“The economy is still substantially that of the fur trade, still based on the same general kinds of commercial items: technology, weapons, ornaments, novelties, and drugs. The one great difference is that by now the revolution has deprived the mass of consumers of any independent access to the staples of life: clothing, shelter, food, even water. Air access remains the only necessity that the average user can still get for himself, and the revolution has imposed a heavy tax on that by way of pollution. Commercial conquest is far more thorough and final than military defeat.” WayKindStillsWaterDifferencesTechnologyEconomyAirMilitaryRevolutionDrugTaxesWeaponsMassIndependentRemainsTradeFinalsDefeatAverageHeavyAccessConsumersClothingsUsersPollutionShelterConsumerismConquestItemsDeprivedNoveltyFurThoroughOrnamentsOverconsumptionStaples Book:The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture Source: The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture
“What the new fertilizer technology has accomplished for the farmer is clear: more crop can be produced on less acreage than before. Since the cost of fertilizer, relative to the resultant gain in crop sales, is lower than that of any other economic input, and since the Land Bank pays the farmer for acreage not in crops, the new technology pays him well. The cost-in environmental degradation-is borne by his neighbors in town who find their water polluted. The new technology is an economic success-but only because it is an ecological failure.” WellsWaterPayTechnologyClearEconomicLandCostGainsTownsEnvironmentalNeighborAccomplishedFarmersRelativeCropsDegradationEcologicalNew TechnologyInputFertilizerEnvironmental DegradationEconomic Success Author:Barry Commoner
“As soon as I moved to New York, I experienced Hurricane Irene and then Hurricane Sandy hit me in quite a big way. I had 12 days without any electricity or any water. The thing that I realized the most from it was that we've become so dependent on technology. There's so much accessibility to information that suddenly when everything is cut off, you're completely lost, and you start asking deeper and more profound questions - how short life is, and how grateful we should be for things.” WayShouldBigsLife IsLostWaterTechnologyCuttingInformationNew YorkAskingGratefulMovedProfoundDeeperI RealizedDependentElectricityHurricanesShort LifeAccessibilitySandyHow Short Life IsHurricane Sandy Author:Archie Panjabi
“Climate change isn't just an environmental issue; it's a technology, water, food, energy, population issue. None of this happens in a vacuum.” HappensEnergyWaterTechnologyIssuesClimateEnvironmentalClimate ChangePopulationVacuumsEnvironmental Issues Author:David Titley
“The aboriginal peoples of Australia illustrate the conflict between technology and the natural world succinctly, by asking, 'What will you do when the clever men destroy your water?' That, in truth, is what the world is coming to.” MenWorldWaterNaturalTechnologyEnvironmentTruth IsConflictAskingCleverAustraliaNatural WorldAboriginalClever Man Author:Winona LaDuke
“In the end, the fate of children depends on our ability to use technology constructively and carefully. The connection of childrenand technology is not simply a matter of seat belts, safe toys, safe air, water and food, additive-free baby foods, or improved television programming. These are all important issues, but to stop here is to forget that today's children will soon be adults. Technological decisions made today will determine, perhaps irrevocably, the kind of physical and social world we bequeath them and the kind of people they become.” PeopleWorldKindChildrenMadeImportantEndsMatterUseTodaySocialWaterAbilityDecisionForgetTechnologyIssuesFateAirTelevisionBabyDependsSafeAdultsConnectionsDetermineSeatsProgrammingToysTechnologicalBeltsImportant IssuesDecisions MadeSeat BeltsAdditives Book:All Our Children: The American Family Under Pressure Source: All Our Children: The American Family Under Pressure
“Inanimate objects are sometimes parties to litigation. A ship has a legal personality, a fiction found useful for maritime purposes. The corporation sole - a creature of ecclesiastical law - is an acceptable adversary, and large fortunes ride on its cases... So it should be as respects valleys, alpine meadows, rivers, lakes, estuaries, beaches, ridges, groves of trees, swampland, or even air that feels the destructive pressures of modern technology and modern life.” FeelsShouldSometimesWaterPartyCasesTechnologyAirTreeModernObjectsPersonalityPressureFortuneEnvironmentalShipsCorporationsDestructiveValleysAcceptableModern LifeAdversariesGroveRidgesInanimate ObjectsModern Technology Author:William O. Douglas
“An unfolding technology has increased our economic strength and added to the convenience of our lives. But that same technology-we know now-carries danger with it. From the great smoke stacks of industry and from the exhausts of motors and machines, 130 million tons of soot, carbon and grime settle over the people and shroud the Nation's cities each year. From towns, factories, and stockyards, wastes pollute our rivers and streams, endangering the waters we drink and use.” PeopleKnowsYearsUseNationsWaterCitiesMillionsTechnologyOur LivesEconomicDangerIndustryDrinkWasteRiversMachinesTownsEnvironmentalSmokeSettlingStreamsCarrieFactoriesPollutionCarbonConvenienceMotorUnfoldingShroudsGrime Author:Lyndon B. Johnson
“The survey of more than 100 waterways downstream from treatment plants and animal feedlots in 30 states found minute amounts of dozens of antibiotics, hormones, pain relievers, cough suppressants, disinfectants and other products. It is not known whether they are harmful to plants, animals or people. The findings were released yesterday on the Web site of the United States Geological Survey, which conducted the research, and in an online journal, Environmental Science and Technology.” PeopleStatesPainFoundWaterAnimalUnitedKnownTechnologyUnited StatesMinutesProductsAmountFindingsResearchPlantEnvironmentalYesterdayTreatmentOnlineDozenSiteJournalSurveysHormonesScience And TechnologyPlants And AnimalsAntibioticsEnvironmental Science Author:Andrew Revkin
“The sun-belt and the technology belt can become very powerful when they begin to understand themselves as a community: a community of energy, water and climate security; a community for their common future.” EnergyPeaceWaterCommunityPowerfulCommonTechnologySunSecurityClimateBeltsVery Powerful Author:Prince Hassan bin Talal
“One of the reasons I think the population question is important, if we want to be as green as possible, any of our energy that is truly renewable is limited. Solar and wind are intermittent and they're so diffuse, it's difficult to harness them in a significant way. But one thing we could be doing is making it a law (like it is in Israel and Cyprus) to take every building eight stories or under and heat all of the water in those buildings with solar energy. It's absolutely simple and cheap technology.” IfsThinkingWayWantImportantReasonStoriesLawEnergyDifficultWaterSimpleTechnologyOne ThingBuildingWindGreenPopulationIsraelEightSignificantHeatHarnessSolar EnergyCyprusIntermittent Author:Alan Weisman
“Technology has also had a big impact, especially on the bike. Now everything is tested aerodynamically, wind tunnels are used to optimize performance, and frames, wheels, water bottles are all tested. Even clothing, like my Castelli Stealth Top, is faster than skin.” BigsUsedWaterTechnologyWindSkinsPerformancesImpactFasterWheelsBottlesClothingsBikeTestedTunnelsStealthBig ImpactWater Bottles Author:Timothy O'Donnell