Introduction Over the past few decades, technologies have made a few great contributions to the environmental protection. Renewable technologies have reduced the demand of fossil fuel; computer technologies have enabled paperless office into reality and thus decreasing the number of trees used to produce paper. Therefore, I have come in to believe that technologies will serve as a major role in protecting the environment, both in the present and future. However, due to certain limitations like political agenda in the current globalized world, the role of technologies may be suppressed and may only be fulfilled in the future. Current Perspective One of the most significant technological advancement today that aimed to protect our environment is perhaps the availability and affordability of the improvised digital technology. Through the invention of computer and phone technologies such as phablet, we have reduced our reliance on paper which in turn saved our trees. As the internet and other social media like Facebook become widely available, we have exposed ourselves to various forms of environmental alerts through reading environmental articles and watching documentaries like David Attenborough’s Planet Earth. This helps us to be more socially responsible in the way we treat our environment. Hence, digital technology has helped to save the environment now by transforming the way we record information and provide an enormous medium to deliver the crucial environmental messages. In addition, current technologies have been gradually transformed or invented to meet both human and environmental needs. This can be seen from the invention of what E. S. Stevens called bio-plastic in his book Green Plastic to the creation of St... ... middle of paper ... ...n. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved on November 3, 2013 from http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323398204578488913567354812 Steven, S.E.(2002).Green Plastic: An introduction to the New Science of Biodegradable Plastics. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Stricherz,V .(2013 August 7). Regulating electron ‘Spin’ may be key to making organic solar cells competitive. University of Washington. Retrieved on November 4, 2013 from http://www.washington.edu/news/2013/08/07/regulating-electron-spin-may-be-key-to-making-organic-solar-cells-competitive/ Vaitheeswaran, V.V. (2003). Power To The People. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Yardley, W.(2010 May 5).Recovery Still Incomplete After Valdez Spill. The New York Times. Retrieved on November 1, 2013 from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/us/06alaska.html?ref=exxonvaldezoilspill1989&_r=0
Look at the civilized, beautiful capital cities in every developed country all around the world which is the central of high fashioned and convenience facility. To live in the city, it seems like the nature surrounding is not important to us anymore. In “The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering Our Place in Nature” David Suzuki presents the connection between human and the nature and how we depend on the surrounding environment. However, within the past century, most of our modern technologies have been developed in order to provide people needs of goods and products (63). Many of the products we made are causing much more harm to the environment than the value that products provide. Technological development has damaged our environment to the point
I. (Gain Attention and Interest): March 11, 2011. 2:45 pm. Operations at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant continued as usual. At 2:46 pm a massive 9.0 earthquake strikes the island of Japan. All nuclear reactors on the island shut down automatically as a response to the earthquake. At Fukushima, emergency procedures are automatically enabled to shut down reactors and cool spent nuclear fuel before it melts-down in a catastrophic explosion. The situation seems under control, emergency diesel generators located in the basement of the plant activate and workers breathe a sigh of relief that the reactors are stabilizing. Then 41 minutes later at 3:27 pm the unthinkable occurs. As workers monitored the situation from within the plant, citizens from the adjacent town ran from the coastline as a 49 foot tsunami approached. The tsunami came swiftly and flooded the coastline situated Fukushima plant. Emergency generators were destroyed and cooling systems failed. Within hours, a chain of events led to an explosion of reactor 1 of the plant. One by one in the subsequent days reactors 2, and 3 suffered similar fates as explosions destroyed containment cases and the structures surrounding the reactors (Fukushima Accident). Intense amount...
National Center for Manufacturing Sciences. (2004, August 11). Environmental Roadmapping Initiative. Retrieved October 14, 2011, from Plastics Impacts, Risks and Regulations: http://ecm.ncms.org/ERI/new/IRRPlastics.htm
Most of the necessities humans need are provided in supermarkets, in fact supermarkets have become a necessity for our everyday life. They are now the main source of water, food, clothes and everyday tools. Therefore, the plastic bags demanded and supplied in this industry increase every day. In the past decade, we produced as much plastic as we did in the whole twentieth century (Freinkel, 2011). This exponential increase of a non-biodegradable material has negatively impacted our environment immensely. Plastic production requires our dwindling fossil fuel resources, robs away animal lives, litters our beautiful landscapes and even affects our very own well-being. Hence, if plastic production doesn’t diminish immediately, we will suffer great
The high standard of living that we enjoy here in the United States depends entirely on the availability of natural resources. These sources provide some with a luxury life and for other a means of just surviving. However with the attitude of the United States revolving around material items, this, unfortunately, has inevitably depleted our resources across the entire supply chain and generates a dangerous amount of environmental pollution. Also, the worldwide growing population and the need for more resource use is growing steadily. Although technology has helped us in many ways, it also has added significantly to these problems.
