DQ 4

I become a little more worried each time I hear talk of how technology is the answer to the environmental situation. Maybe it’s because I’m terrible with modern technology, (as evidenced by the fact that it’s taken me a month to figure out how to become an author of the blog) but I think at best, the “solution” is really just a band-aid. Innovations will certainly increase efficiency and perhaps turn the process into more of a graceful decline than a death spiral, but it won’t truly fix anything. I think many people like to think that technology could be a solution because it’s like a security blanket; it helps us to sleep at night not feeling bad that the air conditioner is on or that we forgot to turn the lights off. In short, relying on modern science doesn’t force us to accept a major lifestyle change, which, let’s face it, would be an extreme affront to mainstream American society.
On that note, one really interesting juxtaposition I’ve noticed this fall is our IEP class contrasted with an International Communications class I’m taking. The IC class is more specifically about means of communication (which I didn’t realize before signing up). To put things into context, several of our readings have been about the history/evolution of the telegraph up to the personal computer. My professor is basically a technology genius and he completely supports the theory that technology can save us all. Just this past week, he made a comment about how we must get technology to developing countries in order for the planet to be able to support a population of almost 7 billion people. I suppose that one could agree with this statement or shake their head in disbelief depending on their approach. However, as we’ve discussed in class, I think that increased technology means the potential for increased overuse of resources. It is my opinion that any gain we make by more efficient technology will most likely be countered by more depletion due to conventional wisdom that technology is our answer.