Neil Young Uses Kickstarter To Save The Rainforest, Teams Up With ‘Rainforest Connection’

It looks as if Neil Young is really digging the whole Kickstarter craze, because just a few months after the "Heart of Gold" singer completely funded his Pono Music campaign via the global crowdfunding platform, he's back at it with hopes to save the rainforest, as Rolling Stone reports.

Teaming with the likes of Rainforest Connection, Young calls the technology behind the company a "connection between the rainforest and you," adding, "This technology enables the forest to talk to the world. When the forest is threatened, the forest can speak and you can hear it."

The concept of Rainforest Connection is rather simple, yet strikingly brilliant. The company retrofits old cellphones with solar energy and securely places them high up in the trees around the forest. When the sound of either chainsaws, animals or gunshots enter the vicinity – causing potential harm to the trees – authorities are notified immediately. Thus, the attempt to stop the problem of deforestation becomes a "mobile," and immediate, issue.

As their page puts it, "Current detection systems rely on satellites which show rainforest destruction days or weeks too late. Our system provides the world's first real-time logging/poaching detection system. We can pinpoint deforestation activity the moment it begins, while simultaneously streaming the data openly and immediately to anyone around the world."

Young, who has been known as both a music legend and an activist for quite some time, recently sent out a letter to all of his Pono supporters asking for their contributions.

Of his involvement, Rainforest Connection's physicist and engineer, Topher White, recently said, "Neil's involvement makes perfect sense. Throughout his life, he has always been a passionate crusader for indigenous rights, and in recent years, has worked tirelessly in combating climate change. These are both issues that we directly address with the Rainforest Connection technology."

Tags

Neil Young, Kickstarter, PONO