Is Eco-Technology The Way Forward?

It’s easy to argue that responsibility for many of the world’s biggest problems can be laid at the door of modern industrial technology. That’s because there is abundant evidence for it: cars, planes, electrically powered devices of every kind and massive amounts of transportation. The net result has been depletion of the earth’s precious resources and pollution on an unprecedented level.

When it comes to the fuel that powers these modern technologies there is an even more depressing legacy. Our energy source of choice is the burning of fossil fuel, in other words oil, coal and gas. However there is now rather less fuel left than has already been burned and what has already been burned has raised levels of atmospheric CO2 to record levels. We’re caught on the horns of a twin dilemma.

So we’re filling up at the Last Chance Gas Station and will soon be running on fumes, waiting for the inevitable breakdown and long walk back. It would be ironic if the final blow was delivered by our own modern transport network in the form of some especially virulent worldwide pandemic.

But is this really how our world ends? And is technology really the evil root of it all? Well probably not. This won’t be the first time that humanity has had to face up to the painful consequences of some pretty dumb (in hindsight) behaviour. Yet we’re still here.

Fundamentally, technology and humans go together; you never find one without evidence of the other. Technology is in our DNA and no matter how far back in time you look, whenever human remains are found, invariably there are technological artifacts nearby.

Since the dawn of human history it seems we have made weapons and tools, worn decorations and clothing, preserved and prepared food, painted and played music. Unique among all other animals we really for our survival not on thick fur or powerful claws, but on our capability to develop and deploy technology.

Early flint spear heads were an improvement on sharp sticks and would later develop into metal heads, then bullets and ultimately into our present weapons of mass destruction. You can equally trace a direct line from this digitally produced information through mass printing, handwritten documents and ultimately back to those first cave paintings. Or take all the complexity of a modern symphony and unravel the trail leading back to simple flutes carved from hollow animal bones.

Human technology constantly evolves, improving on and adapting earlier technologies – quite commonly in order to address the shortcomings of that existing technology. There are always side-effects; the inventors of steam technology may have foreseen an Industrial Revolution as a possible outcome, but they would never have guessed that vast sewage systems would also be a consequence (needed to contain disease caused by urban crowding).

So one thing is certain then; technology may have gotten us into a mess, but it is also our only hope of salvation. It is futile to try and rollback or un-invent existing technology, whatever its failings. The solution lies in superseding it with new so-called eco-technologies such as ultra low power LED lights, thin film solar panels and ever expanding use of the Internet.

These new eco-technologies are far less resource hungry and polluting and can help reduce the huge amount of travelling that goes on these days, while simultaneously actually improving the quality of life and offering increased choice. Doubtless we will some day discover that they too are flawed in some as yet unimagined way, but that’s alright, we know what to do about that.

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