The idea that technology will save us is comforting, but it is false. I'm speaking from a Neo-Malthusian perspective, and I truly believe that there are limits to population and resource use and that we will not be able to avoid them forever. If technology could save us, that would mean that it would have to allow us to grow past our limits indefinitely. That is simply not possible.
That is not to say that I think technology is bad. I think it can do great things to improve our lives, and it can be modified to reduce its environmental impact. But no matter what we do, technology will impact the planet through energy use, resource use, or pollution. There is unfortunately no way to stop this. Even "green" technology isn't free of its impact. This means that to be truly sustainable, we need to look beyond technological innovation.
I have previously used ozone depletion as an example in a posting because it is so explicitly a demonstration of the failure of technology. The CFCs and ozone depleting substances were being used because of technology, and no improvements in technology were changing it. The only thing that has been able to prevent their use is international agreements with binding force. The belief that technology will rescue us from our limits is too cornucopian in nature, and the only way to survive on this planet is to respect our environmental limits. As our experience with ozone depletion shows us, unregulated technological expansion can hurt the planet, and institutionalism seems to be one of the best remedies.
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