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Time for another roundup of our latest ‘Tech For Good Talk!’ The topic we covered this month was a huge one, ‘How Can Technology Save Our Planet?’ And for this event, we decided to host an IRL shindig in sunny central London! We know a fair bit about utilising technology to save the planet, as it is at the heart of 3 Sided Cube, but we have also worked with some amazing organisations to help change the world for the better.
At this point in our collective concern over the growing climate crisis, we know what needs to be done but it’s an entirely different matter on how to make that necessary change happen. We truly believe that the future of our planet can be greatly impacted by creating thoughtful technology that inspires change.
The event was a great starting point to focus on the opportunities that technology poses in helping save the planet and how organisations across a large range of sectors and industries can utilise it effectively to achieve this necessary goal. Within our panel, led by brand and technology experts, we explored how a variety of technological approaches could support a more sustainable society.
But first, we offset!
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Offsetting Our Event
Early on in the initial planning process of this event, it was important to us that our gathering didn’t tread on the planet. So we partnered with Footprint because sustainability should be at the core of every event. Around 85% of waste produced at events ends up in landfills. Which is why we said not today, Satan when it came to ordering all the lanyards and swag that normally come with putting on an event.
This is why as organisations we have a duty to change the way we operate. We swapped out freebies for more sustainable options, printed promotional material on biodegradable paper and gave attendees seed paper to plant flowers at home. There are so many more green options out in the world that we should be utilising to help reduce waste and combat the climate crisis.
We took a “no more shit promise” and vowed our gathering would not do the earth dirty!
And with a solution like Footprint, we were able to keep our word. They allowed us to bring a whole new dimension to our in-real life events. We offered our attendees the option to off-set their travel, allowing them the opportunity to decrease their carbon footprint, support an endangered rainforest project all while attending our event and networking with like-minded individuals.
With the offsetting and delicious vegan breakfast behind us, we were ready to kick-off the panel discussion, and CEO Richard Strachan, was just the man for the job!
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A Reminder of the Incredible Panel
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Matching his career with his values, Joe is passionate about animal rights, climate change, and equality. He specialises in digital product management and data-driven digital fundraising across a wide range of marketing channels.
Anne-Charlotte Mornington | OLIO
Anne-Charlotte has been passionate about reducing food waste since her university days where she wrote her dissertation on food surplus redistribution. Her ambition is to make the food industry better fuels her determination to grow OLIO.
Vinicius is a Communications Officer at UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), the United Nations’ main body for ocean science and science-based policy advice. As Communications Officer his mission is to raise the visibility of IOC’s work toward achieving its overall organizational objectives, and to demonstrate the impact of our work to end-user beneficiaries.
What Was Discussed?
Technology must be used to bring the urgency of the environmental crisis to the forefront of awareness for the public, to gain the widespread behavioural and economic changes which are desperately needed to combat this crisis. As Anne-Charlotte Mornington from OLIO succinctly put it, “Innovation is just what we need to move away from the status quo.”
Vinicius Lindoso from UNESCO, pushed it a bit further and said, “We need to re-think the intention of tech, we need to build tech that is less agnostic!”
Businesses must change their view and narratives surrounding the use of green tech and green transitions, to view doing so as an opportunity for continued growth, rather than a sacrifice that they must make. In the long run, green transitions are the only way forward, but getting their will take more costs and process. Joe Trigg, from WWF elaborated on this point more by stating, “attitude shift is the most important influence on the future of technology, everything will follow on from that.”
Green Technology and its use in combatting the climate crisis plays a deeper and more widespread role than you might think. For example, ‘secondary’ technologies such as data gathering and monitoring methods are needed to identify areas of critical environmental weakness, be that within business operations or ecological systems, so that traditional green technological transitions such as switching to green energy can be utilised.
In other words, green tech not only helps solve, but is critical to identifying the complex problems that we face!
Our experience building tech that saves the planet
World Resources Institute
With the reduction of deforestation high on many agendas, 3 Sided Cube partnered with The World Resources Institute to build an app and web platform that connects funding from serious investors to people growing trees and restoring land.
AN APP TO FACILITATE TREE RESTORATION ACROSS THE WORLD
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) approached 3 Sided Cube with the goal to bring people together, to co-design and co-deliver knowledge for protecting and better managing the ocean.
A PLATFORM TO HELP US GET THE SCIENCE WE NEED FOR THE OCEAN WE WANT
"Technology is a huge disrupter, but the ethical implementation of it is the most important bit going forwards" Richard Strachan, CEO, 3 Sided Cube
And that concludes another ‘Tech for Good Talk’! We love having these conversations and engaging with businesses, charities and individuals to help change the world. We truly believe that tech is limitless in it’s potential to impact the global challenges we face. If you have any suggestions or want to get involved in a future talk, give us a holla!
If you missed us on the day, we hope this round-up has been useful! Be sure to sign-up for our next live event, tickets are free and available online!
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Published on 19 July 2022, last updated on 19 July 2022
