Ecoblogi – A Blog by Daniel Elkama

Technology is man’s means of controlling nature and natural forces: it is a system, machines and methods created by man to control the energy, natural resources and other resources of the environment. It includes knowledge as well as physical infrastructure and machines. Technology can serve either good or evil. There are usually always some disadvantages of technology, but they can be very small with the right methods. There is no clear nature-technology dichotomy where technology is the bad guy. Today, almost all natural environments are so-called antromeres, i.e. ecosystems where both humans and nature are present. It is certain that intensive human activity and consumption, especially taking natural resources from the environment, using them and dumping waste and emissions into nature, has caused a devastating environmental crisis, including accelerating nature loss, climate change and other harmful environmental changes. However, that does not mean that man and nature cannot coexist if our lifestyle is different. The most important thing is to reduce consumption and switch to clean energy production, circular economy and vegetable protein production.

In environmental science, it is understood that all human activity causes disturbances in the environment. There is no completely harmless technology. However, not all human activity causes great destruction or major environmental changes, and some human-caused activities are even good for nature, biodiversity and ecosystem services. Beech cultivation, maintenance of meadows and traditional biotopes, and parks are valuable man-made habitats that greatly enrich biodiversity. Agroecological farming, which imitates the normal functioning of nature and its cycles while preserving the soil and conserving water, is a win-win situation for both humans and nature. For example, the small-scale beekeeping practiced by humans in Africa and Europe has also greatly increased the pollination and biodiversity of wild plants. Agroecologically cultivated fields are home to mammals and birds. Agroecological farming means that the harmonious coexistence of man and nature is possible. Up to 95% of the environmental problems caused by agriculture are related to meat production, and meat production causes 25% of global climate emissions. 70% of the world’s grain is wasted as animal feed, which provides only a small amount of nutrition. At the same time, a billion people are starving. Becoming a vegetarian is the easiest way to protect the environment. With the production of vegetable food and carbon-negative farming, where, for example, plant parts and roots are left in the field and thus reduce the loss of carbon from the soil, the entire agricultural sector could be transformed from a carbon source to a carbon sink.

Sometimes there are very big surprises when it comes to technology, for example, the sand pits made for taking sand from the ridges have saved a large number of sand martins, which make nests in them, and the ponds created in them often bring wild life. Animals often accept man-made habitats as well as natural environments. For example, the Saimaa ringed seal has widely accepted artificial nests made by humans. Man-made streams used for stormwater management encourage aquatic plants, birds and other aquatic life. The wastelands left behind by people can be wild with life and be very rich in biodiversity. Animals and plants accept the habitat as long as they have suitable conditions, i.e. a suitable ecological compartment, regardless of whether it is mainly man-made or nature-made.

Technology can be really polluting and destructive. The Bhopal chemical accident in India killed tens of thousands of people, and the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident in the Soviet Union killed even more than 200,000 (some estimates say more than a million). Air pollution kills 7 million people every year and we have heated fossil geological deposits by burning the average temperature of the earth by more than 1.5 degrees, causing an eco-catastrophe. We have destroyed half of the living biomass of the earth in two millennia, while in year 1 the biomass was over 1000 Gt, now only 550 Gt remain. In other words, we have destroyed half of nature. Earth’s forests used to cover 2/3 of our planet, now only 1/3. So we have caused a lot of serious problems for the earth, nature and humanity. The reason is the huge increase in consumption and bad technology. With good technology and lower consumption, the earth would last. Population growth is not primarily the cause of problems, in Africa, where the population is growing rapidly, people’s ecological footprint is often 1/50 that of Europeans and Americans. Africa and Europe have roughly the same number of people, but Europe’s carbon emissions are twenty times higher. In Africa, there has been a wide jump from the fossil phase directly to renewable energy, especially solar energy, which is endlessly available in Africa.

It is not true that the environment has been doing worse all the time due to human influence and technology. This is a pessimistic romantic and fatalistic imagination, in which man is seen as bad and nature as good, and that nothing can be done about things. With this kind of thinking, we as a whole humanity and the earth have no hope. It is interesting that, with the help of new technology, environmental impacts have often been relatively reduced. With old technology, our ecological footprint and our carbon footprint would be much larger. and the earth would have already been destroyed. For example, the world’s forests would have disappeared without the transition from burning wood to fossil fuels and finally to electricity. Without the introduction of petroleum, whales would have died out, because lamps, etc., used whale blubber oil. In the 19th century, whales were close to extinction. Today, there are only 5% of the number of whales that once roamed the world’s seas. Without car catalysts, Europe would suffer from even more destructive acid rain and cities from worse air pollution. There is no serious acid rain in the EU area anymore, except for a few countries with heavy industry. London no longer has the deadly smogs of the 50s. Without the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, the earth would be largely destroyed. According to the Kuznets’ Curve theory presented by Simon Kuznets, environmental problems first worsen due to economic growth, consumption growth and polluting technology. As the economy grows, know-how and clean technology, such as renewable energy and electric cars, increase, and thus the state of the environment begins to improve. This can be seen with many indicators in all Western countries and in many countries of the Global South as well. In everything, as with climate change, it is not yet visible, but I firmly believe that when we move to large-scale renewable energy, wind power, solar energy and hydrogen technology, it will become visible. New technology is not fundamentally an enemy, but often the only way to solve an environmental problem.

