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From YouTube: The Data Mechanics of Saving the Planet
Description
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https://archive.devcon.org/archive/watch/3/the-data-mechanics-of-saving-the-planet
This talk gives a first-hand account of a joint field research project by Terra Genesis International and Streamr. We present a technical report from an Ecuadorean cocoa plantation on how to collect real-time carbon sequestration data from IoT sensors and drone soil sampling, and how to transmit it securely to Ethereum smart contracts via a decentralized peer-to-peer data transport layer. We will share the scientific underpinnings with the audience, demonstrate the potential of the project in helping reverse global warming, discuss the use of automated drone technology for sensor distribution and sample collection, and visualize the methodology for solving connectivity and data collection issues in an important real-life use case.
Speaker(s): Gregory Landua, Risto Karjalainen
Skill level: Intermediate
Track: Society and Systems
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Devcon 3 was held in Cancún, Mexico on Nov 1 - 4, 2017
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B
Hi,
everyone
I'm
so
grateful
to
be
up
here,
so
my
name
is
Gregory
I'm
here
with
Reece
tow
and
we're
going
to
be
talking
about
region
network.
So
I'm
gonna
try
to
start
on
a
pattern
level
to
talk
about
what
it
is
that
we're
up
to,
because
we're
doing
something
that
I
think
is
sort
of
a
unique
and
unusual
at
this
moment,
use
case
of
blockchain
and
distributed
ledger
technology.
So
what
we're
up
to
is
nothing
short
of
completely
reversing
global
climate
change?
How
are
we
going
to
do
that.
B
B
B
C
If
you're,
like
most
people,
you're,
probably
feeling
a
little
hopeless
about
climate
change
and
the
damage
we've
done
to
our
planet,
well,
now,
there's
a
new
way
to
look
at
climate
change
and
how
to
deal
with
it.
That
might
just
turn
that
hopelessness
into
a
whole
climate
change,
as
we
know,
is
all
about
too
much
carbon
in
our
atmosphere.
But
carbon
is
not
our
enemy.
It's
the
building
block
of
life.
Everything
alive
is
made
of
it.
Even
us.
The
problem
and
the
solution
are
simply
a
matter
of
balance.
C
Let's
step
back
and
look
at
the
five
pools
where
carbon
is
stored
on
planet
earth,
starting
about
500
million
years
ago,
when
plants
first
appeared
on
land,
carbon
began
to
cycle
in
an
amazing
balance
between
these
pools,
a
balance
that
allowed
for
life,
as
we
know
it
to
evolve,
then
one
life
that
would
be
us
figured
out
how
to
extract
carbon
from
the
fossil,
which
was
pretty
much
a
timeout
zone
for
carbon.
We've
been
burning
it
for
energy,
putting
into
play
and
disrupting
that
balance.
C
Specifically,
we've
moved
eight
hundred
and
eighty
billion
tons
of
carbon
dioxide
into
the
atmosphere,
which
is
heating
up
the
planet
and
destabilizing
our
climate.
The
oceans
have
absorbed
a
lot
of
this
excess
carbon,
throwing
off
the
oceans
balance
resulting
in
ocean
acidification
and
accelerating
a
mass
extinction
of
sea
life.
So
in
order
to
save
life,
as
we
know
it,
of
course
we
need
to
stop
burning
fossil
carbon.
The
big
question
is:
where
do
we
put
this
excess
carbon
to
get
the
cycle
back
in
balance?
C
The
good
news
is
that
the
answer
is
literally
right
under
our
feet.
It's
the
soil
plants
using
sunlight
and
water
naturally
perform
photosynthesis.
They
pull
carbon
in
from
the
air
and
turn
it
into
carbohydrates,
sugars.
Then
they
pumped
some
of
these
sugars
down
through
the
roots
to
feed
microorganisms
who
use
that
carbon
build
healthy
soil,
voila
carbon
move,
the
plants
pump
it
in
and
the
soil
stores
it
nature's
living
technology
is
amazing.
C
Scientists
have
recently
discovered
that
applying
a
thin
layer
of
compost
can
help
regenerate
healthy
soil,
setting
up
an
ongoing
feedback
loop
that
brings
more
and
more
carbon
into
the
soil
each
year,
together.
With
other
regenerative
practices
like
not
tilling
the
soil,
planting
trees
and
cover
crops
and
planned
grazing,
we
can
build
and
retain
billions
of
tons
of
soil
carbon.
This
is
carbon
farming.
This
is
regenerative
agriculture,
unlike
more
carbon
in
the
atmosphere,
more
carbon
in
the
ground
is
good
furnace.
C
C
B
Well,
I,
don't
know
about
you
guys,
but
that
gets
me
inspired
every
single
time,
because
that's
a
big,
crazy
problem
and
it
turns
out
it's
actually
not
that
hard
to
solve
the
challenge
is
being
able
to
verify,
what's
actually
happening
on
a
farm
so
that
we
can
support
farmers
and
incentivize
them
to
be
actively
sequestering
carbon.
So
I
just
wanted
to
go
through
a
couple
numbers
here
to
sort
of
frame
the
bigger
problem
and
hopefully
show
how
completely
achievable
it
is.
So.
The
the
world
soils
have
320
gigatonnes
of
carbon
stoy
storage
capacity.
