Impact of Science and Technology on the Natural Environment

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Introduction

Nature in its broadest and original use refers to the biological, chemical and physical worlds whereas natural environment includes all things naturally found on earth, both animate and inanimate. Man is an integral part of nature and cannot live outside the natural environment as he depends on it for virtually everything. He “is constantly aware of the influence of nature in the form of the air he breathes, the water he drinks, the food he eats, and the flow of energy and information” (Spirkin, 3).

As such most of man’s activities has been and is in response to natural processes in an effort to get maximum utility from nature and enhance its productivity to meets the many human needs. In the human evolution, nature played a pivot role in either advancing it or impeding it. Spirkin further notes that man’s direct reliance to the nature lessens as the society develops and becomes more enlightened. For instance, the society ceases to entirely rely on land for their household food such that man can live on processed food.

The technological advancement results in man indirectly becoming more dependence on nature as most of his activities are focused on matter, energy and information. A classic example is the over reliance by the affluent populations on the electric power for lightning, cooking, refrigeration and for use in all other electric appliance. Yet electricity is produced from nature i.e. water, dynamo etc.

Positive impact of science and technology on nature

“Science and Technology have also been the greatest forces for beneficent social change in human history and will continue to be needed to solve the economic and social problems of the future.” (Baez, 1). Man has not only colonised the habitable part of natural environment, earth, but he has also transformed it over the years. This has resulted in the current natural environment which is due to a history of numerous action and reactionary outputs of man-nature relationship.

The green and industrial revolutions were big milestones in the human development as man could then have his needs better met by nature, without having to gather or hunt. Since that time man has innovatively come up with better ways of enhancing productivity of the land and reducing waste of natural resource.

This has been occasioned by significant scientific and technological strides in biological, physical and chemical fields. As such man’s dominion over nature has amplified significantly; thus more species have emerged while others have vanished, sophisticated structures are built from natural materials like stones, new substances made from existing chemical elements, effective drugs made from naturally occurring herbs, value addition of agricultural products etc.

The acceleration of economic development in the industrialising countries as a result of science and technology has been enormous. Of major importance is the contribution of agricultural technology to food security of developing nations of the world.

Through crop breeding its now possible to develop high breed varieties of crops with superior characteristics to the original varieties, such as;

early maturing crops which grow fast before the adverse weather conditions set in, as well as outgrowing weeds which would compete with the crop for nutrients,
high yielding plants that produce more than original varieties in the same conditions,
drought resistance, a trait that enables the crop to survive harsh weather conditions without significant decrease in yield, and
Disease and pest resistance, which means the crop is not susceptible to pest and disease infestation, therefore the harvest will be plenty and of good quality.

The contribution of technology to the communication industry has resulted in significant economic and social gains. Computer evolution has played a major part in the ushering in of the information age, where access to wide range of information has been eased.

The world has been transformed into a global village where people from different regions of the world can communicate freely and clearly, exchanging ideas either through: internet, cell phones, faxes, etc. The wide accessibility of information has lead to a more enlightened society, organized institutions and firms, ease of doing business, as well as consumer knowledge as he gets information about various products and goods.

Education institutions have not been left behind. More than ever before e-learning has gained popularity, with a majority of tertiary students opting for this module. Scholars have been able to post their research articles to the internet for public to easily and cheaply access. Further still institutions have also cut down the cost of managing hard copy libraries.

Negative impacts of science and technology

Technological progress has also had some drastic impact on the environment, which is threatening the natural survival of fauna and flora in the ecosystem. The World watch Institute puts it that “Our generation is the first to be faced with decisions that will determine whether the earth our children inherit will be habitable (Brown et al, 256).

Unless man is cautionary on his degradation actions in exploitation of natural resources the environment will remain under siege. The long term effect is even more disastrous as it poses a danger to the survival of man himself. Industrialisation has resulted in greenhouse effect that is characterised by significant increase in the atmospheric temperature. It is caused by increase of greenhouse gases (water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane and ozone), in the atmosphere.

These gases absorb and produce thermal infra red radiations – ones responsible for increased temperature. The water vapour account for the greatest percentage of green house effect but its concentration in the atmosphere is not directly affected significantly by man’s activity.

