Technology's Role in Curbing Environmental Degradation

I don't think that technology alone will save us. In environmental terms, saving "us" means allowing humans to coexist with nature at some level that doesn't lead to the complete destruction of one or the other. We certainly cannot exist without the environment. Technology can be very helpful, since it can maximize our efficient use of resources, expand production capacity and limit pollution in certain ways. However, the obsession with consumption (the root of the problem, in my opinion), is actually perpetuated. It's like we've mentioned in class - a person can recycle all the time, but he/she is still ultimately adding to the pile of waste created by human excesses. Therefore, I see pollution as compensating for human kind's propensity towards ever-increasing consumption, but on the other hand providing a rationalization, or a metaphorical "crutch," to use when exploiting the environment.

The case of stratospheric ozone depletion and how it was handled by the international community was, and still is, unprecedented. Technology certainly played a role, since the development of alternatives to CFCs and ODCs was logistically essential in phasing out these harmful chemicals. However, most surprisingly, the Northern countries gave up some decision making power to the Southern nations, since the former realized that they couldn't affect meaningful change without help from the latter. Also, the North was in the unique position of more acutely feeling the adverse effects of ozone depletion, whereas the South, with 75% of the world's population at the time, hadn't started to fully utilize these chemicals nor benefit from their short-term economic advantages. Therefore, the South was able to play a major role in guiding the direction of the conventions, and the result was a very successful, global effort at phasing out these emissions. In this case, compromises were as important as, if not slighly more important than, technology when it came to tackling this international problem.

After assessing all of these arguments and examples, I believe that, for the time being, both technological advances and conservation techniques should be advanced, although the conservationist attitude will have to be more fully espoused to address the root causes of environmental degradation.