Assignment 4 : Felicia Yee (4B) and Leandra Nair (4B)

Summarise from Paragraphs 2-4 why ecological modernism believes that technology is the solution to environmental problems in about 100 words.

Ecological modernization believes that harnessing innovation and entrepreneurship can save the planet, and while modernists are still all for being environmentally friendly, they are all for making use of nuclear energy, genetically modified crops, urbanisation and geoengineering to help solve the problem of climate change. They state that they embrace these technologies to give nature room, to allow nature to rest while we are able to narrow our human activity through more efficient technology. With technology, more land can be freed up, and modernists want to cut the links between mankind and nature, and restore large spaces of habitats and reintroduce species that once lived in those habitats.

READER RESPONSE QN: Do you think technology is going to help Mankind solve all environmental problems? Your response should be between 200 and 250 words.

I do not think that technology is going to help Mankind solve all environmental problems as it might lead to other problems, and might cause the sustainability of the industry to decrease. For example, one of the biggest technological innovations in aquaculture and fishing in the last half century has led to a near total breakdown of all saltwater fisheries worldwide. Instead of increasing the stocks and providing greater resource management, it has done the exact opposite. In this case, technology has not made life easier for the fish, but has made life easier for the fishermen. With mile long nets, city-sized drag lines, sonar fish-finders and huge commercial harvesting boats, the stocks have been reduced to the point where they could be reaching total collapse. This shows that even though technology can indeed solve some environmental problems, it could lead to more problems in the same industry. With technology, there is decreased sustainability as well, when there is an increased rate at which the fishermen catch the types of fish they catch, what will happen to the other organisms that feed on the fish or the organisms that the fishes feed on? There will be an imbalance in the ecosystem and the ecosystem might not be able to sustain itself any longer. Therefore, I do not think that technology can solve all environmental problems as it will inevitably lead to other problems, and affect the sustainability of the industry as well.