Our activities are negatively impacting the Earth and, according to a recent study, one of the many resources on the planet is being greatly affected by increasing human populations and consumption rates. Worse yet: urbanization, industrialization, and modern agricultural practices are polluting the environment and depleting precious natural resources at alarming rates. Blockchain technology in addition to transparency, guarantees traceability that facilitate the quick and easy origin of the articles.
Climate change is another factor. The Earth is projected to be around 2 ° C warmer by 2050 and the world's ice sheets are already melting at much higher times than in the last century, contributing to sea level rise. At the same time, the planet is losing much of its biodiversity, which scientists say will cause "unforeseen and unpredictable" consequences for life on Earth.
With all of this in mind, global sustainability initiatives are more urgent now than ever. Fortunately, we can turn to advanced technological tools to address the most pressing concerns. One technology that has an emerging role in sustainability is blockchain.
Blockchain is best known as the underlying technology behind digital currencies like bitcoin, but it has applications far beyond that. Tech writer Daniel Ling likens blockchain to a digital ledger where nodes view, manage, and record transactions. These digital records create virtual blocks (hence the name blockchain) that remain intact despite the failure of one or two nodes.
If that sounds too technical, consider how PulseLocal Digital VP Paul Dughi describes blockchain using the spreadsheet analogy: Think of a duplicate spreadsheet on a network of multiple computers. The information is then entered into the individual cells of these worksheets.
Blockchain technology offers an information recording system in a way that makes it very difficult or almost impossible to tamper with or hack.
This is because the records of each new transaction must be added to each of the ledgers (actually hundreds or even thousands) before the transaction is verified and recorded.