Impact of Industrialization on the Environment
During the past several hundred years, humans have begun to industrialize rapidly. Tons of new technologies with all sorts of capabilities have sprung up. In many cases, these added capabilities have been used to manipulate natural things for human benefit, often at the expense of other things. On the other hand, technological advancement has required that humans come to a better understanding of the world, bringing with it a greater potential to do good, to manipulate things for the benefit of the planet. Technological advancement has essentially given us the “can”, and so now the question becomes “should”. Should we do something because we can? Industrialization has increased the effect humans have on the environment, for good or for bad.
It is hard to argue that industrialization has not brought humans a greater ability to manipulate their environment. The list of things that we are now capable of is staggering. Computers, mind-bogglingly sophisticated machines in and of themselves, have enable a world of things to be possible, including the reading of genetic code, prompting Rifkin, in an interview, to deem genes “the raw resource of the biotech industry”. The genetic material that governs every aspect of the development of life is now merely a material for the manipulation of an entire industry. We can clone things (not very well, but still), creating identical creatures at will. “we can go to the moon, orbit earth in space for weeks at a time, send television images around the world in a matter of seconds, and transplant hearts” (Southwick, 170). We can so alter our environment that we are completely unaware of the natural things around us. A room in Japan can completel...
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...dearly-held, unconscious collective assumptions may impede our chances for survival. Or, as Poliakoff, et. al., noted, “fundamental changes in technology are adopted… only when they provide real advantage” (810). Are human beings inherently selfish, or are they capable of rising above that? Will we use this power we have developed to help ourselves, or to attempt to help the world? “Why can’t we achieve a better balance between people, resources, and the environment? … The complete answers to these questions lie deeply within the complex realms of science, philosophy, religion, economics, and politics.” (170). The answers may be complicated. The truth is, industrialization has changed our relationship to the environment. It has enabled us to hurt it far more than any other species, but it has also given us the ability to help. The power of choice now lies with us.
As time passes, our population continues to increase and multiply; yet, on the other hand, our planet’s resources continue to decrease and deplete. As our population flourishes, human beings also increase their demands and clamor for the Earth’s natural products, yet are unable to sacrifice their surplus of the said resources. Garret Hardin’s work highlighted the reality that humans fail to remember that the Earth is finite and its resources are limited. Hardin’s article revealed that people are unable to fathom that we indeed have a moral obligation to our community and our natural habitat — that we are not our planet’s conquerors but its protectors. We fail to acknowledge and accept that we only have one Earth and that we must protect and treasure it at all costs. Despite all our attempts at annihilating the planet, the Earth will still be unrelenting — it will still continue to be present and powerful. Human beings must recognize that we need this planet more than it needs us and if we persist on being egocentric and covetous, in the end it is us who will
Technology unemployment is unemployment due to our discovery of means of economizing the use of labor outrunning the pace at which we can find new uses for labor. (Brynjolfsson & McAfee, 2011)
...re some foundational beliefs that possess some degree of intrinsic justification, but as it was noted, accepting these beliefs as completely self-justifying is difficult to accept. Therefore, these foundational beliefs that possess a low degree of justification can rely on other minimally-justified beliefs for support, consequently creating a coherent foundation of sorts.
The legalization of marijuana is, and has been a heavily disputed issue for decades. On one hand, marijuana could lead to a medical breakthrough, or at least provide relief to cancer and AIDS patients. On the other hand, legalizing a drug could expose it to too broad an audience. As a drug, marijuana has never proven to be anywhere near as harmful as cigarettes or alcohol. Each year in the United States, 400,000 people die from tobacco, 50,000 from alcohol, and from marijuana, zero. Regardless of what side one may take to this argument, there are some causes to this marijuana debate that everyone should know. Marijuana was not always illegal, and the reasons behind the history of narcotic regulation are interesting when viewed from today's perspective. The history of marijuana prohibition is a story of racism, political repression, and poorly represents the qualities this country claims to embody.
Before Americans can make accusations that marijuana can only be used for the sole purpose of euphoric pleasure, they should first become knowledgeable of cannabis’s original and highly valuable uses that gave the plant its primary popularity. The herbal plant was actually a food source around 6000 BC, and it was used as a fiber two thousand years later. Another couple thousand years later was when cannabis obtained its first medical record in China and soon traveled to India and North Africa where cannabis began its use as a “recreational hallucinogen.” When Europe greeted marijuana at about 500 BC, users began classifying in what methods the plant can treat various medical conditions. The Americas were first introduced t...