B
We
only
need
to
sequester
128
gigatonnes
over
the
next
20
years
to
completely
reverse
global
warming.
Wow.
Okay,
there's
500
million
small
farmers.
So
you
know
we
need
roughly
a
third
of
those
people
to
be
participating
on
our
network
in
our
program
actively
regenerating
soils,
so
we've
been
working
on
two
core
aspects
of
our
protocol:
one
is
proof
of
regeneration,
so
that
is
the
ability,
through
farm,
IOT,
sensors
and
satellite
protocols
and
drones
and
user
smart
phone
interaction
to
be
able
to
prove,
what's
actually
happening
on
any
given
farm
in
a
decentralized
way.
B
That
is
not
owned
by
any
central
authority
and
to
creating
a
reverse
mining
protocol.
That
is
the
ability
to
mint
tokens
by
proving
that
you've
done
something
that's
in
the
public
good,
which
is
sequestering
carbon
into
your
soils.
So
those
are
the
two
foundational
pieces
of
region
network,
so
we're
going
to
spend
sort
of
I'm
going
patterns
to
these
details.
Here.
We're
gonna
spend
a
little
bit
of
time
coming
right
up
with
Rhys
toe
going
through
one
of
our
pilot
projects,
which
is
actually
calibrating
the
proof
of
regeneration
protocol.
B
D
Thank
you
very
much
Gregor,
it's
great
to
be
here,
Grigory,
of
course,
and
his
team
are
the
experts
on
regenerative
agriculture
where
streamer
comes
in
is
on
the
data
side
they're.
The
key
aim
is
to
verify
if
the
conditions
are
conducive
to
carbon
accumulation
in
the
soil.
To
answer
that
question,
you
need
lots
of
data
from.
D
There's
a
number
of
things
which
can
be
monitored
on
a
farm
taken
together.
Such
measurements
give
a
pretty
good
indication
of
soil,
health
and
equilibrium,
and
that's
important
because
the
carbon
sequestration
is
one
of
the
core
functions
in
a
healthy
soil.
Now
we've
got
lots
of
data
in
here.
I
won't
go
through
that
all
just
to
mention
some
of
these
low-frequency,
like
satellite
images,
soil
sampling,
some
a
higher
frequency
like
temperature,
measurements
numbers
on
electrical
conductivity
and
so
forth.
D
D
The
standards
in
the
soil-
the
that's
typically
done-
maybe
not
by
the
farmer,
but
by-
cannot
specialized
re
IOT
companies.
Next
thing
you
do
is
the
every
time
well
sensor
course
across
life
they
Center
data
data
points
as
JSON
to
streamer
endpoint
and
then
reach
Network
subscribes
to
the
data
as
it
arrives
in
here.
They
analyze
the
data
in
real
time,
calibrate
the
models
verify
the
carbon
sequestration.
D
D
D
The
final
points
I'd
like
to
make
is
that
the
same
data
can
be
valuable
to
many
different
audiences
and
data
consumers.
In
this
case,
of
course,
the
region
network
is
the
prime
user,
but
this
value
in
the
data
doesn't
stop
there.
Apps
companies
can
subscribe
to
the
data
user
services,
such
as
day
to
day
file
management,
performance,
monitoring,
yield,
optimization
irrigation,
harvest
forecasting
and
so
forth.
D
You
can
even
think
if
there's
any
kind
of
financial
people
in
the
audience
for
other
uses
like
having
real-time
information
about
the
state
of
the
crop
weather
events,
which
can
be
immensely
valuable
for
commodity
traders
in
storage
companies,
with
a
thought.
Let
me
hand
back
over
to
Gregory
for
three.
To
recap:.
B
We
believe
that
what
we're
working
on
here
is
creating
a
marketplace
where
farmers
own
their
own
data
and
can
sell
it
at
a
premium
to
all
of
the
people
around
the
world
who
need
that
data
from
governments
working
on
climate
change,
initiatives
to
people
who
want
to
anchor
supply
chain
transparency
into
their
relationships
with
customers
to
commodities.
Traders
as
rista
was
speaking
about,
but
fundamentally
the
beauty
of
the
project
is,
as
those
tokens
are
used
to
access
this
data.
B
So
all
of
a
sudden
farmers
are
back
where
they
should
be,
which
is
at
the
center
of
the
economic
system,
as
the
people
who
are
providing
the
base
layer
of
wealth
for
everything
else
is
taking
place.
So
we're
really
excited
about
that.
We're
really
excited
to
be
moving
forward
with
new
pilots
in
very
challenging
conditions.
This
is
a
photo
of
a
farm
in
Ecuador
that
we're
about
to
be
starting.
B
Another
pilot
on
so
working
with
cacao,
farmers
to
measure
the
carbon
cycle
and
carbon
sequestration
dynamics
in
in
their
ecosystem
and
I
sort
of
just
want
to
leave
everyone
with
an
invitation,
because
you
know
what
I've
learned
here
at
DEFCON
3,
which
is
my
first
Devcon,
but
what
I
also
know
from
my
work
with
farmers
all
around
the
world?
It
is
all
about
collaboration
and
the
beauty
of
this
space
is
open,
source
collaborative
approach
to
big
engineering
problems
and
I
know
we
have
a
whole
stack
of
them.