However, according to Clausius-Clapeyron theory, increase in atmospheric temperature results in more water being held in the air. Methane has a much stronger greenhouse effect than even carbon dioxide but its concentration in the atmosphere is small therefore, its overall contribution is little as well. Combustion of fossil fuels resulting in emissions of carbon dioxide is a major human activity that causes significant effect of the environment.

Carbon dioxide is emitted through either burning of coal to produce electricity or combustion of petroleum products mainly used in motor transport. It is these carbon dioxide emissions that are the biggest cause of global warming and it is the global warming which will potentially change the world into a hostile and inhabitable environment. The second major challenge is the genetic engineering. This refers to the deliberate alteration of the genetic composition of an organism from its natural being to a more improved one.

This technology has been adopted and it’s being employed in many parts of the world, especially in the field of agriculture and medicine. There has been lots of controversy on the whether to allow genetic modification of food crops and animals or not. While it is evidenced that genetic modification would increase the yields and quality of the crops thereby alleviating the world’s food insecurity, its effect on human being is not very clear.

Some countries have fully adopted this technology, other have only allowed its partial adoption, while others have put in place stringent measures and policies against it. Human cloning has been another contentious issue amongst the scientists as well the general public. Many people are at crossroads of whether to accept therapeutic cloning or reproductive cloning; while others reject both on the ground that acceptance of the former form of cloning will open an opportunity for the later.

According to Association of Reproduction Health Professionals (7,8), reproductive cloning involves using of any human cell to get a clonal embryo which is then implanted into the uterus of a woman to create a living child- human clone, whereas therapeutic entails using of the clonal embryo to produce stem cells such as organs. In this case the clonal embryo is not implanted in the woman womb, but rather it is developed into an organ like liver, heart etc.

While therapeutic cloning is morally acceptable to some extent, reproductive cloning is controversial as it is likely to cause confusion amongst human beings. For instance, every child is expected to have two biological parents, but in the case of a clone child, he will only have a cell donor, who could either be a man or a woman, but not both. The fact that such a child naturally does not have either a biological father or a biological mother further weakens the family unit which is the fundamental unit of a society.

Intervention measures to mitigate the impact of science and technology on the natural environment

Global warming, an environment menace has become an important issue among the scientists and all interested in environmental conservation. Reduction of carbon dioxide emission is the key to the shielding of the ozone layer from depletion.

This can be achieved by employing the following three strategies: one is to increase the energy efficiency so that less carbon dioxide is emitted, second is the use of bio fuels instead of petroleum oils which emit carbon dioxide. Most of petroleum oils among other fuels are imported from Middle East and are shipped to other countries and transported in heavy tankers thus adding to the carbon dioxide levels. The shift from fossil fuels to bio fuels and the localization of production of fuel in the area it is used would greatly alleviate the problem.

The third important thing that man should consider is to adopt preservative methods of utilizing natural resources such as, forestation, agro-forestry and rehabilitation of water catchments areas among others. The trees and other vegetative plants will use up the carbon dioxide in the air to photosynthesise their food thus purifying the air and reducing carbon dioxide levels. This will not only conserve the environment but it will also enhance the productivity of the land.

Genetic Engineering is a breakthrough in the medicine science as it provides an opportunity to treat terminal conditions like cancer illness and it makes it easy to do organ transplants.

However the technological advancement in the field of genetics has had myriad of disadvantages, some of which include the change of the original species of the fauna and flora into genetically modified organisms. The future of the modified organisms is not very clear. The modified organisms lose vigour with time, thus modification of all species might result in their gradual extinction.

Human cloning is another contentious issue, with proponents arguing that therapeutic cloning be employed to solve several medical conditions while opponents viewing it as an opportunity for mankind to turn to reproductive cloning where he will start ‘improving’ human beings.

The result will be a society of hybrid human beings, lots of confusion as the clone will resemble the mother cell hence not easy to tell one clone being from another. Further still, the success of a clone organism from the clone procedure is not 100%, therefore lots of human clones will be killed or destroyed before a successful clone is arrived at.

