Technology and the Environment

Technologyand the Environment Chapter 15

The Nature of Technology • Langdon Winner and defining technology • Three dimensions to technology: • 1. Technological tools or apparatuses - the physical devices of technical performance • Machines • Gadgets • 2.Technical skills - all activities or behaviors that employ a rational method of doing things

The Nature of Technology • Langdon Winner and defining technology • Three dimensions to technology: • 3. Organizational networks associated with activities and apparatus • Technological change refers to changes in any of the three areas: • Apparatus • Activities • Organization

Technological Dualism • Technological dualism refers to the fact that technological change often has both positive and negative impacts on people and society

Technology and Global Inequality • Technologies and the gap between the haves and have-nots • United Nations report and the: • Global Computing gap between rich and poor nations • Communications gap between rich and poor nations • On a global basis, only 18 percent of possible users currently have Internet access

The Digital Divide • The digital divide is the gap between those with access to computers and the Internet and those without • Poor families in the United States are less likely to be active on the Internet • Access to computers and the Internet at schools has decreased the gap

Controlling Technology • Some critics of technology are convinced that it has become an autonomous force in society • Autonomous technology: Winner and others have pointed out that technology has enmeshed us in a complex web of dependency • Most sociologists do not see technology as autonomous: They argue that we have been drawn into the momentum of technological change, but are not sure where it is taking us

Automation • Automation - the replacement of human workers with machines • Automation results in an increase in productivity in the economy with a decline in the number of workers to generate products • Automation has resulted in a loss in manufacturing jobs

Whistle-Blowers • Whistle-blowers are employees who call attention to the abuses of new technological systems • Whistle-blowers often run the risk of negative sanctions from their place of employment • Loss of job

Identity Theft - A Global Crime Wavein Cyberspace • Identity theft refers to the illegal possession of another person’s private account numbers and the use of those numbers for fraudulent purposes • Much of the effort to develop ways of fighting identity theft focuses on increasing security for critical databases in government and the corporate sector

Bureaucracy and Morality • Bureaucratic organizations, by the nature of the system of organization, may produce unintended negative results • Hierarchical authority structure • Division of labor and narrowly defined roles • Orientation to accomplishing specific goals • Workers in organizations may not feel personally responsible for their actions

Bureaucracy and Morality • Stanley Milgram’s study of obedience to authority and overcoming moral obligations • Should people be taught that disobedience to authority under some conditions is necessary?

Technology and Institutions • Technology has two major relationships to social institutions • The adaptation of social institutions to changing technology • The adaptation of technology to changing institutions • William Ogburn and cultural lag • Cultural lag happens when two parts of a culture change at uneven rates • Fusion research is still in its early stages

Technology and Institutions • Transhumanism • Transhumanism is the very small but growing social movement that advocates the ethnical use of technologies to enhance human capabilities • Transhumanists are fascinated by the idea of the cyborg: a creature that is part human and part technological systems

Technologyand the Natural Environment • There has been an increasing concern about the impact that technology has on the environment • Speed of change in human civilization has been occurring faster than changes in the natural cycle of the environment • Technology has accelerated the process of change

Technologyand the Natural Environment • Two major factors have led to an increase in pollution and the depletion of natural resources • 1.Accelerated technological and scientific change • 2.Rapid population growth

Environmental Stress • Environmental stress refers to what society does to the environment • Environmental stress results from the relationship between three systems • 1. The natural environment which is the interrelationship between air, minerals and the like • 2. Technological system which includes farming, transportation and productive facilities • 3. Social system which consists of our attitudes, values, beliefs and social institutions

Origins of the Problem • Environmental pollution refers to agents added to the environment by society in quantities that are potentially dangerous to the ecosystem and human welfare • Four concepts are related to the understanding of the problem of environmental stress • 1. Interdependence – interrelatedness of everything

Origins of the Problem • Four concepts are related to the understanding of the problem of environmental stress • 2. Diversity - existence of different life and life support forms - the greater the diversity, the healthier the environment • 3. Limits - three limits • Limit to the growth of an organism • Limit to population size as it relates to the carrying capacity of the environment • Finite limit to the Earth’s resources

