What Will Save Us?

We have been discussing the impact of technology on the environment for a couple weeks now. While we all seem to recognize that technology has been very harmful for the environment, there are also some technologies that have proved beneficial such as developing clean energy. Another point that has been brought up several times throughout these blogs is that not only that we must change our attitude about the environment but we must also change our lifestyles. No technology is going to be able to replace the earth’s resources at the rate we are consuming them. The issues with the environment are very complex and therefore the solutions are going to be even more complex. There is no one answer; so technology won’t save us alone and changing our attitudes won’t save us alone. We have to take many different approaches as to how we are going to solve as the issues of the environment.

One approach is getting everyone involved on a global scale and that is what happened with the Montreal Protocol. I have studied it before and I remember it was the most successful international environmental agreement in history. I think it was so easy for countries to commit to was because there was a plan to replace CFCs with other substances. While it has been proven over time that these substances may be just as harmful, at the time they were available right after CFCs were not. In terms of technology, it helped countries get on board with this agreement because new technologies replaced the old CFCs. In today’s terms, it is more difficult to get countries to sign onto agreements because there seems to be no substitute for what we have. For example the United States would not sign the Kyoto Protocol because we had to commit to reductions in carbon emissions as well as other greenhouse gases and according to ex President Bush we were just not capable of doing that. He explained in an interview that although we are putting millions of dollars into research we are still dependent on foreign oil.

In all technology could definitely help to “save us” however it is not the only answer. As Emily stated, more fuel efficient cars would be helpful, however it would be even more helpful if fewer of them are on the road. As these new technologies develop hopefully more countries will be in agreement to make changes because we all live on this one planet and everyone needs to do their part.

http://www.america.gov/st/washfile-english/2005/July/200507011349191CJsamohT0.4202474.html