Technology and Environmentalism

In our conversations about how to live harmoniously with the environment technology change is a parameter we can bet on, but not rely upon  The importance of technology change to the environmental movement differs depending on whether you're speaking to a cornucopian optimist or a more dour environmental pessimist.  Over the course of human history, technology change has been the engine to secure unimagined comforts and conveniences; it has increased the length of our lives by protecting us from disease, and made the time we spend on earth richer by connecting us with loved ones.  It is no surprise now then that many environmentalists go boldly forward under the assumption that technology change will also be able to protect us - and our descendants - from ecological collapse.

There is danger, however, in guessing incorrectly the pace of technology change.  Certainly we can say the rate of environmentally friendly technology change will be greater than zero.  Already there are many enterprising, inventive organizations and individuals who have developed ways to harvest energy, produce food, and transport people in less environmentally degrading ways.  Technology change is only one of many factors though, and relying on the rate of tech change to make up for the deplorably slow pace of governmental, social, and cultural change would be folly. 

The effect of technology change is not directly related to the development of new technologies alone.  People do not install solar panels on their roof simply because the technology to do so exists, nor will more people use electric buses because in some lab a scientist has developed a more efficient super-capacitor.  The incorporation of technology change into the way we live our lives is dependent on what government facilitates, and what culture demands.  As Assidourian and Bateson argue in the readings this week, consumer culture has driven production and consumption to levels that would have defied the imaginations of our forebears.  In order for technology change to create a more ecologically sustainable society, we need to construct a new paradigm where such technology is demanded as much as the newest iPhone. 

Technology is unique in the environmental conversation because it comes with a time-tested caveat: technology is a double-eged sword.  While it has been the engine of our success as a species, it has also allowed us to live in ways more disconnected from nature and each other, and by it we have created dangers to threaten the entire human race.  It is inescapably ironic, for example, that the same technology that created the first weapons of mass destruction now fuel our agricultural system.  Technology requires ethical consideration, and green tech is no exception.  Like all technologies, green technology has the potential to aggravate existing social and economic social inequalities.  Some technologies, as described in the "State of the World, 2010", require heavy energy investment at the beginning and only become green in the long run. 

Therefore, it is necessary to consider the implications of the technologies we adopt in our efforts to become less environmentally damaging; it is the creation of durable, reusable, and equality reinforcing technologies that will fuel an ecologically sustainable future.  However, we should always be careful not to invest all our hopes in one panacea.  Technology change is a powerful tool in our arsenal, but it cannot be our only tool - democratic governance, social cohesion, and cultural change are all equally necessary to secure a more prosperous and verdant future.