The Role of Tech in Environmental Disasters

On Friday, February 3, a Northfolk Southern train carrying volatile chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, causing an environmental disaster. Toxic chemicals were released into the air, water, and ground, killing over 3,000 fish and endangering residents. This environmental disaster is plagued with a number of unknowns and misinformation.

The Unknowns

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is testing the air and water quality around the clock. Still, it has yet to determine the exact number of chemicals released into the atmosphere and waterways. Murray McBride, Soil and Crop Scientist at Cornell University, said, "It is unclear how much of this volatile chemical escaped into the air or burned before entering surface waters and soil, but vinyl chloride is highly mobile in soils and water and can persist for years in groundwater." 

This is not the only unknown East Palestine is facing. The EPA's technology can only go so far when measuring air quality; unfortunately, their tech can't pick up certain levels of some chemicals. This has left residents wondering if it is truly safe to reside in their community. Some residents have taken it upon themselves to do at-home testing of drinking water and hire outside specialists for a second opinion. 

Evolving Tech to Save the Environment

So where does the tech industry come in? In recent years, tech startups have been popping up all over the world to decrease our carbon footprint, mitigate climate change, and implement innovative ways to prevent environmental disasters. For example, in Flint, Michigan, technologists are using an AI tool that can predict which pipes contain lead, saving residents time and allowing officials to get clean drinking water to those individuals. Technologist, Albert Camacho, designed a system called Drone River, which gathers information from social networks to detect problems in waterways, deploys a drone to take pictures and water samples, to detect water quality concerns before they become a large-scale disaster. Xiaoyuan Ren, a technologist from China, founded her software company MyH20 which is an app that shows residents in rural China where to find safe and clean drinking water. 

How to Help

It’s easy to feel powerless in these situations but there is always something that can be done, no matter how small. Unfortunately, East Palestine, Ohio has not received the media attention that other environmental disasters have in the past. 

• Raise awareness and show your support by sharing resources and articles highlighting the disaster like East Palestine Justice and EPA updates.

• Explore the possibilities of environmental technology. 

• Host an environmental tech hackathon to create a new piece of tech to solve an environmental problem. 

If you are a technologist working on environmental tech, we would love to hear from you! Submit a blog or apply to be on the WWCode podcast.