As my colleagues on this blog have all mentioned, technology has developed rapidly over the past few decades. Even looking back to the 1990s when most people did not have computers or access to internet in their homes, now a sizable amount of the population has access to the world wide web on their portable cell phones. We really cannot even fathom where technology will go in the next five years, let alone the next fifty. Technology in reference to the destruction of the environment has two different parts to play.
The first part is how the development of technology contributes to environmental degradation. Since technology develops at such a rapid rate, the Western world has face a phenomenon of technology we bought, but a few years ago, becoming irrelevant and outdated. For example, the development of cell phone technology tends to lead folks to buy a new phone every two years in the United States. This is usually encouraged by cell phone contracts lasting only two years, and also by the fact that most cell phones fall apart or stop working somewhere around the two year mark. That means that any one person who gets their first cell phone at age 20 (thought many get one before that age) and if they continuously have a cell phone until they turn 70, they will go through 25 cell phones in a life time. This is assuming that no phones get stolen, broken, or water damage during one's life time. Twenty-five cell phone is a lot of waste, but also involved a lot of production. A lot of energy goes into the creation of technology, which is then used and abused by the public.
The second part of how technology is involved in environmental issues is that since it is developing so quickly, technology could help us save the planet, or at least make it possible for people to keep living on it. It really depends on your goal of if you want the planet Earth to survive, or if you only care about people living on, but regardless technology's speedy evolution could actually solve the mess that human race has gotten every species on this planet in to.
There is no real way to know which way technology will contribute most effectively with. Perhaps a combined effort of reducing the common person's consumption whilst pouring time, money, and energy into technological development for saving the environment will be a successful tactic. Or perhaps more and more people will get sucked in to the newest iPhone craze and we are all doomed. Who knows? The one thing that is certain is technology has and will continue to impact our future.
The first part is how the development of technology contributes to environmental degradation. Since technology develops at such a rapid rate, the Western world has face a phenomenon of technology we bought, but a few years ago, becoming irrelevant and outdated. For example, the development of cell phone technology tends to lead folks to buy a new phone every two years in the United States. This is usually encouraged by cell phone contracts lasting only two years, and also by the fact that most cell phones fall apart or stop working somewhere around the two year mark. That means that any one person who gets their first cell phone at age 20 (thought many get one before that age) and if they continuously have a cell phone until they turn 70, they will go through 25 cell phones in a life time. This is assuming that no phones get stolen, broken, or water damage during one's life time. Twenty-five cell phone is a lot of waste, but also involved a lot of production. A lot of energy goes into the creation of technology, which is then used and abused by the public.
The second part of how technology is involved in environmental issues is that since it is developing so quickly, technology could help us save the planet, or at least make it possible for people to keep living on it. It really depends on your goal of if you want the planet Earth to survive, or if you only care about people living on, but regardless technology's speedy evolution could actually solve the mess that human race has gotten every species on this planet in to.
There is no real way to know which way technology will contribute most effectively with. Perhaps a combined effort of reducing the common person's consumption whilst pouring time, money, and energy into technological development for saving the environment will be a successful tactic. Or perhaps more and more people will get sucked in to the newest iPhone craze and we are all doomed. Who knows? The one thing that is certain is technology has and will continue to impact our future.
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