Aunty Earth

I'm not going to beat around the bush: Technology is going to save us.

And now I am: But not on its own.

Anecdote: My aunt has high cholesterol. She has to take medicine for it. She also has to exercise more and eat a healthier diet. Her husband helps with the diet, making healthy foods and laying off the nasty, fatty, artery-clogging foods himself, so she's not doing it alone. Her sister (my other aunt), goes for 3 mile walks with her every morning. My mom does yoga classes with her once a week. Her doctor has developed a friendship with her, and checks up on her almost every week. It isn't easy for her to change her lifestyle in such a manner, but she's got a whole team of people who love and care for her helping her out, making sure she'll stays healthy, so later on heart disease doesn't become a factor.

Metaphor: The earth is my aunt. Aunt Earth, instead of Mother Earth. Aunt Earth is not going this road alone. She has help from all sides. The technological aspect of her condition, the medicine, is but one small part. An important part, certainly. But not the whole of it.

Looking at technology from an environmental aspect...the idea that technology could save us is simply saying we can develop tech over time to slow down or halt the environmental degradation going on, without sacrificing how we, as consumers, live. Being saved by technology to a certain extent means perpetuating the consumer lifestyle. We don't want to give things up, but if we can simply switch out something without having to sacrifice too much (like switching out light bulbs), then hey, saving the planet isn't so hard.

That's not going to work. And admittedly, not all environmental technology is used for the purpose of pushing forward the "buy buy buy" ideology. Straws that filter water in developing countries are there to save lives...but they're also helping save the environment, in a roundabout way (if you have clean water your less likely to die, if your less likely to die you can concentrate on thriving instead of just surviving, if you can start thriving you can start worrying about the environment, same old theory). Still, technology just replaces practices that are bad, it doesn't reprimand them.

We need to go on a diet and exercise program too. ...That can be taken literally up to a point, but figuratively we need to live with less, purchase with the long-view in mind (i.e. solar panels are expensive right now, but overtime pay for themselves), and work harder for a healthy planet.

And some might say, "Well why don't we just do only diet and exercise and not worry about the technology." That's not going to work either. My aunt isn't going to just get better if she only diets and exercises. That technology is needed to help fix what's already a problem. The dieting and exercising are helping reverse and prevent further complications.

To summarize: You can't just halt, or prevent, or reduce, or reverse, a problem. You have to do all of them. Technology can help fix the things we've already screwed up (SORRY AIR. AND WATER. ...AND OZONE.AND TREES. ...AND PLANTS. ANIMALS. PEOPLE. ...our bad!), but reduced consumption and increased advocacy and action will prevent the situation from slipping back into old, really bad for the planet, habits.