Statement of other relevant facts and the consequences of each option

The shift from petroleum oils to bio fuels has had it own share of challenges. First, to meet the huge demand for fuel requirement, we would require lots of biomass such as agricultural vegetative matter. The farmers will produce more agricultural crops for bio fuel industries as opposed to food because the prices of bio fuel feedstock will be a premium.

As a result unprecedented famine and food insecurity would befall the society, defeating the very rationale of turning to bio fuels. Further the current bio fuel; ethanol absorbs water making it impossible to pipeline it as it will rust the pipes. This adds to its cost of transportation and carbon emission by the ship and the heavy trucks that transport it to various parts of the world.

Genetic modification of food crops and animals is the way to go if we are to meet the high demands of food requirements for the rapidly growing human population and solve the perennial food insecurity in the developing countries. Sticking to the convention methods pf plant breeding will limit farmers from getting the best quality and abundance yield in the shortest time.

Enforcement and implementation of policies that prohibit therapeutic human cloning closes all the windows for the infertile couples who through this technology would be able to get their own child. This technology enables patients with terminal illness such as cancer to be treated by organ transplants. The organ will be grown from stem cell and the patients will not have to wait for long to get an organ donor. Usually many patients die of their conditions while still waiting.

Statement of relevant moral principles

The effect of technological advancement has both positive and negative impact to the natural environment. If you consider the modern methods of agricultural production, they will lead to more food of high quality but will have adverse effect on the environment. Nuclear weapons render better protection at the expense of the environment. With technology man’s power over nature has tremendously increased, and he is now exercising it to even his fellow mankind.

It is evidenced that man’s interference with the nature has resulted in many of the global challenges we are facing with today; economic downturn, global warming, and wars among others. “Environmental factors are among the main, if not the sole, factors shaping culture.” (Sobouti, 2) These factors determine the way people dress, their economic activities, their lifestyle in general and a people’s technological advancement among others.

Before adoption of a new technology it is of essence to analyse and assess its impact to the nature as well as the humanity. Technology should only be employed to the extent that it is in consistent with the moral laws of the society, if man has to maintain order on earth and reduce conflict with nature and fellow man. The indiscriminative use of science and technology, without considering its impact is both careless and immoral.

Statement of the decision made

Historically, industrial revolution contributed greatly to the development of man. Given, the great economic gains realised from advancement of science and technology, we cannot totally disregard its use. It also follows that if the futurist challenges are to be solved, science and technology have the keys to the solutions.

However it should be employed in line with set development goals and moral ethics of the society. Governments should make policies and laws to regulate how science is being used. The policies and laws to regulate the use of science and technology should be publicised and the public thoroughly educated on them.

With the public understanding on what is legally acceptable, then the laws can be implemented and enforced. One of the mandates of every government is to protect its citizenry from exploitation of any form by individuals, private sector, civil servants, etc. Therefore, governments should neglect this important duty of protecting the citizens from technology abuse, as that will be an injustice.

Justification of the decision

Science and technology has opened many doors for manipulations of nature including mankind. It is only through comprehensive policies that the major risks of adoption of science and technology can be mitigated, whereas reaping the numerous gains of it. Nations and states should come together to formulate international policies on the same. Otherwise the negative technological impact from one region will affect the entire world as the earth is a single mass composed of many units.

The fight against human activities that cause climatic change requires concerted efforts from all persons; rich and poor, governments and non-governmental organisations, and nations and their leaders. Reverting climatic change is very costly compared to preventing it from happening. It is in the hands of every human being, me and you, to conserve and preserve the natural environment before the backlash of our exploitive activities hit on us. It is only through this that we can make earth a home fit for human habitation.

Works Cited

Association of Reproduction Health Professionals. “Human Cloning and Genetic Modification.”N.d. Web.

Baez, Albert V. “Teaching Youth about the Environmental Impact of Science and Technology.” N.d. Web.

Brown, Lester R. Worldwatch Institute “State of the World.” W.W. Norton: New York, USA, 2, 1989. Print.

Spirkin, Alexander, “Dialectical Materialism.” N.d Web.

Sobouti, Yousef. The Academies Press, “The Morality of Exact Sciences,” Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences. N.d Web.

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