Cutting Through Environmental Issues: Technology as a double-edged sword - 0 views
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Between 1870 and 1910, per capita income in the United States rose almost 40 percent, and the value of manufacturing output increased sevenfold.
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It took nearly three generations before the first concerted efforts were made to bring pollution under control, but once begun, progress has been real. The air quality index for the United States now shows a 42 percent improvement since 1980.
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Technology, in other words, is a double-edged sword-one capable both of doing and undoing damage to environmental quality.
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All the world’s economies continue to face big challenges in using energy-the lifeblood of the industrial age-while maintaining environmental quality.
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Reductions in both by 70-80 percent since 1977 would not have been possible without substantial innovations in, most notably, electronics.
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In the United States, the energy sector accounts for more than 85 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions, with energy-related carbon dioxide alone responsible for about 80 percent.
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Local generation by smaller plants can not only reduce transmission losses, but also improve air quality since they can be fueled by hydrogen and natural gas-much cleaner than coal on a per kilowatt hour basis
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Industrial and vehicular emissions, particularly of nitrogen oxides, are also detrimental to water quality.
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Technology and policy are now beginning to address runoff pollution, but it is hard to measure, much less control, because it stems from widely scattered, “nonpoint” sources.
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the tools of geographic information systems (GIS) using remotely sensed data have offered new ways to identify and observe these sources
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The technologies raise some privacy concerns, for instance, that could lead polluters to cloak or hide their polluting activities, further inhibiting pollution monitoring and cleanup
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Bioremediation treats about 5-10 percent of all toxic chemicals and other hazardous waste; has successfully treated oil, gasoline, toluene, naphthalene, pentachlorophenol (a fungicide and wood preservative), and agricultural waste; and is being used at more than 30 munitions test areas across the United States.
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These benefits must be balanced against what some critics view as potentially large drawbacks. One concern is that bioremediation may largely immobilize rather than fully remediate contamination. Another is that instead of reverting to its original state, the site will be transformed in some unexpected way. A third concern is that the potential risks of adding genetically altered organisms to the environment, or even redistributing naturally occurring ones, may not be fully understood. The Information Revolution
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This article goes into depth explaining how technology affects the world that surrounds us. Although technology brings so many good things to our lives, and allows the world to constantly evolve, there are of course harmful things that come along with it. It can affect air quality, the quality of water, land, etc. Over all affecting the quality of life for those affected by this issue. As we evolve with technology, it becomes more of a issue to maintain and to properly dispose of systems no longer being used. This article describes different advancements that are being made in to help resolve this issue.