Rain forest Connection could be saving the rain forest with old cell phones!

Rain forests have some of the most complicated soundscapes on the planet. In this dense noise of insects, primates, birds, and everything else that moves in the forest, how can you detect the sounds of illegal logging?

The old cell phone you have sitting in your desk drawer may have the answer.

How do you go about saving the rain forest with old cell phones?

After a visit to the rain forests of Borneo, physicist and engineer Topher White was struck by the sounds of the forest. In particular, the noises he couldn’t hear.

While on a walk, White and others came across an illegal logger sawing down a tree just a few hundred meters away from a ranger station.

This incident set White thinking that perhaps the best way to save the Earth’s precious rain forest is to listen to its loggers and poachers. The innovation he came up with, Rain forest Connection, uses old cell phones to help to save the planet in a big way.

Here is Topher White on the National Geographic Live stage. National Geographic is promoting some incredible things, so go check them out to see what they’ve been up to lately!