There is also debate on how much better biodegradable plastics are in the first place. This is because as biodegradable plastics break down, they break up into smaller and smaller pieces, but never quite disappear. This leaves the potential that the plastic would continue entering the food chain. But although biodegradable plastics aren’t perfect, they are still much safer than standard plastic and present a much lower risk. In addition, by making the shift to ban single use plastics, research towards better plastic alternatives will speed up and better solutions will become available. Over time, these new alternatives to plastics may spread to other items that aren’t single use, making an even greater impact on the health of humans and the
Today’s unprecedented technological advancement has accelerated the pace at which everyone is living. Time becomes a limited resource that every person tries to make the most use of. Therefore, convenience is the major quality highly valued in today’s world. Plastics strongly demonstrate such quality; plastics are light-weighted and disposable. Consequently, the use of plastics is prevalent, from simple objects, such as bags and bottles, to more complex components, such as computer boards. The benefits of plastics are countless; for instance, plastics are disposable and waterproof. However, many critics have raised questions regarding the threats posed by phenomenal plastics. What are the downsides of plastics? How should we cope with the plastic pollution around the globe? Susan Beraza has the answers to
Tillman, Gerngoss U., and Slater C. Steven. "Making Packaging Greener – Biodegradable Plastics." Biodegradable Plastic News. 2 Aug. 2007 <"Background Press Information." Background Press Information. 28 July 2007 .>.
These burdens are amplified as the area is further urbanized; increasing demands for fossilized fuels, food, water, and property for additional urban construction. The impact of industrialization has transformed human life and produced extensive ecological deviations. In order to understand how the environmental impacts of ever expanding industrialized technology might linger to impact our health and that of our environment, we offer facts that should be studied. This paper suggests that extra research be conducted to enhance perception concerning advancing modern technology disadvantageous consequences on the safety of humans and their surrounding environment. Manufacturing of Energy Resources.
Today, Americans are faced with the increasing change of technology in our everyday life. Sometimes the change happens and we do not realize how it affects our lives. I think it is always a good idea to talk to someone that is older than yourself, like your grandparents to remind you of the times in their younger years. Hopefully, that will open your eyes to the changes we face in this generation and the generation to come. In this chapter, the author explores the relationship of changing technology to changes in both the environment and social institutions.
The world is getting smaller, yet remains full of possibilities due in part to technology. Interestingly, the very first emails could only be sent to someone using two computers, literally side by side. Technology dates back to the first manipulations of materials to assist in human survival. There are many definitions for technology, John D. Carl describes technology stating,” it deals with the creation, use, and application of knowledge and its’ interrelation with life, society, and the environment” (Carl, J.D., 2011, p.301). For the purpose of this paper, any instrument, invention, or method influencing and allowing people to control or adapt to their environment, is technology. With the increased availability of technological tools (smart phones, text messaging, image scanning, email, and social media), communication is rapidly changing. Society has moved beyond the Industrial Age and into the Information Age, where the sharing of knowledge and ideas is the new driver of power and world economy. Technology possesses many merits, and as with any tool, it carries drawbacks. Misuse and overuse creates unsavory dependence. This dependence can have adverse affects on people, business, and education. Technology receives vast criticism for reducing face-to-face interactions. Although the information technology of today is widely held as impersonal, it promotes communication; technology reduces costs and leverages productivity by facilitating access to information and knowledge, and augmenting interaction amongst those who utilize technology.
In the 21st century, the world has changed in many ways. Some changes have improved the quality of life and health for many people. Others have affected people health and causing different kind of pollution that is harming the environment. That is technology we talking about, it is apply to every one of us in daily life, example the motor vehicles and factory it all producing dangerous and harmful gasses to the environment but we can not live without it.
People can see the many positive effects of technology from different views of human life such as education, agriculture, personal safety, and the environment. But, not everyone considers the downsides while they play Call of Duty and check Facebook for what their friends are doing. Although technology does simplify people’s tasks and duties and make things much easier, it may weaken health, kill environments, and ruin the social, human interactive life that once was.
The standard 21 year old adults have exchanged 250 thousand emails, spent 5 thousand hours video gaming and 10 thousand hours using their mobile devices (Lei, 2009). When people hear the word technology, they think of microwaves, televisions, cars, NASA, different types and transportation and more. For all that, technology has occurred long ahead these discoveries. Technology is an arguable matter amongst people. .In the old days, people lived an extremely simple life without technology. They used candles to light their houses and lanterns at the dark to travel, they used fire to cook and used newspapers and mail to share news. On the other hand, technology has seized an important place in our society. People are living in a stage of progressive technology. They are using all natural reserves applicable for making their lives better and easier. The society cannot picture life without electricity since it allows them to live through their everyday life. This paper argues that technology positively impacts people’s lives.
Many people assume that the environment is not in danger. They believe that as technology advances, we do not need to worry about renewing natural resources, recycling, and finding new ways to produce energy. They state that one person in the world does not make a large difference. In reality, each individual's contribution greatly affects our environment. Our natural resources are slowly disappearing, and we must work together to save them and the Earth from ruin.