“Yes, hello, tropical tree 801 here. I hear a chainsaw, come and help me quickly before it’s too late! ” – A tree in danger that calls when it is about to be felled. It may sound like a script for a cartoon series, but nothing could be further from the truth. Even if a tree cannot speak, of course, the company does Connection to the rainforest I’ve found a way to let you know when a tree is about to be felled.
The company has designed a device that picks up the sound of a chainsaw. When this happens, the device sends a signal to a supervisor’s cell phone. The foreman can then see exactly where the tree in question that picked up the sound is. He can then go directly to the crime scene to stop illegal logging.
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How does it work?
Since the device runs on solar energy, the battery charges automatically when the sun shines. Once hung on the tree, it collects all the sounds it hears with a microphone. With the help of artificial intelligence, it can analyze what kind of sound it is: a robin roaring loudly or a roaring chainsaw. In the latter case, an alarm is sent. Supervisors find it helpful to be warned, because there are so many different sounds in a forest that it’s hard for them to spot a gun or chainsaw.
The “phones” are not just meant to protect trees from logging. As they collect all sounds, many special animal species can be heard on the tapes. If you download the Rainforest Connection app, you can listen to it. The start-up now has 559 devices in trees in 25 countries. From Canada to Italy and Indonesia. With all the telephone trees together, it controls over 391,300 acres.
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