The development of many modern machines has led to air pollution.

this leads to poor air

quality.
Positives
Better technology can helps us study and better understand how we are affecting
the environment.
Negatives
Advancements in things that require fossil fuels reduces the amount we have, and
if burned, emits carbon dioxide into the air.
Advancements in other exploitation techniques can also get rid of things such as
forests, aquifers, and other natural resources that we need.
Technology such as the invention of vehicles, air-conditioning and other advanced
gadgets have caused air pollution. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are
released into the air, causing global warming. ndustriali!ation have also contributed to
much of these.
[edit] Environment
"ain article# $nvironmental technology
Technology provides an understanding, and an appreciation for the world around us.
"ost modern technological processes produce unwanted byproducts in addition to the
desired products, which is %nown as industrial waste and pollution. &hile most material
waste is re-used in the industrial process, many forms are released into the environment,
with negative environmental side effects, such as pollution and lac% of sustainability.
'ifferent social and political systems establish different balances between the value they
place on additional goods versus the disvalues of waste products and pollution. (ome
technologies are designed specifically with the environment in mind, but most are
designed first for economic or ergonomic effects. )istorically, the value of a clean
environment and more efficient productive processes has been the result of an increase in
the wealth of society, because once people are able to provide for their basic needs, they
are able to focus on less-tangible goods such as clean air and water.
The effects of technology on the environment are both obvious and subtle. The more
obvious effects include the depletion of nonrenewable natural resources *such as
petroleum, coal, ores+, and the added pollution of air, water, and land. The more subtle
effects include debates over long-term effects *e.g., global warming, deforestation,
natural habitat destruction, coastal wetland loss.+
$ach wave of technology creates a set of waste previously un%nown by humans# toxic
waste, radioactive waste, electronic waste.
,ne of the main problems is the lac% of an effective way to remove these pollutants on a
large scale expediently. n nature, organisms -recycle- the wastes of other organisms, for
example, plants produce oxygen as a by-product of photosynthesis, oxygen-breathing
organisms use oxygen to metaboli!e food, producing carbon dioxide as a by-product,
which plants use in a process to ma%e sugar, with oxygen as a waste in the first place. .o
such mechanism exists for the removal of technological wastes.
)umanity at the moment may be compared to a colony of bacteria in a /etri dish with a
constant food supply# with no way to remove the wastes of their metabolism, the bacteria
eventually poison themselves.
[edit] Government
ndividuals rely on governmental assistance to control the side effects and negative
consequences of technology.
(upposed independence of government. An assumption commonly made about
the government is that their governance role is neutral or independent. )owever
some argue that governing is a political process, so government will be influenced
by political winds of influence. n addition, because government provides much
of the funding for technological research and development, it has a vested interest
in certain outcomes. ,ther point out that the world0s biggest ecological disasters,
such as the Aral (ea, Chernobyl, and 1a%e 2arachay have been caused by
government pro3ects, which are not accountable to consumers.
1iability. ,ne means for controlling technology is to place responsibility for the
harm with the agent causing the harm. 4overnment can allow more or less legal
liability to fall to the organi!ations or individuals responsible for damages.
1egislation. A source of controversy is the role of industry versus that of
government in maintaining a clean environment. &hile it is generally agreed that
industry needs to be held responsible when pollution harms other people, there is
disagreement over whether this should be prevented by legislation or civil courts,
and whether ecological systems as such should be protected from harm by
governments.
5ecently the social shaping of technology has had new influence in the fields of e-science
and e-social science in the 6nited 2ingdom, which has made centers focusing on the
social shaping of science and technology a central part of their funding programs
The .egative $ffects of Automobile $missions /ollution
Charles 'ic%ens wrote about the dirty conditions of 1ondon, $ngland by saying, -(mo%e
lowering down from chimney pots, ma%ing a soft blac% dri!!le, with fla%es of soot in it as
big as full-grown snowfla%es 7 gone into mourning, one might imagine, for the death of
the sun . . . 8og everywhere . . . fog down the river, where it rolls defiled among the tiers
of shipping, and the waterside pollutions of a great *and dirty+ city- *9td. 1angone :;+.
The problem with the air bac% in 'ic%ens< day was all of the coal that was burned for
heat and power. Today, we do not often use coal in our individual homes or businesses,
but we still have a big problem with our air. Automobiles are our main problem today. n
almost every large metropolitan area in the world, the effects of the pollution released
from the cars can be seen, smelt and felt by the average person. &hen science and
technology step in and actually measure the amounts of pollution present, the effects
become even more shoc%ing.