
听到这么多的声音,
was coming out of the forest that time
是来自森林外,
had actually noticed it.
注意到这种声音。
这是一个长臂猿保护区。
重建长臂猿保护区,
rehabilitating gibbons,
to spend a lot of their time
不遭受非法砍伐。
that takes place on the side.
the insects, and the rest,
昆虫和其它的声音,
in recordings you heard,
你听到的这个录音
at great distance.
从很远的地方传来。
被派驻在整个保护区周围,
who were posted around this sanctuary
to guard against illegal logging,
是防范非法采伐,
again as tourists, out into the forest,
走进这个森林,
who was just sawing a tree down,
正把树锯断,
from the ranger station.
离护林站几百米。
to hear the chainsaws,
是非常嘈杂的。
the forest is very, very loud.
在当今这个时代,
that in this modern time,
from a ranger station in a sanctuary,
someone who has a chainsaw gets fired up.
but in fact, it was quite true.
但实际上却是事实。
always to come up with a high-tech,
工程师,总是想到高科技,
能大范围应用的,
it has to be scalable,
while were there was that
其实都唾手可得。
that would allow us to stop this
使我们能够阻止非法砍伐,
already in the forest?
森林里有哪些现成的条件?
dedicated, three full-time guards,
在森林里发生了什么事。
what was happening out in the forest.
out in the forest.
在这种偏僻的地方很不寻常。
way out in the middle of nowhere.
最近的公路也有数百公里,
from the nearest road,
but they had very good cell phone service,
但他们有很好的手机通讯服务,
were on Facebook all the time,
that in fact it would be possible
事实上是有可能
of chainsaws programmatically,
to go up in the trees.
一个装置能固定在树上。
to listen to the sounds of the forest,
一些装置采集森林的声音,
network that's there,
to this issue for them.
对付非法砍伐的解决办法。
to talk about saving the rainforest,
谈论一下拯救热带雨林,
definitely all heard about forever.
have heard about saving the rainforest
就已经听说过关于拯救
has never changed:
it's super urgent,
情况非常危急,
足球场的雨林面积已经遭到破坏,
have been destroyed yesterday.
about half of the rainforest remains,
大约只剩下一半,
problems like climate change.
例如气候变化。
that I didn't realize at the time:
我当时并不知道:
for more greenhouse gas
温室气体的排放,
trains, cars, trucks and ships combined.
汽车,卡车和船只的排放总和。
to climate change.
that takes place in the rainforest
就像我们之前看到的那种情况。
like the illegal logging that we saw.
enforce the rules that are there,
加强警戒和监督,
into this 17 percent
大量削减这17%的数字,
in the short term.
fastest way to fight climate change.
气候变化的方法。
在森林中被采集,
is heard in the forest,
of the chainsaw,
GSM network that's already there
and stop the logging.
and finding a tree that's been cut.
a tree from a satellite
and fastest way to do it,
最廉价快捷的方式,
they weren't able to do it,
它们还做不到这一点,
实际上是手机,
were actually cell phones,
by the hundreds of millions every year,
which of course we should do,
当然,这么做没什么问题,
to the sounds of the forest.
现在看到的这种盒子里,
that you see here,
engineering challenges
under a tree canopy,
under a tree canopy,
solar panel design that you see here,
你们现在看到的,
的副产品建立起来的。
byproducts of an industrial process.
for allowing me to do that.
this is a device up in a tree.
一棵树上的装置。
is that they are pretty well obscured
其实它们被遮挡得很好,
they are able to hear chainsaw noises
它们能接收电锯的声音,
约3平方公里的区域,
about three square kilometers,
就会导致该区域不在保护范围之内。
it would make the area unprotected.
we took it back to Indonesia,
我们把它带回了印尼,
而在另外一处,
by illegal logging.
了非法电锯伐木的声音。
illegal chainsaw noises.
一个电子邮件。
Everyone had just gotten back down.
每个人又返回下来。
and they all quiet down,
他们都安静下来,
直到接到警报的那一刻。
until that moment.
直接阻止这些伐木工,
to actually stop these loggers.
抵达了伐木工所在地的附近。
arrived close to where the loggers are.
在那里我已经开始后悔
where I'm actually regretting
the other side of this hill.
另一边是什么状况。
往山上爬,
been interrupted before --
event for them,
他们没有再回来过。
they have not been back since.
整个操作过程,
the entire operation works,
on the spot was that
in real time and stop people,
they won't come back.
他们不会再回来。
because we told a lot of people,
因为我们告诉了很多人,
amazing stuff started to happen.
惊讶的事开始发生了。
started to send us emails, phone calls.
给我们发邮件和打电话。
throughout Asia,
整个亚洲,
people throughout South America,
整个南美洲的人们,
可以使用这种装置,
当初我们认为可能极不寻常的是,
we thought might be exceptional,
pretty good cell phone service.
of the forests that are most under threat.
那里受到的威胁最大。
really amazing happened,
their own old cell phones.
已经在那里的人,
people who are already there,
使用现有的连接,
and use the existing connectivity,
that are being sent to us
something else in their afterlife,
可以完全回收利用,
can be completely recycled,
完全升级了的回收装置。
an entirely upcycled device.
because of any sort of high-tech solution.
what's already there,
即便不用手机,
that if it's not phones,
going to be enough there
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