Technology

and 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 Wave
in 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
 Technology
and 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
 Technology
and 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 States
and 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