America's Next "War": The Nuclear Greens Race

The US loves a good competition - especially if it thinks it can win. Framed correctly, China's new jump into the world of environmental conservation could be just the motivation need to convince Americans that there's nothing to lose from getting into green technology. If it's framed as some sort of game to be won, then that’s all the better. Anything to convince the US powers that be that the environmental movement isn’t the evil it’s cracked up to be. The new change in mindset certainly wouldn’t make us any worse off than we already are.

The question of course is whether or not green technology really is the answer to climate change or any other environmental disaster. The jury is still out on that one. The majority of technology is not produced to cause harm to humans; even less of it is designed with the express purpose of causing environmental damage. All technology is actually designed to solve some sort of problem – save time and personal energy doing dishes or laundry, getting a person from point A to point B in as little time as possible, alleviating boredom etc. I like to think that the designers rarely think of the problems their solutions really could cause. Often, the problems are unfathomable until the scale and scope of the technology really reach their full extent. That being said, no one really knows what problems green technology could lead to on a large scale. They may be better for the environment, but are they good for quality of life? Social life? Dogs and kids?

In addition, all this talk of technology and competition assumes that our global “free” market provides the answer. As already discussed in class, some schools of thought would certainly disagree. The Social Greens would scoff at such a solution. I personally tend to share their skepticism, though perhaps to a lesser extent, even though I think I really identify as a bio-environmentalist. However, I also believe that a transition into the smaller more self-sustaining communities we need is a process that will require a lot of time. Small steps definitely need to be taken in the interim, and I think getting people to see the value in green technology is a good first step. If China provides the economic motivation to change our mind set, so be it. I’m not typically an ends justify the means sort of person, but given the how deeply the problem is ingrained in our social system, I often find myself believing that there aren’t a lot of options other than to play by their rules until something better comes along.