The Role of Technology In Sustainable Development PDF

The Role of Technology In SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 1 Learning Objectives By the end of the lesson, the students will be able to discuss: (1) the significant difference between end-of-pipe technologies and clean technologies; (2) the evolution of var...

The Role of Technology In SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 1 Learning Objectives By the end of the lesson, the students will be able to discuss: (1) the significant difference between end-of-pipe technologies and clean technologies; (2) the evolution of various attempts at finding appropriate technologies that fit with natural systems; and (3) the complex challenges of mainstreaming appropriate technologies for sustainable development. 2 The Central Question At the heart of the debate over the potential effectiveness of sustainable development is the question of whether, technological change, even if it can be achieved, can reduce the impact of economic development sufficiently to ensure that other types of change will not be necessary. 3 The Fundamental Assumption Technology is not independent of society either in its shaping or its effects. Technology can affect sustainable development positively by reducing throughput and wastes, by increasing efficiency, an finding alternatives to scarce resources. 4  But first, what is Sustainable Development? The Brundtland Report. Our Common Future (1987) “SD is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.” “SD improves the quality of human life while living within the carrying capacity of supporting eco-systems.” - Caring for the Earth. World Wide Fund for Nature, IUCN. 1991 “SD maximizes the net benefits of economic development, subject to maintaining the services and quality f natural resources.” -Neoclassical Economics & Principles of SD. Goodland & Ledec. 1987 5 Central Ideas The central idea of SD is one of the oldest concepts in economics – that to live beyond the moment, one must consume income rather than drain the capital, or the ability to produce future income. Sustainable development policies seek to change the nature of economic growth rather than limit it. Continual growth in a finite world is possible through the powers of technology, which will enable us to find new sources or provide alternatives , or to use and re-use current resources in the most efficient manner. Tools of Sustainable Development - Economic instruments, legislative measures and consumer pressures Technological Changes - recycling, waste minimization, material substitution, changed production processes, pollution control, and more efficient usage of resources 6 The Argument for Technology 7  CLEAN TECHNOLOGY VS. END-OF-PIPE TECHNOLOGY End-of Pipe Technologies (“Cleaning Technologies) - technologies and devices that are added to existing production processes to control and reduce pollution The problem with end-of-pipe technologies is that they are technological fixes (band-aid approach) that do not address the cause of the problem and can often cause other problems. Clean Technologies - Technologies that alter production processes, inputs to the processes and products so they are more environmentally benign and friendly. 8  PROBLEMS ATTRIBUTED TO TECHNOLOGY “The problem is not so much in the technology itself, but in how it is used or abuse.” “Technologies often have unexpected consequences or side-effects that were not originally designed into the technology. COUNTER ARGUMENT “These problems arise not out of the inadequacies in the new technologies , but because of their very success in accomplishing their designed aims.” Technologies themselves only become environmentally harmful if they are not applied with due sensitivity to the environment. Pollution is one such side-effect that is never intended by the designers of technology. Technologists make their goals too narrow, they seldom aim to consider and protect the environment. Technology can be successful in the ecosystem if its aims are directed toward the system as a whole rather than at some apparently accessible part. 9 APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGIES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Appropriate Technology: technology tailored to fit the psychosocial and biophysical context prevailing in a particular location and period. I is designed to be in harmony and consonance with nature and not to dominate it. Bio-Physical Context: health, climate, biodiversity and ecology Psycho-Social Context: social institutions, politics, culture, economics, ethics and the personal/spiritual needs E.F. Schumacer. Small is Beautiful. A Study of Economics as if People Mattered. “Intermediate technology”: a development approach in low-income countries that pursues a technology that was aimed at helping local communities do what they were already doing in a better and more efficient way. In their pursuit for sustainable development, proponents of appropriate technology were concerned about social as well as environmental problems. 10 APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY RESPONSE vs. TECHNOLOGICAL FIX RESPONSE To Pollution: TFR: solve pollution with pollution control technology ATR: invent non-polluting technologies On the use of natural resources: TFR: to use resources more cleverly ATR: to design technologies that only use renewable resources 11  THE CHALLENGE FOR ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGIES However, the AT movement has been going for more than 20 years in many countries, but it has failed to influence the pattern of technology choice exercised by mainstream society. 12 ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGIES: Popular but not Mainstream Thomas Kuhn: “Paradigm” (1962) - Science progresses through periods of “normal science,” which operates within a scientific paradigm, interspersed with periods of “scientific revolutions.” As a result, technological development tends to follow certain directions, or trajectories, that are determined by the engineering profession and others. 13 ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGIES: Popular but not Mainstream Technological change is gradual and occurs within technological paradigms. Radical technological innovation is often opposed by firms because of the social changes that may need to accompany it, such as changes to the work and skills of employees, to the way production is organized, and to the relationships between a firm and its clients and suppliers. 14  CONCLUSIONS Sustainable development relies on technological change to achieve its aims and governments must take the tough actions required to fore radical technological innovation rather than the current practice of technological fixes. So long as sustainable development is restricted to minimal low-cost adjustments that do not require value changes, institutional changes and radical cultural adjustments, the environment will continue to be degraded. Technological optimism does not escape the need for fundamental social change and a shift in priorities. It takes more than the existence of appropriate or clean technologies to ensure their widespread adoption for sustainable development. 15