The present comes from the past and the two must always be in step. Our activities shape the future of our planet. The earth as we know it today is facing an unprecedented ecological crisis. Its cause is the relentlessly increasing exploitation of the planet’s available resources to make up for the demands of the economy. It has become apparent that these environmental problems are predominantly the repercussions of human activities vis-à-vis nonhuman and nonliving things that co-inhabitate the earth. As pointed out by Lynn White in his article, “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis”, the fate of the ecology depends on what humans think about themselves in relation to things in the environment (White Jr 1973). Lynn White brings an important point to our attention. If human beings consider the environment as an important entity of their life, then they will strive to protect and sustain it; in contrast, if they cannot conceive of a connection for the things in environment, the world will continue to degrade. The problem at hand is that, since the beginning of the economic era, people seem to have lost themselves, even more so than before, to wealth and social standing. The economy market triggered people to nurture their selfish desires and alienate from the rest of the world. As a result of that, human nature is often described as self-centered. However, according Mencius – the one who instigated the writings of the Confucian traditions –
Marijuana has been used as medicine since the beginning of time, but because of the bad reputation surrounding marijuana you wouldn’t believe that marijuana first use was for medical purposes. Marijuana dates all the way back to 2900 BC, in China, where the Chinese emperor Fu Hsi noted that cannabis was a very popular medicine that possessed both yin and yang. The Egyptians also used cannabis for glaucoma, inflammation, and enemas. In India, they use Bhang, a drink of cannabis and milk, as an anesthetic and anti-phlegmatic. By the mid-1930s, marijuana was regulated in every state by laws instituted through The Uniform State Narcotic Act. Then in 1937 the Marihuana Tax Act was passed. The Act imposed a tax on anyone who dealt with marijuana, which lead to a decline in marijuana prescriptions. The Act didn’t criminalize the possession or use of marijuana but it did include penalty and enforcement provisions to which marijuana handlers were subject. Violation of these procedures could result in a fine up to $2000 and five years in prison. In 1972, the US congress placed marijuana in Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act because they considered it to have “no accepted medical use.” Research has shown that marijuana use is medically beneficial and that legalization would have a positive impact on patients who suffer from symptoms caused by such illnesses as multiple sclerosis, cancer and AIDS. By keeping marijuana illegal, we are denying relieve, that marijuana provides to the patients that does not respond to the medicines that physicians prescribe or suffer from the side effect of these harsh drugs causes.
We humans have accomplished so much, that we can do the things that we thought were unattainable. We talk to people who are millions mile away, we fly and go to our desire places, we even go to the moon and other planets, we bring the dead and we heal the sick people. How cool are we right? But why are we facing global climate change? Why are many species suddenly disappearing? It is because of us human beings, whom can do the impossible but fail to understand the simple side effect of our actions. Industrialization and technology has become the most necessity for humanity. We produce, we sale, we make money and we produce even more. Though Earth’s resource is abundant, because we fail to use our resource wisely, we are facing sparse. Industrialization
As mankind moves into the Industrial Revolution, technology and society advances sevenfold. This revolution began to improve the lives of everyday people through the betterment of public lives. Inventions, such as light bulbs, were created to try and help the everyday people and give advantages to everyone. As the Industrial Revolution continued, however, the inventors whose creations were meant to improve the lives of people, instead went on to damage the lives of people and fuel the growing Capitalism that was consuming so many countries. Inventions such as the cotton gin, steam engine, and production line would have effects on the public, but not in a positive way. These main inventions of this era instead were used to mass produce materials as to
In an attempt to find out why most governments and economists encourage technological changes even though it increases structural unemployment, it is important to first and foremost understand the meanings of ‘technological change’ and ‘structural unemployment’. Technological change refers the improvement of processes that make it easier to produce more, efficiently and at reduced inputs. On the other hand, structural unemployment refers to a situation where skills needed to produce efficiently cannot be matched to appropriate unemployed persons due to technological change – in other words, it refers to inefficiencies in the labor market.
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.
Robert Frost’s love of nature is expressed in the setting of his poem "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening." His elaborate description of the woody setting brings vivid images to the reader’s mind. Frost explains the setting so descriptively that the reader feels he is in the woods alsoThe setting is a very important tool Frost uses in writing this poem. The setting is obviously in the woods, but these are not just any old woods. Something caught the speaker’s eyes in these woods making them a special place for the speaker. It seems as if the speaker has associated these woods with an aspect of his "personal paradise". The peacefulness, tranquillity, darkness, and silence are all important parts of this "paradise".
Human population growth was relatively slow for most of human history. Within the past 500 years, however, the advances made in the industrial, transportation, economic, medical, and agricultural revolutions have helped foster an exponential, "J-shaped" rise in human population (Southwick, Figure 15.1, p. 160). The statistics associated with this type of growth are particularly striking: "Human beings took more than 3 million years to reach a population of 1 billion people...The second billion came in only 130 years, the third billion in 30 years, the fourth billion in 15 years, the fifth billion in 12 years..." (Southwick, p. 159). As human population has grown, there has been simultaneous growth within the industrial sector. Both of these increases have greatly contributed to environmental problems, such as natural resource depletion, ecosystem destruction, and global climate change. Also linked with the increasing human population are many social problems, such as poverty and disease. These issues need to be addressed by policy makers in the near future in order to ensure the survival and sustainability of human life.
Digital revolution is exponentially accelerating the productivity of various outcomes in the society and also transforming the employment and economy of the world. In recent times, innovation in technology is inadvertently becoming the cause for chronic unemployment which in turn is drastically affecting the median household income. This book discusses such trends and outcomes in general and offers solutions to the problems faced by present and future generation of workers. Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee have discussed effects of machines on wealth distribution, economy and employment in a crisp, strong and insightful way.
Ever since the Industrial Revolution (1780s), the impact of technology has been subject to public debate over its effect on employment – does it cause unemployment or does it underlie the huge increases in standards of living (Jones 1996, p.11)? While it is difficult to ascertain the relationship between technology and employment, all that can be said with any certainty is that technological advancement has the capacity to create revolutionary economic and social changes (Jones 1996, p.21). In order to provide a clear analysis of the impact of technology on employment, we need to take into account the consequences of technological transitions and seek to relate these to social, economic, political, and cultural factors occurring at the time.