Assignment #5

Technology has its many advantages that increase our crop yield and improves the efficiency in which we work. Also with technology comes disadvantage such as poisons that hurt the soil in which we plant our crops, and the buildup of greenhouse gases that is beginning to destroy this very planet that we reside in. David Nye’s chapter, Sustainable Abundance or Ecological Crisis? talks about the positive and negative effects that technology has on our planet. From the Industrial Revolution to today’s astonishing and plentiful ways of imbedding technology into nature, we have come a long way indeed, but there are still aspects of our technology that may seem very ancient indeed.
David Nye holds a neutral approach to the topic about technological effects on nature as he does in most of the questions that arise in his book, Technology Matters. From his chapter, Nye states that technology has come a long way, and there are noticeable advantages that have helped the human aspect of yielding crop, “In 1890 a single US farmer could produce 380 bushels of wheat in the same time his grandfather needed to produce 20 bushels in 1830. The productivity gains were greater for barley less for other crops” (Nye 90). Here we see an example of how technology has made a positive effect on the usage of land and also creating a more positive future by assuring that there is abundance in food. Nye goes on to talk about the effects of technology that has negatively impacted nature, “Likewise, burning coal produces not only electricity but also smoke containing sulfur dioxide that falls to the earth as acid rain, destroying plants, fish, and wildlife” (Nye 96). The burning of fossil fuels is not the only disadvantage of technology but there are other technologies that cause negative effects on our soil, “In the twentieth century alone, the United States lost to erosion topsoil that took 1,000 years to form, and it continues to lose topsoil at a rate of 1.7 billion tons a year” (Nye 98). Here we see the negatives and positives that technology brings to the table, yet the ideas and issues that Nye brings up in his book are only a small percentage of what the real effects of technology are.
Nye talks endlessly about the environmental issues not just at hand but those that were present hundreds of years ago. In one of the sources, The Human Impact on the Natural Environment, which is used in Nye’s book, it talks about everything from the human impact on vegetation to the human impact on soil and animals. On issue I took note with in Nye’s book was that it didn’t include as much detail and facts as it would in The Human Impact on the Natural Environment. For example, Andrew Goudie, the author of The Human Impact on the Natural Environment uses lots of diagrams and figures to get his point across on how much of an impact technology has on nature. When Goudie talks about flooding in Egypt he uses figures that are rather important in getting the point across, “ The results of sea-level rise in sensitive areas (e.g. low-lying coasts, deltas, marshes) will be marked. Broadus et al. (1986), for example that were the sea level to rise by just 1 metre in 100 years, 12-15 percent of Egypt’s arable land would be lost and 16 per cent of the population would be relocated” ( Goudie 406). Not only does Goudie only use figures and diagrams, but he asks questions, and furthers it but answering the question. Furthermore, Goudie goes on to use examples that are relevant only to the flooding of Egypt. I believe Nye overlooks the figures that Goudie presents in his book and maybe he thinks that without using those figures could give a more free flowing presentation to the reader, but I believe that enough figures will just help portray a better example of the issue.
Another source that Nye uses in his book is, Technology versus Nature: What is Natural? By Holmes Rolston III. There are multiple aspects to Rolston’s article on nature and technology, but to begin with, I will talk about Rolston’s section, Nature at an End? In this particular section, he talks about the need for humans to build, build, and build, “'Man is by nature a political animal,' said Aristotle.[13] The human genus may be animal, but the human differentia or essence is to build a polis, a town. The human habitat is village, town, city, which is another way of saying that human life is political, social, or, as we have been saying, cultural and technological. In agriculture, the plowed field is symbolic-an artifact remade from nature, using a technology, the plow. Ancient cultures, not less than modern ones, re-made the landscapes they used for their villages, fields, and flocks” (Rolston 5). I believe that this example should have been used to start out Nye’s chapter on, Sustainable Abundance or Ecological Crisis? because it is rather catchy and has purpose to it. I believe that this is one particular aspect of his writing that he overlooked. I’m not concluding that Nye’s chapter on the environment was not suitable and informative enough, because in reality it is actually really good. It is just missing some ideas that I believe he overlooked and misrepresented from all of these sources that he has used.
After skimming through these books and exploring the topic of nature and technology more, I am narrowing down to such topics as, the effects that cities have on the environment, and how the usage of land has on the environment. I might begin to narrow my topics down by reading more into possibly how erosion, chemicals, and farming equipment may have on the land surrounding farmland. Also I would like to look more into the destruction of the rainforest for the sake of farmland, because the rainforest holds many resources that are incredibly helpful to us humans instead being looked at as mere farmland. The stakeholders I believe are the governments who hold in their hands the power to destroy these lands for farm use or to keep them around for the sake of helping out mankind in the future. Also they have the power to govern their people and essentially forcing them into using environmentally green technologies such as alternative fuels and wind power instead of burning fossil fuels that essentially cause global warming. Easily said, they hold in their hands the future of this planet.
Nye talks about the positives and negatives of technology, and how it is affecting our environment. From the car that pollutes the earth to the chemical that poisons our lands, there are alternatives to what we use every day in terms of technology, but Nye doesn’t use enough of the sources that help define the chapter, Sustainable Abundance or Ecological Crisis? in his book. He initially doesn’t use enough figures and diagrams to work out his issues and provide a more head on approach to work out this particular chapter. Although Nye has missed some of these aspects, he has used enough of the sources to get his point across, but other than that, he needs to use more figures to support his ideas.