Origins of the Problem • Four concepts are related to the understanding of the problem of environmental stress • 4. Complexity refers to the intricacy of the relationships that constitute the ecological web • The major difficulty with dealing with environmental stress is: • The number of problems there are • How the problems are interrelated

Air Pollution • Primary types of air pollutants: • Organic compounds (hydrocarbons) • Oxides of carbon • Nitrogen and sulfur • Lead and other metals • Particulate matter • Major source of carbon monoxide pollution is exhaust emissions from automobiles

Air Pollution • Effects on Human Health • Air pollutants are related to the following health problems • Bronchitis • Emphysema • Lung cancer • Eye, nose, and throat irritation

Air Pollution • Economic Effects • Accelerated property deterioration • Crop loss • Loss productivity due to worker illness • Ecological Effects • One ecological impact has been the effect that the use of fluorocarbon gases have had on the ozone layer in the atmosphere

Air Pollution • Ecological Effects • Depletion of the ozone could cause: • Increase in skin cancer • Crop failure • Change in the world’s climate • Acid rain is another problem - refers to rainfall with excessive concentrations of sulfuric dioxide

Air Pollution • Ecological Effects • Acid rain is largely the result of pollutants from utility and industrial plants • Acid rain is especially harmful to • Physical structures in cities • Forest and plant life • Aquatic life

Air Pollution • The Global Warming Controversy • The “greenhouse effect,” or the increase in global temperatures • Greenhouse gases are due in part to an increase in the burning of fossil fuels • Radioactivity • Nuclear power plant accidents

Water Pollution • Water moves through a hydrologic cycle of continuous purification and use • Affecting the hydrologic cycle leads to two major problems • The amount of water available could be insufficient to meet demand • The water available could be polluted

Water Pollution • Sources of the problem • Increased demand for water by consumers and the dumping of pollutants into the water system • Urban dwellers • Industrial users • Farmers • Another form of water pollution is thermal pollution

Solid-Waste Disposal • Dumping of solid waste into the environment • Two major sources • Through the consumption process of goods • Through the production process of goods • In 2005 we disposed of over 410 million tons of waste • Landfills • Incinerators

Solid-Waste Disposal • Environmental Racism, Environmental Justice • Environmental racism refers to the concentration of minority group neighborhoods around landfills and toxic dump sites • Toxic Wastes • Plastics • Pesticides • And other chemical products

Solid-Waste Disposal • Radioactive Wastes • By-products from nuclear power plants and other sources

Other Hazards • Land Degradation • Deforestation of tropical rainforests • Clearing of rainforests for commercial use • Desertification • Overgrazing of land • Dependence on wood for fuel • Depletion of minerals from farming

Other Hazards • Noise pollution • Noise pollution from technological advances • Chemical Contamination and Globalization of the Food Supply • Plastics and synthetics • Vinyl chloride • Chemical contamination of the global food supply is a growing social problem • Large Scale Engineering Projects

The United Statesand the World Environment • The United States and consumption • Affluence and pollution • The U.S. has 5 percent of the world’s population and consumes 25 percent of the world’s fossil fuel • The U.S. produces 72 percent of the world’s hazardous waste

Social Policy • Policy on Global Warming • United Nations and the Kyoto Protocol • Reduction in carbon emissions • United States under the Bush administration did not ratify the agreement

Social Policy • Pollution Credits • The creation of markets to buy and sell pollution credits is a more conservative antipollution policy favored by the Bush administration and by many experts on global pollution problems • Science and Policy Making • There has been a great deal of conflict between the nation’s scientists and the Bush administration

Social Policy • Appropriate technology is smaller-scale technology • Small scale technologies and reduction of environmental damage • The appropriate technologists are often accused of advocating an impractical retreat to a simpler way of life • Appropriate technologists reply that they do not oppose all technology, only large-scale technology that has unfavorable social consequences

Technology and the Environment