Technology and The Ecosystem

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Technology

and the

Ecosystem

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Introduction

While technology can be a powerful force to improve our
standard of living, it comes at a cost. New technological
goods are often burdensome to the environment. This
damage may come from acquiring the resources to produce
new technology, or from toxic byproducts of technological
production. It can consist of environmentally harmful waste
produced by the technology itself, or the castoff remains of
obsolete technology.

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Does the benefit of

technology outway the

environmental risks?

Directions

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Farming Technology

Advances in farming technology have led to cheaper and more diverse
food options, but technological advances that improve production,
such as pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers, can also harm
the environment. Modern fertilizers increase yields, but they linger in
the local environment, damaging soil and groundwater and creating
dead zones in lakes and oceans. Pesticides may kill off the pests that
affect current crops, but also kills beneficial insects and amphibians,
and can build up a population of pesticide-resistant insects that will
damage future yields.

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Claim

(Does the
benefit of
technology
outway the

environmental

risks?)

Evidence

(Cite evidence

from the

previous slide - 2

pieces of
evidence)

Reasoning

(Explain how
that evidence
supports the

claim)

FARMING TECHNOLOGY

Poll

(Does the benefit of technology outweigh the environmental risk?)

What is your claim?

• The benefits do outweigh the environmental risks.

• The benefits do not outweigh the environmental risks.

Poll

(GMO crops need less pesticides to grow because they natural repeal insects. What impact does this have on the environment?)

What is your evidence?

• Less pesticides in the environment

• Increase in pesticides in the environment

• Pests go extinct

• Less corn is produced

Open Ended

Explain how your evidence supports your claim?

What is your reasoning?

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Human Medicine as Pollution

Pharmaceutical drugs are emitted from our bodies, homes, and factories, entering waterways and
accumulating in fish, bugs, mollusks, crustaceans, birds, and warm-blooded animals. Areas around
drug-manufacturing plants are hot spots for this kind of pollution. So too are watercourses near hospitals and
aging sewage infrastructure. But medicinal compounds have also been detected in remote environments,
imbuing surface waters even in Antarctica.If current trends persist, scientists estimate, the volume of
pharmaceuticals diffusing into fresh water could increase by two-thirds by 2050. Recent modeling shows that
a platypus living in a contaminated stream in Melbourne is already likely to ingest more than half a
recommended adult dose of antidepressants every day.

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Claim

(Does the
benefit of
technology
outway the

environmental

risks?)

Evidence

(Cite evidence

from the

previous slide - 2

pieces of
evidence)

Reasoning

(Explain how
that evidence
supports the

claim)

HUMAN MEDICINE AS

POLLUTION

Poll

(Does the benefit of technology outweigh the environmental risk?)

What is your claim?

• The benefits do outweigh the environmental risks.

• The benefits do not outweigh the environmental risks.

Poll

What is your evidence?

• Less plastic pollution

• Cause more bacterial pollution

• Decrease in biodiversity

• No impacts on the environment

Open Ended

Explain how your evidence supports your claim?

What is your reasoning?

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Electric Cars

Your electric car doesn’t need gas, but it still might get its energy from burning carbon. It depends on how your local grid generates electricity.
“If you use coal-fired power plants to produce the electricity, then all-electrics don’t even look that much better than a traditional vehicle in
terms of greenhouse gases,” says Virginia McConnell, an economist at the environmental research firm Resources for the Future.

The math gets trickier when you include other forms of environmental damage. Electric cars need to be light, which means they include a lot
of high-performing metals. The lithium in the batteries, for example, is super light and conductive—that’s how you get a lot of energy without
adding a lot of weight. Other, rare metals are sprinkled throughout the car, mostly in the magnets that are in everything from the headlights to
the on-board electronics. Those rare metals come from somewhere—often, from environmentally destructive mines. It’s not just Tesla, of
course. All electric vehicles rely on parts with similar environmental issues

Rare metals only exist in tiny quantities and inconvenient places—so you have to move a lot of earth to get just a little bit.

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Claim

(Does the
benefit of
technology
outway the

environmental

risks?)

Evidence

(Cite evidence

from the

previous slide - 2

pieces of
evidence)

Reasoning

(Explain how
that evidence
supports the

claim)

ELECTRIC CARS

Poll

(Does the benefit of technology outweigh the environmental risk?)

What is your claim?

• The benefits do outweigh the environmental risks.

• The benefits do not outweigh the environmental risks.

Poll

What is your evidence?

• More fossil fuel use

• More financial savings

• Decrease carbon emissions

• Decrease use of technology

Open Ended

Explain how your evidence supports your claim?

What is your reasoning?

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Resource intensive Tech

Some categories of technology, such as electronics, require resources that are
difficult to acquire without harming the environment. For example, the advanced
batteries in hybrid cars are composed of nickel and rare-earth metals. Mining these
materials is a significant source of harmful emissions, including solvent vapors,
sulfuric acid and coal dust. Acid-laden water discharges kill all plant and animal life
around nearby waterways and have sickened and killed nearby rural residents. This
mining largely takes place in China, which has admitted that it sells the rare-earths
cheaply because it sacrifices environmental safety standards in the mining process.
Similar batteries exist in personal consumer electronics, hard drives, fuel cells, wind
turbines, polishing powders and catalytic converters.

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Claim

(Does the
benefit of
technology
outway the

environmental

risks?)

Evidence

(Cite evidence

from the

previous slide - 2

pieces of
evidence)

Reasoning

(Explain how
that evidence
supports the

claim)

RESOURCE INTENSIVE

TECH

Poll

(Does the benefit of technology outweigh the environmental risk?)

What is your claim?

• The benefits do outweigh the environmental risks.

• The benefits do not outweigh the environmental risks.

Poll

What is your evidence?

• To get people the right healthcare plans

• To fine companies for the damages

• To ensure the environment is cleanded up and restored

• To stop the production of electronics that use these metels

Open Ended

Explain how your evidence supports your claim?

What is your reasoning?