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
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
In today's hectic world people work longer hours and utilize more technology and energy more than ever. The impact that this is having on the environment is substantial in both negative and positive ways. It is hard to deny the benefits modern technology has produced for the world, in industry and in everyday life. With more and more technological breakthroughs, there have been many positive ecological impacts, but the negative impacts are almost overwhelming. A Perfect example would be the deforestation of our rain forests.
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
The issue 8 features the question “Can Technology Deliver Global Sustainability?” The question is a good, controversial question, however, it is too broad to be discussed with one or two articles; the question can be approached from aspects such as environmental, social, economic, etc. Both articles chosen talk about only one fraction of the topic, therefore they cannot answer the question as a whole.
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 comparison between how people and companies turn plastic wastes into treasure implies the infinite possibilities of reusing plastic and protect the environment. Then, through the interviews with the recycle companies and scientists in Japan and America, the documentary further supports its argument by proving that only two types of plastic can be truly recycled, most of the others will stay for hundreds of years in the dumping fields and the plasticizer goes through chemical reactions in the ocean which make the plastic particles poisonous and possibly cause diseases to all living organisms. The documentary criticizes the disposable lifestyle and introduces the possibility of future progress by substituting plasticizer with other bio-additive so that they can be fully recycled or reproduced in many different ways. The documentary effectively conveys the message that plastic can be extremely harmful, and appeals audiences to pay more attention on reducing daily usage of plastics, such as plastic water bottle, and producing and recycling with the new
Vidal, J. (n.d.). 'Sustainable' bio-plastic can damage the environment | Environment | The Guardian . Latest news, comment and reviews from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk . Retrieved May 22, 2010, from http://www.guardian.co.uk/environm
With new technology and different resources that make human life easier, there are increased problems for the environment and wildlife. Plastic was a huge discovery and it has changed everyday life since then. Plastic has a low cost and has replaced many traditional products such as wood and glass. Because of their wide variety of uses, plastics are used throughout the entire world. This poses problems with how to safely dispose of plastics and the damage they cause when they are not disposed of properly.
Humans are living a comfortable and easy life. Most of the wants of humans are becoming needs. This is because humans have begun to rely too heavily on technological advancement. Most of the technology needs natural resources to work properly. Most of these resources are being used in different ways and after usage they are useless. Every year, billions of dollars are spent on resources. Every resource is not available everywhere. Depending on the quantity and demand of resource price are set to keep them in balance. Some of useless resource can recycle, but recycling costs more than landfilling. While exhausting natural resources remain a thorny issue, efforts are being made to address environmental concerns constructively.
Since the 1960s when plastic bottles were widely distributed, there have been several negative externalities resulting from their consumption and disposal. Flooding landfills and leaking into water supplies, debris fortified with chemicals that are often ingested by marine life, harmful emissions caused by its incineration, and the difficulty of recycling are just a few of the negative externalities that costs millions in. About 4 percent of the world’s oil production is used as raw materials to fuel the machines that make plastics, and people all over the world are exposed to chemicals from plastic several times each day through the air, dust, water, food and use of consumer
The world population is living, working, and vacationing along the coasts. They are contributing to an unprecedented tide of plastic waste. Pollution is defined as the process that alters a substance or molecule on planet earth, the pollution is caused by the physical contact of an organic decaying particle with a clean particle in the same spot, at the time the two particles join together is when occurs pollution in which the environment is greatly altered. Too many, plastic is a modern day miracle, versatile, inexpensive and durable (Rochman 2014). To others, it is a scourge, a non-degradable pollutant that threatens to choke the global environment. Plastic pollution has led to the deaths of many animals, natural resources, and people (Rochman 2014). It is time to change America’s thinking and to learn from past mistakes.
Modernism is an optimistic view of human impact on the environment that has been the dominant viewpoint for the last 200 years. The knowledge that mankind has the ability to control the environment is heavily stressed as a reason why climate change is not such a big deal. One of the core beliefs of the modernistic perspective is that people have no need to fear environmental disaster because the next technological advancement is right around the corner. Furthermore, those who share this view do not include themselves in their view of the ecosystem believing they are detached from it. Lastly, a laissez-faire approach is taken to environmental problems, focusing on progression through technology, stressing that as long as progress is made
Well did you know you not only get paid to recycle, but the environment as a whole benefits from this as well. Today recycling is a huge deal because the Environmental Protection Agency knows that if we don't mitigate or prevent trash from entering The Great Garbage Patches, they will only increase in size and become worse. All countries recycling percentages are anywhere between “0 percent to 63 percent being the highest.” Though these percentages are better than previous years there is much more room for improvement. With the recycling percentages remaining relatively low worldwide, many scientist and engineers have worked together to create biodegradable plastic. The two different types of biodegradable plastics are bioplastics themselves and plastics that use biodegradable additives. The questions is, how does creating bioplastics help prevent pollution in the ocean? Besides the fact that bioplastics can be decomposed, it’s also made up of natural materials such as corn oil and plants, instead of petroleum based raw materials. “2.65 kg of corn is needed in order to make 1 kg of polylactic acid”, which polylactic acid is the only known acid to make compostable plastic. These bioplastics also carry less toxins and do not consist of any Bisphenol A (BPA) or any of those harsh chemical pollutants found from the micro plastics that are currently in the ocean. Unfortunately, some bioplastics cannot be broken down as
Although there have been several initiatives from government towards eradicating these completely, but it is of no use as it has its roots deeper into the society. Irrespective of ban on plastic bags they are being sold and used continuously by the population because it has become an integral and irreplaceable part of our life. Everyday animals are dying due to consumption of polythenes which remain scattered and non-decomposed on grounds. Science has come up with a solution to completely eliminate it by giving birth to “Bioplastic”. Bioplastic has properties which are comparable to the commercial plastic in every aspect but with certain advantages over it. Bioplastic is decomposable and are produced form microorganisms rather than by using chemicals, thus making it completely environmental friendly. Bioplastic will not only make mother earth a better and greener place to live in but will also reduce the death of innocent animals. These bioplastics can be easily used in food industries for packaging to keep food items fresh for a longer duration and in medical industry for packaging tablets and other medically important stuff. Bioplastic has a promising future ahead but we have to work towards developing and including it in the mainstream of our lives. Science has also come up with innovative ideas for treating several deadly diseases like cancer, HIV etc which causes death of billions of people worldwide. Today with several
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.