Date:
12 August 2021
Author:
Kristen Pol

We thrive on nature. A restorative walk in the woods. Watching a beautiful sunset. Swimming in a pristine lake. Nature is a balm for the soul that cannot be replaced.

We need nature, and nature desperately needs our help. Humans must find creative and effective ways to repair and restore our environment for future generations. Fortunately, open source is having an important impact on environmental conservation with many talented people contributing to this goal.

Open source isn’t just about code. The open source philosophy has ignited the flame of openness... open data, open APIs, open government, open AI, open science, “open everything”.

At Salsa, we are striving to make governments more connected, more consolidated and - you guessed it - more open. We look to other open communities for knowledge, guidance and camaraderie. We aim to be open together.

Let's take a look at some important environmental issues that are being tackled with the help of some inspiring open source projects.

How is open source helping tackle pollution?

Pollution occurs in the air, water and land. We’ve all seen the impacts of pollution whether it’s needing to wear a mask outdoors due to smoke, finding plastic bottles in our backyard creek, or seeing piles of discarded waste at our local dump.

Let’s explore some ways open source is trying to tackle air, water and land pollution around the world.

Air pollution is the 4th largest risk factor to human health on the planet

“Air pollution is the 4th largest risk factor to human health on the planet. According to the World Health Organization, more than 90% of the world breathes unhealthy air, and air pollution disproportionately affects those in developing countries.”

OpenAQExternal Link

OpenAQExternal Link , short for “Open Air Quality”, is an international non-profit focused on giving tools to communities around the world so they can share their air quality data, collaborate and ultimately improve the air they breathe. Their mission is to address the unequal access to clean air.

OpenAQ is entirely open source and the first of its kind. It’s an air quality platform that aggregates both historical and real-time high-quality government and local data. They work with communities globally to use these data to overcome inequalities in air quality that disproportionately affect developing countries.

The organisation not only fosters an online community for collaboration, it also hosts workshops throughout the world to connect local organisations and help them learn the open source air quality tools. They enable local communities to fight air inequality by providing access to invaluable open air quality data.

OpenAQ develops several OpenAQ PlatformExternal Link open source software libraries on GitHub for collecting, manipulating and analysing air quality data. This allows local organisations to use software tools as-is or to modify the code to best fit their needs. The software platform also provides an open API for accessing the global air quality data.

In 2021, OpenAQ announced the launch of a low-cost sensor pilot programExternal Link . The goal for this program is to lower the barrier to collecting high-quality data so communities can gather their own data rather than relying on government agencies. Low cost sensors have enabled local governments, scientists and community activists to gather and share air quality knowledge.

It is clear that OpenAQ is passionate about fighting air inequality with open source and open data. We thank their organisation for devoting their efforts to such a worthy cause. If you are interested in open data and open source, you can try out their software tools and contribute back to the platform.

Here are a few additional open source projects focused on air pollution:

A passionate open source developer takes on water pollution

The beauty of open source, open data, “open everything” is that anyone can do it. For OpenAQ, we learned about a nonprofit organisation that is making a difference in the world. Now let’s turn to a project developed by an inspiring individual.

I stumbled upon Andrei FlorianExternal Link , a young student in Dublin, Ireland, and was immediately impressed by the rigorous project he wrote about for circuit cellarExternal Link last year: Multi-Sensor Device Measures Water PollutionExternal Link .

This was Andrei’s third iteration of his UnifiedWater project. Similar to OpenAQ’s focus on air quality data, Andrei application focuses on easily monitoring water quality using sensors and aggregating the data in a central database. Visualisation tools can then be used to understand the water data and gain insights for ensuring clean water.

The hardware and the software for UnifiedWater is created with open source technology and has the potential to be much less costly. Higher affordability better enables local governments, communities and citizens to collect water quality data and share them globally. Real-time collection and easy analysis allows for faster action when water pollution is detected.

