Join Me On My Mission to Harness Digital Technology to Tackle Climate Change

The world is facing two existential threats right now: artificial intelligence (AI) and climate change. It is my mission to apply AI to help tackle climate change. In this blog, I outline some of my ideas and how you might be able to collaborate with me to help solve these challenges. I explain how I can apply design and systems thinking to help people come together to co-design solutions to this complex challenge and implement positive change.

Harnessing the power of AI and other advanced digital technologies might be our final opportunity to save humanity from climate change. To address this climate emergency, we need rapid and radical action. With the speed and scale of digital change (more detail on this here), massive disruption is happening. This technological advancement is now unstoppable. What is still undetermined however is whether such developments will be a force for good or ill. Within this revolution, there is a monumental opportunity to harness existing and emerging technologies to address the threat of climate change.

AI, along with other advanced digital technologies including the Internet of Things, big data, and cloud computing, has the potential to improve people’s lives in ways that are almost unimaginable. However, they also pose the risk of making things worse for many people. This dichotomy of utopia vs. dystopia was at the centre of my PhD. Although my focus was on healthcare, many of the ideas directly translate into other areas, including climate change. An example is the imbalance of power in the ownership of AI and other digital tech. In my thesis, I argued that such power and technologies needed to remain in the NHS, partly because people would be less willing to share their data if it were shared with private sector companies. I argue that unpicking issues around power is also part of what is needed to tackle climate change.

The potential of digital technology to be used as a force for good is something I have blogged about many times, such as in this blog about applying tech to improve productivity. I have also written about what could go wrong if technology is not applied in the right way, such as in this recent blog about AI ethics. A common theme across much of my writing is the message that harnessing technology is about much more than getting the technology right. I argue that it is more about the organisational and societal changes that are required if tech is going to be a force for good. In this context, getting the technology right is only a small first step towards doing what is required.

The threat of climate change should be clear to everyone by now. However, there are many different visions for how to address it. My view is that to address climate change, we need to create a positive vision of the future. This is where utopian ideas about harnessing digital technology come into play. Back in 2019, I wrote this blog post outlining how smart city ideas could be harnessed to tackle climate change. Its a positive vision for tackling climate change through smart city ideas, including technology.

Hopefully, by this point, you will be thinking, “OK, we accept that these are challenges, but how can we get to this utopian future?” AI has the potential to help tackle climate change in many different ways:

• It can help us find solutions to help us understand the likely impact of climate change such as through data analysis for climate modelling
• It can help us find solutions that could help us reduce our environmental impact. Examples include: renewable energy optimisation and the use of smart grids for energy efficiency.
• Its evolution has the potential to unlock new business models
• It also has the potential to help us mitigate the impact of climate change. An example is the use of predictive analytics to create early warning systems

My offer in this space however is not as an expert who claims to have all the answers. To unlock the adjustments that are needed, we need a methodology for change that involves co-designing solutions. For people to invest in a vision of a utopian digital future, they need to be involved in its creation. I can bring people together to work towards change through facilitating co-design workshops, leading an action research process, asset mapping and many other engagement processes.

My thinking is informed by an inspirational book by Don Norman, one of the godfathers of modern design, titled “Design for a Better World.”

Don argues that:

“We’re running out of time to fix the many problems that plague our planet and threaten our existence. So, all of us must band together to tackle global issues.”

Norman, D. and Euchner, J., 2023. Design for a Better World: A Conversation with Don Norman. Research-Technology Management, 66(3), pp.11–18.

I agree with Don when he argues that we need to unite and collaborate to tackle issues, specifically addressing climate change. I am actively seeking other people to engage with and work together in this endeavor.

The core of his message is that design utilises facilitation skills that can bring together communities, experts, and other relevant stakeholders to address complex challenges. He also argues that when dealing with such challenges, design and systems thinking become very much intertwined. To deal with systemic challenges, we need to engage in systems thinking within our design approach. It is therefore unsurprising that other designers, including Tim Brown, and systems thinkers, including Gerald Midgley and Mike Jackson, make similar arguments. I’ve blogged about how to combine systems thinking and design to tackle complex challenges before, including this past post.

Over the last decade, as well as completing my PhD I have been developing skills, understanding, and experience in research, design and systems thinking. I have worked as a design researcher, helping organisations to understand and solve challenges related to climate change, transportation, planning reform, data management and culture change. My aim is to build on what I have already been doing but with more of a climate change focus.

One more skill I bring to the mix is creativity. Working in the arts for over a decade gave me a toolkit that I can apply to help different stakeholders ideate and imagine a radically different future, one that could help make their organisations both more successful and simultaneously more climate-focused.

The purpose of this post is to reach out and make connections with other people who might be interested in collaborating with me on this mission. As Don states, to tackle these issues, we must band together, so I am looking for people to join forces with. So, get in touch if you would like to join me on this mission or if there are other like-minded individuals you might be able to introduce me to — let’s start creating a positive movement for change.

Originally published at http://digitaltim.uk on August 1, 2023.