Water, faith reflection and technology

Hi, I had the humbling experience of doing a value of water course at university of Cambridge interfaith department. It was amazing to be back after doing a 5 day interfaith couse lasy year in june. I arrived to be greeted by Lona, who is the course co opdinator as well as others doing the course. There was about 15 of us there, both researchers and a engineer, the course was led by a water expert.

The course involved three stages, nature, people and wildlife. As we walked from the university to the river cam, there was this quiet serenity i felt, a peace which in the busy streets on birmingham, with roaring cars is hard to find. The word peace in islam is assa alaikim, (peace to to you), its a Islam greeting, a sunnah of the prophet Muhummad (peace be upon him) that we say every time we greet a fellow Muslim, both male or female. Nature is calm and quiet, it make me think and reflect the wonderful feeling.

The Group stopped and learnt about the Willow tree, did you know that there is a male and female willow free, how interesting. The willow tree was 100s of yeards old and had a very thick trunk, whats interesting was there was a hollow hole in the trunk where birds where living, its amazing how trees work together with nature.

The Second task was to people and it was to draw something meaningful, i saw the dandilion plant and i drew it, i liked it beacuse as its pollen flyes away with me wind to benefit the soil and reguvernation of the soil, it reminds me of a hadith which says that a good deed is like a seed and each tree has 700 saplings which come out to multiply generously. I see my sharing like a seed and i hope and pray that is benefits people and inspires them to connect with nature.

The third task was nature, the wildlife was awesome, there where birds of every kind such as robins, blue tits, sparrows that i could hear and see. There are charities such as the RSBP where you can go and loan binoculars and go on group tours and see and learn about the birds better.

I spoke to other members as well walked back to the study room, where we each shared our reflections, it was good to hear from others from different faiths as well as a engineering student who felt that the intersectionality of his work and learning about the value of water is important as its inclusive and makes him think about the role he is doing.

Below are two real life examples in the UK where technology is been used to support nature connections.

Example 1

The GreenLens app is aimed at anyone with an interest in protecting and restoring forests, from governments and NGOs to landowners and environmental scientists. It was developed by researchers here in the Department of Computer Science and Technology.

The GreenLens app was originally intended for use by ecologists monitoring reforestation efforts in East Africa where high-end smartphones are unaffordable and access to the internet is patchy. (The app can function without the internet as all computing is local and all files are saved onto the device itself.) The aim was to help users gather data on reforestation so that they could assess their eligibility for carbon credits.

Example 2

Imagine strolling through Trinity College Dublin’s verdant campus and finding yourself in conversation with a 200-year-old London Plane tree. This is no fantasy, but the premise behind “The Talking Tree,” a groundbreaking project that harnesses environmental sensors and on‑device AI to translate a tree’s bioelectrical whispers into human speech.

The ability quickly and accurately to measure forest plots has become an important tool in efforts to combat the climate crisis. Restoring degraded or destroyed areas of forest is vital to addressing the twin challenges of storing carbon dioxide, as growing trees do, and combatting biodiversity loss.

And money from government for carbon credit schemes can be directed to reforestation schemes if they can be properly validated, for example by measuring and mapping the growth and state of replanted trees. But to date, many forest plots are still measured by field scientists or volunteers going into the woods and manually wrapping a tape measure around each tree’s trunk – a process that is time-consuming and not always completely accurate.

In conclusion, the course was raelly beneficial and it made me reflect and think of the holistic nature of everything. I do remember during my interfaith course last summer, how charities are using technology such as AI to support the work of conservation work as well as communications between people and nature.

websites and further readings https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/ai-gives-voice-to-200-year-old-tree-are-we-on-the-verge-of-speaking-with-nature/articleshow/120561433.cms?from=mdr