For his third iteration of UnifiedWater, Andrei rewrote the software from scratch using the knowledge gained from previous iterations. One area he improved upon was to increase the battery life of the device by two months by letting the system go to sleep, which makes it more viable for longer term monitoring in remote areas. To extend the battery life even further, Andrei added a solar panel to ultimately allow the device to last four to five months between charging.

Andrei's work is a great example of how much one person using the open source model can make a difference, especially if it's adopted by others in the community.

Here are a few additional open source projects focused on water quality:

Open data enable citizen scientists to identify land pollution

OpenAQ is a nonprofit focused on building an open air quality data platform and Andrei Florian is a student who creates open source devices for monitoring water quality. Now let’s turn our attention to the land, or at least where the land and water mix, the Niger Delta.

The Niger Delta comprises about 7.5% of Nigeria’s land mass, more than 70k square kilometres, and sustains more than 30 million Nigerians including at least 40 ethnic groups. It is a rich and vibrant area that has become one of the biggest petroleum producers in West Africa. But, as is often the case, with oil, comes pollution.

“The delta is a petroleum-rich region and has been the center of international concern over pollution that has resulted principally from major oil spills of multinational corporations of the petroleum industry.” - Wikipedia.orgExternal Link

In my exploration of open source projects committed to the environment, I was fortunate to find a fascinating group, Unique Mappers Team (UMT Network) of NigeriaExternal Link , that is focused on pollution in the Niger Delta. UMT Network is a Nigerian nonprofit with a humanitarian mission that leverages open mapping and open geospatial data. UMT Network uses a number of existing open data and tools within its local communities including OpenStreetMapExternal Link , GeoForAll LabsExternal Link , and Flying LabExternal Link .

In April 2022, for global Citizen Science month, UMT Network joined forces with Healthy GulfExternal Link and CartoscopeExternal Link to create the Land Pollution Lookout projectExternal Link . This project is a global effort to assess oil spill damage from over 300 oil spills in protected areas of the Niger Delta.

This online environmental initiative recruited everyday people as global citizen scientists to identify spills by reviewing and classifying satellite imagery. The project provided webinars for training these volunteers how to use the open data and mapping tools. They encouraged individuals and teams to participate from around the world.

The Land Pollution Lookout project is a wonderful example of a crowdsourced environmental initiative that any global citizen can participate in. Using open source and open data, anyone can help identify pollution in the Niger Delta to start the process of cleaning up the land.

Huge thanks for the efforts of the global community and to the Unique Mappers TeamExternal Link in particular for making this positive impact on the environment.

Here are a few additional open source projects focused on land pollution:

Geoscience Australia is tackling pollution with open data and open source tools

We’ve seen some outstanding examples of nonprofits, individuals and collaborative teams who are taking on pollution through open data and open source tools. Salsa is fortunate to work with government agencies who are pioneers in this space.

Geoscience AustraliaExternal Link (GA) is Australia’s leading public sector organisation focused on geoscience and the geography of Australia. GA’s mission is to use science and technology to document, analyse and understand the Earth for the benefit of all Australians.

One of GA’s priority projects is Digital Earth AustraliaExternal Link (DEA), a program to create free and open Earth satellite data products. DEA has a number of open data and open source productsExternal Link for visualising and analysing Australia’s air, land and water. Salsa is helping DEA promote and evangelise its products by partnering with them to build their new modern website platformExternal Link .

Open Data CubeExternal Link is an open source product supported by Digital Earth Australia through code contributions and other resources. In 2019 and 2020, Open Data Cube was used for understanding the effects of the devastating Australian bushfiresExternal Link including the resulting air pollution. DEA and its contributions to The Open Data Cube initiative highlights the power of open data and open source for realising the potential of remote satellite imagery.

By collaborating with Geoscience Australia, Salsa takes great pride in helping make open data and open source tools more accessible to governments, organisations and everyday citizens who are making a positive impact on the environment. It is our hope we are helping pave the way for a more sustainable Australian environment.

Here are a few additional Salsa client open data and tools focused the environment:

Share your open source environmental success stories

I hope you are inspired by what we can do together with the power of openness. I certainly am! We’d love to hear your stories and examples of open projects that are making a difference for the environment and society.