Topher travels to remote rainforests, vulnerable to illegal logging and deforestation, and sticks his cell-phone-solar-panel contraption up a tree
Here the devices are low-mounted on trees in order to enhance their visibility for the photo, but when properly installed, RFCx devices are placed high in the tree canopy where they are virtually invisible
Tinkering away, the 32-year-old physicist may have just stumbled across the answer to the climate change equation.
Topher is taking old mobile phones, and attaching bits of waste solar panels to them to create a sensor that detects illegal logging
For this "Inventor Story" we have featured an ‘impact tracker technology’ (ITT) to celebrate the ITT catalogue Kopernik has just launched. This catalogue is a new initiative funded by Rockefeller Foundation and Asia Community Ventures.
There’s something a bit interesting going on in Topher White’s San Franciscan backyard shed.
Tinkering away, the 32-year-old physicist may have just stumbled across the answer to the climate change equation.
Well, partially, at least.
Topher is taking old mobile phones, and attaching bits of waste solar panels to them. He then travels to remote rainforests, vulnerable to illegal logging and deforestation, and sticks his cell-phone-solar-panel contraption up a tree.
Powered by the recycled solar panel, the re-jigged cell-phone (or RFCx as it’s called until the new product is given a name) is able to pick up forest sounds in real-time, including illegal chainsaws.
“THESE REMOTE, RESOURCE-POOR PLACES MAY NOT HAVE RUNNING WATER, OR ROADS, OR THE MEDICAL FACILITIES THE FIRST WORLD IS USED TO,” TOPHER SAYS. “BUT THEY DO HAVE MOBILE COVERAGE, AND IF YOU THINK IMAGINATIVELY ABOUT HOW TO MAKE USE OF THE RESOURCES ALREADY THERE, YOU CAN GO A LONG WAY TOWARDS ACHIEVING YOUR GOALS.”
CATCHING THEM IN THE ACT
Up until now, it has been difficult to catch loggers in-the-act. Often no one even knows deforestation has taken place until it appears on a satellite service – and then, of course, it’s too late.
But when RFCx picks up the sound of a chainsaw, it transmits an alert to the cloud server, which in turn sends an SMS to the forest rangers who can hear logging taking place in real-time.
The idea for real-time awareness of logging came to Topher in 2011, when he was working as a volunteer for Kalaweit, an NGO that rehabilitated and released gibbons into the rainforest in Indonesia.
“THEY HAD A HUGE PROBLEM WITH ILLEGAL LOGGING,” TOPHER SAYS. “THEIR RESERVE WAS CONSTANTLY UNDER THREAT, AND THE AREA WHERE THEY COULD RELEASE THEIR GIBBONS WAS JUST GETTING LESS AND LESS.”
RANDOM FLECKS OF LIGHT BREAKING THROUGH THE CANOPY
Excited, Topher took his idea to stop illegal logging back to his physics lab in France. But his enthusiasm soon turned to exasperation as it dawned that keeping RFCx solar-powered under a canopy of trees was going to be somewhat of a problem.
“OUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE WAS HOW TO RUN A DEVICE IN A DAMP ENVIRONMENT, WHICH IS 90 PERCENT IN SHADOW,” HE SAYS. “LIGHT IS IN TENS OF THOUSANDS OF SHARDS OF DIRECT AND INDIRECT LIGHT, RANDOMLY BREAKING THROUGH THE TREE CANOPY.”
Undeterred, Topher experimented with solar panels until he came up with a flower-like structure, with the phone in the middle, and six solar panels sprouting as petals. Provided sun flecks touch at least three of the panels simultaneously, they can generate enough power to keep the phone, and a small microphone stick, running, allowing RCFx to pick up sounds.
Because RCFx is built entirely from recycled products, its cost is all in the assembly. Topher envisages he could keep the cost for each device to between $50 and $100.
The device was piloted in Borneo in June last year. By its second day, it had picked up a chainsaw’s roar. Rangers were able to arrive at the spot soon after, and stop the deforestation mid-rip.
But Topher is adamant RFCx is not designed to take punitive measures out on people, whose poverty has pushed them to illegality.
“IT’S NOT ABOUT PUNISHING LOGGERS,” HE SAYS. “IT’S MORE ABOUT TAKING AN OPPORTUNITY TO AVOID ARRESTS.”
According to Topher, the immediate risk of being caught is disincentive enough to discourage recurrent attempts.
To date, there has been no further illegal logging activity in the pilot area.
MAKING CLIMATE CHANGE SEXY
In November, Topher will be travelling to Cameroon, where 12 RFCx devices will be installed for the Zoological Society of London, and in January next year, he will be taking them to Brazil for a government-backed indigenous group.
But for Topher, RFCx isn’t only about putting a stop to illegal logging – it’s also about making campaigns against climate change sexy again.
“I’M PART OF A GENERATION THAT HAS GROWN UP KNOWING WE SHOULD BE DOING SOMETHING ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE, WE SHOULD BE SAVING THE RAINFOREST, BUT WE JUST DON’T KNOW HOW TO GO ABOUT IT,” HE SAYS. “AND IT’S BECOME A VERY TIRED SUBJECT, BECAUSE THERE’S A FEELING OF HELPLESSNESS.”
But, as Topher says, while using low-energy light bulbs, and installing smart thermostats help to stall climate change, it is deforestation that is among the most damaging man-made causes.
And the way Topher is spreading the word about rainforests is through RFCx itself. He has developed an app that will pick up the stream of rainforest sounds coming through the RFCx, so people can hear life going on under the canopy.
“AND ALL OF A SUDDEN, THE FOREST IS NO LONGER THIS IMAGINARY THING,” TOPHER SAYS. “IT’S SOMETHING REAL AND PEOPLE CAN APPRECIATE THE RAINFOREST AS NOT JUST SOMETHING THAT WE SHOULD ALL FEEL GUILTY ABOUT – IT’S SOMETHING THAT WE ALL CAN ENJOY, AND THAT’S REALLY EXCITING.”
But according to Topher, the app opens up all sorts of possibilities for RFCx.
For example, he envisages it monetising the system to the point where loggers and poachers – who are often poverty-stricken villagers – can be employed to maintain RFCx devices.
But that’s well into the future. For now, Topher is flat-chat just trying to keep up with RFCx’s success.
When Topher set up the kickstarter campaign, Rainforest Connection, he was asking for US$100,000. By the end of July this year, he ended up with US$167,299, from almost 3000 backers.
“YEAH, WE’VE HAD SUCCESS,” HE SAYS. “BUT THIS WAS LARGELY DONE BY PARTNERSHIPS AND VOLUNTEERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD.”
Rainforest Connection is currently planning to hire two more software developers. And while the solar panels are manufactured in the Philippines, according to Topher, assembling of the RFCx device itself will continue in his back shed.
“IT JUST FITS SO WELL WITH THE DECENTRALISED NATURE OF WHAT WE ARE TRYING TO DO,” HE SAYS.
KOPERNIK’S ITT CATALOGUE
RFCx is featured in the ‘remote sensor’ category of our impact tracker technologies (ITT) catalogue. Read our write-up of RFCx here. Check our ITT site for more information about the catalogue and free webinars. Since RFCx is so new, a URL for the app has not yet been developed.
