The REAL Impact Of Major Weather Events

In a recently published, compelling article, Jeremiah Owyang reiterates how much we need IBM’s new disaster relief initiative, Call for Code  Read more

According to several scientists and weather experts, our climate is unstable, which causes major weather events to happen more frequently. It’s become imperative that we all join this fight to better prepare populations to face these events because the life that needs saving in the future just might be yours.

Extreme weather events are becoming more extreme

Extreme weather events in 2017 included unusually frequent Atlantic hurricanes, with three high-impact storms—Harvey, Irma and Maria—making landfall in rapid succession. According to the Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) index, which is used to measure the intensity and duration of Atlantic storms, September 2017 was the most intense month on record. It was also the most expensive hurricane season ever. 

These extreme incidents continue a trend of increasingly costly weather events over recent decades. Extreme rainfall can be particularly damaging—of the 10 natural disasters that caused the most deaths in the first half of 2017, eight involved floods or landslides. Storms and other weather-related hazards are also a leading cause of displacement, with the latest data showing that 76% of the 31.1 million people displaced during 2016 were forced from their homes as a result of weather-related events. (source)

Plus, it’s just too hot

Recently, Europe suffered its deadliest fire in more than a century, and one of nearly 90 large fires burned dozens of homes and forced the evacuation of at least 37,000 people near Redding, California. (source)

Since the Industrial Revolution, the world has warmed more than one degree. The Paris climate agreement—the nonbinding, unenforceable and already unheeded treaty signed on Earth Day in 2016—hoped to restrict warming to two degrees. The odds of succeeding, according to a recent study based on current emissions trends, are one in 20. If we are able to limit warming to two degrees, we will only have to negotiate the extinction of the world’s tropical reefs, sea-level rise of several meters, and the abandonment of the Persian Gulf. Climate scientist James Hansen has called two-degree warming “a prescription for long-term disaster.”

As these extreme weather events continue, it has been argued that three-degree warming is a realistic minimum and a four-degree warming could result in drought or vast areas claimed by desert or swallowed by sea, leaving some parts of the world uninhabitable. The prospect of a five-degree warming has prompted some of the world’s leading climate scientists to warn of the end of human civilization.

What can we, as technologists, do to help mitigate the effects of these major weather events?

You can help

While running for office and changing policy might not be in your wheelhouse, you can fight the effects of climate change with the skills you do have: Your coding skills. That's what Call for Code is about: a challenge to developers across the globe to create software solutions that can be used when natural disasters strike.

You may have heard the deadline for Call for Code has been extended to September 28, meaning you still have time to get out there, register, and get started on that big idea!

If you’re in need of inspiration, here’s a bit of food for thought:

Create an app to track people and equipment. You could extend an app that tracks shipments from point A to B and use the same tech for first responders or the Red Cross. Communication by phone isn’t always reliable after a storm, but if there was an app with the ability to connect with your carrier’s satellite via 4G/5G, so people can track each other and equipment, just how many lives could be saved?

Use data to make better warning systems, location beacons, and satellites. Unstructured and structured data growth is exploding. You’ve used your programming skills to figure out how to spot trends, create algorithms, and make data useful. Why not use your skills to harness the exponential amounts of data related to weather events and create apps that use that data to make more effective warning systems, locations beacons, and satellites?

The possibilities are endless!

But wait, there’s more

Does blockchain pique your interest? As permanent, tamper-proof databases that are shared by a community without a centralized owner, blockchains are particularly interesting for environmental causes. They make it possible to track and verify transactions and interactions without a centralized authority. This can significantly increase transparency, accountability, and efficiency of environmental projects.

Mike Gilliland, from Future Thinkers, suggests that blockchain technology can be used to “significantly increase transparency, accountability, and efficiency of environmental projects.” (source)

Check out how blockchain and IBM Tech Talks explain everything from finances to charity tracking to assure donations get to where they are most needed.

We want you!

IBM #CallForCode would love to hear your thoughts and ideas. Call for Code is growing and we want you to be part of it. Click here