Drones to plant trees

Every two seconds a part as big as a soccerfield with trees is demolished (source Greenpeace). The IPCC, a UN-organisation which conducts studies in climate change calculated that about 12% off our CO2 emissions is due to deforestation. These are only two examples of what we humans are doing to our planet. So our biggest challenge is to learn to live within the limits of our planet. We need to live within balance of our planet. But we also need to return what we have taken from nature. technology could be helpful with that part.

We already know a lot of examples of how we could use drones. But this one is special and is focussing on giving something back to our planet. It is an idea that stretches our minds and is very ambitious. And that is what we love at Extend Limits. Startup BioCarbon engineering is the organisation behind the idea.

We are going to counter industrial scale deforestation using industrial scale reforestation,” (Lauren Fletcher, BioCarbon Engineering)

So the idea is to let drones plant new trees: This is how the people behind BioCarbon Engineering see it: We use emerging technologies to deliver precision planting

and mapping to increase the uptake rates and the likelihood of healthy forest development. There are a variety of tree-planting techniques, including planting by hand and delivering dry seeds by air. However, hand-planting is slow and expensive, and spreading dry seeds results in low uptake rates. Our solution balances these two methods. First, by planting germinated seeds using precision agriculture techniques, we increase uptake rates. Second, our scalable, automated technology significantly reduces the manpower requirements and costs. Finally, our mapping UAVs will also provide invaluable intelligence on planting patterns, landscape design and appropriate timing (via BioCrbon Engineering).

Like I said: we love this initiative. The greatest thing of this initiative is to see how people think and dream in what is possible instead of what isn’t. People who are ambitious to save our planet. Earth needs more of these rebel thinkers. The only thing I am afraid of is that these kind of initiatives cannot cope with the human addiction to growth and consumption. Especially in Western economies. We need to create a world where everyone has equal access to the resources of our planet. For this we have to change the economic en social systems. We have to reset and ecolize growth.

Still it is great to see how we can use technology to create a better and more sustainable world.