Coding for the Environment
- Meera Naveen
- Jun 30
- 2 min read
Lately I started my journey on Python using an online course, one of the reasons being that it seemed to be one of the most popular, on-demand programming languages out there and that experience in it might help in gaining career opportunities and enhancing any apps or sites.
Yet I still wasn't sure of any specific reason why it would help me (since I'm not into coding that much to be honest), and so thought to just look up if it had any connection with my passion for the environment.
And, lo and behold, it does!
In this post I will briefly go over the benefits coding poses for the environment, since I believe that people of all backgrounds and interests should be able to contribute to a cleaner world.
Coding meeting and message platforms means less paper and less travel to get things done in the workplace or for school purposes.
Coding has created social media platforms where people can share eco-campaigns like the Trash Isles by LADBible and the #TeamSeas project by YouTubers MrBeast and Mark Rober.
People have used coding to develop apps for countries to monitor emissions and water supplies, personal emission trackers and search browsers like Ecosia that show real-time stats of the work they're doing.
Coding has also enabled satellite data collection and geographic/weather mapping to predict and prevent natural disasters especially in vulnerable areas and habitats filled with wildlife.
At the same time, we can acknowledge that coding and AI data centers can use up a lot of energy. To combat this, there is a practice called green coding.
Some habits within this approach include utilizing more energy-efficient tech, optimization, showing better, more compelling stats of our usage, using cleaner sources of energy and making sustainability a priority in IT companies. These are ways not only to help the environment but even attract more employees.
All in all, although coding and tech seem to be the polar opposite of nature, if they're taken advantage of in the right way, they can easily go hand in hand.
Works Cited:
Image from Wix
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