Week 5 Question

I believe that technology started to be viewed as a bad thing when environmentalists began to look back at the catastrophic effects that the industrial revolution had on the environment. The industrial revolution can be seen as the beginning of what we know of today as technology. At this point in history the focus was on the efficiency of production through the speed and cost-effectiveness of the machinery invented. The world which we, in the industrial and developed countries, know today has been drastically affected by the industrial revolution. Our mindset is no longer one of survival but of production and consumption and always staying one step ahead of our neighbors. We continuously want more and more things and through life experience we expect these things to be invented and sent to our door rapidly. We are consequently more concerned with "keeping up with the Joneses" than what effects these fast-paced and technology-driven lifestyles are having on the environment.


The world we see and have grown up with is one based on production and consumption where those who think at the fast-paced rate of technology are the ones who prosper and are therefore the ones we look up to. Because of this it only makes sense that when we are confronted with a problem, whether it be environmental or economical or anything else, we choose to deal with that problem in the best way we know how; through the modern use of technology. We have seen technological achievements that people could never have imagined and therefore with reference to technology, anything seems possible. Technology never holds people back, it only brings people forward and that is where the optimistic view that it can save us comes from. It is easier for people to put money into something that has continuously surprised them than to try and go back to a time that they don't remember and a time in which technology had no part.

Even "green technology" is still technology and therefore requires energy input that continues to hurt our environment. The nano car that is supposedly being introduced to China is an example of green technology yet if it becomes the success that it is aimed to become, it will have catastrophic effects on the earth. The problem with technology is that even green technology has an initial purpose that is more important than that of saving the environment. In order for people and governments to put money into technology they must see potential economic gains so using technology as a tool for saving the environment does not seem hopeful. On the other hand, it may be our only hope. Like I wrote earlier, people are going to be a lot more willing to put money into technology than to actively change their lifestyles to become more eco-friendly. As was stressed in the Anand article on ozone depletion, the most powerful nations must feel vulnerable in order to make changes that are going to be great enough to reduce impact. If the industrialized nations of the world can get to the point where they feel vulnerable enough for a real change, then they may be able to use technology to help this change but they must use it in a way that makes the environment the main priority and not something else like the economy or world power. Only time will tell what technology will do to either help or further harm the environment.