Charles Perrow states in Perrow’s accident theory that when technology reaches too high complexity, it can no longer be controlled due to its complexity and accidents are inevitable. However, this is usually not the case. It has been true mainly in two extremely complex technologies, one is space rockets and space shuttles and the other is nuclear power. It has not applied to airplanes, robots, solar panels or cars, which are also very complex technologies. I believe that the more knowledge we have about the laws of nature brought about by basic research and technological know-how, the smaller the risks will be. This can be seen, for example, in the development of car and airplane safety. Even in the 70s, driving a car was quite dangerous, today less than 5% die in car accidents than at that time. Electrical devices, such as puffer batteries, rarely cause fires today compared to the past. The reason is the improvement of technology and safety along with the growth of information and the quality of technology. When we know the ins and outs of how a machine or device works and interacts with the environment, we can make it harmless.

Apocalyptic headlines and scaremongering often get a lot of readers for books and populist studies. Running out of phosphorus in the mines does not lead to a food shortage, because artificial fertilizers are not really needed, for example in organic and agroecological farming. According to the World Watch Institute and the UN (e.g. State of the World 2011), Africa has e.g. Crops tripled in Mozambique with agroecological farming. Even in Finland, with the right kind of organic farming, you can get almost as big a harvest as with intensive farming. Fertilizers only destroy waterways and the Baltic Sea through eutrophication. The sand is not running out. 100% of the glass is recycled. Asphalt is already 100% recycled in many countries, including Finland. Almost 100% of concrete could be recycled, and in many countries most of it is recycled. Solar panels and wind turbine platforms can be 100% recycled. Wind turbines are even made of wood in Sweden, for example.

A full circular economy, where everything is recycled in an industrial ecosystem, is entirely possible thanks to recent technological advances. All matter except nuclear waste can be recycled. When matter is chopped, crushed and heated, its chemical structure can always be restored to its original state. What is needed are very high temperatures, which can be obtained from renewable energy and hydrogen technology. The generated waste heat can be directed to heating the communities. In the future, we may even have an unlimited amount of energy at our disposal, when we learn to fully harness the enormous amount of energy provided by the sun. The amount of energy consumption does not mean growing environmental problems when it is produced with purely renewable energy, and not with fossil fuels and nuclear power. The efficiency of energy production increases all the time e.g. in solar panels and wind turbines. In Finland, 25% of the energy is already produced by wind power, and the amount will double in the coming years thanks to wind farms already under construction and planned.

Fears are often associated with new technology, when it is imagined that a wind turbine will kill birds and when 5G will affect the brain. There is no scientific evidence for either of these. Birds are killed the most by cats (the biggest cause), traffic, agriculture and forestry, and windows. Research shows that less than 0.001% of bird deaths are related to wind power. Only then are wind turbines a threat to birds if they are built in the territory of large birds such as eagles. This can be prevented with comprehensive nature surveys and environmental impact assessments. Science and knowledge are also decisive here. 5G, on the other hand, radiates a little more strongly, but does not pose a danger to people or animals. There is a lot of completely false disinformation about the new technology circulating on the Internet, including fake images and references to old studies that have been found to be flawed. However, these people’s fears are only between their ears. When the radio was invented in the 19th century, it was feared that the world would be filled with radio waves and that all life would be destroyed. The reason for the fear was people’s ignorance of physics. There are still even crazy conspiracy theories about technology. A representative in the US Congress claimed a few years ago that ”Jews are warming the earth and starting forest fires with space lasers”. These climate change conspiracy theories are not only crazy but also dangerous because ignorant people in their stupidity believe them. A 2022 study has estimated that up to 10% of Americans believe in a flat earth. People’s scientific ignorance has increased and trust in science has decreased recently. Because of this, e.g. some conspiracy theories, the weakening of media literacy and learning outcomes, and the marginalization of the white working population. The advantage of China and other countries in economic and scientific competition compared to Western countries is that they do not believe in conspiracy theories in the same way.

Fear is human, but if it means falling from good development and stopping progress, it is very dangerous. At worst, this fear of new technology, etc., can endanger the safety of our entire planet, when humanity does not take the required steps forward. Fear is something that has been born into the human brain in evolution to strengthen survival, for example new people could be afraid because of infectious diseases. The colorful plants and berries could be suspect because of their toxicity. In today’s society, these fears are directed, for example, towards technology and are completely irrational. In fact, our entire species only exists because fears were conquered. Without the courage to leave Africa to the ends of the world, humanity (that small population) would have remained in a small area in Ethiopia, Africa and perhaps perished in certain natural disasters or due to infectious diseases. Courage enabled our evolution from cavemen to a civilized society. Antiliberal forces often burned great scientists at the stake, and this was also due to fear. In 1600, the Italian scientist Bruno was burned at the stake in Rome by the Pope because he called space infinite. Bruno is indeed a famous martyr of science, who today has a statue in the square in Rome where he was burned. Humanity’s only direction is forward if we want to reduce suffering, create a happier society and save the planet. Sometimes we take the backseat, like in this time when the extreme right and disinformation are getting stronger and dictators are bulging. However, in the end, the light always overcomes the shadow. A good society is guided by science, civilization, empathy, compassion and, above all, wisdom. Even the wise philosophers of antiquity understood this. Let’s follow in their footsteps towards a better world.

Daniel Elkama