Technology’s Impact on the Environment Imagine being unable to survive without something while also having that same thing be the cause of your demise. This is the situation with technology; on the one hand, it has made life tough for us without it, but on the other, it has had a detrimental effect on our environment. Is this frightening to you? It shouldn’t, though, and here’s why. Technology has a harmful effect on our environment, but it also has the ability to aid in our recovery. We’ll go into more detail about these ideas in this piece.
Major worries
Resource depletion and climate change are the two main issues that we are now dealing with. We are creating new technology without comprehending that it depletes our resources more quickly than we can restore them. The development of technology has increased the consumption of fossil fuels as well as other natural resources. We can now go anywhere in the globe with ease, but do you realise how expensive this convenience is? It’s our environment; more carbon is emitted due to increased travel, which causes climate change.
Environmental Impacts
Our planet’s atmosphere was less polluted in the mid- to late 1700s before the industrial revolution. Machines entered the picture during the industrial revolution, making simple large-scale manufacturing possible. Large-scale manufacturing causes pollution and the depletion of natural resources. To better handle these impacts, let’s examine them.
Lack of Natural Resources
Before technology, the majority of our duties were carried out manually. This practise was prevalent at the time in practically every industry. As soon as the technology was implemented, trends started to alter. These industries changed their emphasis to task automation for obvious reasons. We become more productive as a result of the efficiently completed automated duties. With the use of technology and increased revenue, we can drastically lower the incidence of human error. Natural resource consumption has increased recently, which has led to a reduction in those resources.
Additionally, the population is growing, which will ultimately result in greater resource use. To accommodate the growing population, residential developments are constructed by clearing the forests. In layman’s terms, this means that trees that absorb carbon dioxide from the air are being felled. We are losing sight of what is important because we are so preoccupied with advancing technology. Numerous plants and animals have gone extinct as a result of a loss in their natural habitat.
Pollution
Pollution is a topic that we have all encountered at some point in our lives. We now understand the various forms of pollution and how they affect the ecosystem. Let’s now examine how technology is causing pollution. We can now make goods in big quantities thanks to technology. Waste is produced during the production of items in factories using raw resources. These wastes are discharged into the environment as hazardous gases in the air and hazardous waste like chemicals in bodies of water. resulting in water and air pollution.
Electronic waste has been expanding quickly recently. These wastes contain dangerous non-biodegradable substances that, if improperly disposed of, might contaminate the environment. Consider the fact that improper trash disposal would not only poison your environment but also harm your health. Because of this, many nations are taking the required steps, like managing garbage properly. To better manage technological trash, recycling facilities have been established throughout the country.
How Technology Can Benefit the Environment
As was already noted, technology has the ability to assist us in addressing important environmental issues. We may still say that technology has benefited us more than it has harmed us when compared to its drawbacks. In addition to using natural resources to create technology, we have also used technology to create sustainable materials. Would you be able to measure your environment to spot hazards if you didn’t have the technology? Of course not; how could you if you had the necessary equipment?
Through the use of technology, we can better understand our environment and take the appropriate actions to manage it. You’ve probably all heard the saying, “Necessity is the mother of invention,” as well. I’ll describe how it relates to technology and the environment. They come up with strategies to deal with disasters more effectively when they only affect one location. With the use of technology, these solutions are disseminated globally so that people who encounter similar problems can utilise them and adapt them to their needs. Technology offers a framework for finding solutions, so there is no need to start from scratch.
We have seen how trees are felled to make way for residential areas, but we also need to pay attention to how technology has enabled us to eliminate paper from our lives. Online communication channels lessen the demand for paper, which results in fewer trees being felled. The more we use the internet, the less demand there is for physical documents, which helps the environment in some way. This can be seen in a number of industries. Additionally, we have sensors that can recognise when a gadget has to be turned on or off based on the environment.
Conclusion
The research being done to create technology to reduce carbon emissions from our environment must be mentioned in order for our debate to be considered comprehensive. Similar studies are being done to create smart technologies that will enable us to use less energy. Take the smart light system as an example; you may remotely control them or directly automate them so that they turn off automatically when not in use. We may all agree that technology has a bad impact on the environment, but there is no turning back now. Either we use technology wisely and safeguard the environment, or we can carry on as we are and, in the process, cause issues for both our generation and the one after us.
