At the turn of the 21st century, electronic communication and technology has been rapidly developing to a point that human beings and its environment is not at par. The world has been talking about the new models of smart phones and the new software that bridged people together despite distance and borders. The advancement of technology has created virtual communities. People are talking about the successes of these communication and other technologies but never did people talk about the environmental and health consequences of these rapid developments. Clara Piccirillo in an article entitled “Environmental Impact of Information and Communication Technology” mentioned that of the world’s population, there are already too many who use communication technology and only a few years from now, that “too many” will be doubled.
Piccirillo said that when auto mobile was discovered, people saw it as a convenient and more efficient compared to horses. They rationalized that cars will have a smaller damage to the environment than horses. However, when too many people opted for cars than horses, the pollution it is causing today is way worse than that of the horses. This is same with the development of communication technology. As people avail of new gadgets and throw the old ones, its impacts to health and environment is getting worse. The more that the world manufacture these kinds of technology, the more it needs to extract chemical and mineral components from the earth. “Some of these elements can be toxic; heavy metals such as cadmium Cd, lead Pb and arsenic As, for instance, are all present in desktop computers or in standard computer monitors,” Piccirillo (2011).
Extracting these toxic chemicals are hazardous to the environment and most specially to people’s health. Regardless of safe disposition of the chemicals, it will always contaminate the environment specially the soil and the water systems. Once the toxic chemicals contaminate the water, it will have a domino effect on the human beings and all the living beings of the earth. Piccirillo also mentioned that incineration of these technologies like computer and mobile gadgets can expose the environment to hazards and although laws even in Australia prohibit the burning or incineration of these things, law enforcers cannot control the household wastes.
Further, one of the environment hazards in the rapidly developing communication technology is the rising energy consumption. The world is still dependent to fossil fueled energy power plants and there is already a clamor to shift from fossils to renewable energy. However, the desired shift from fossil energy to renewable will not be achieved with the fast growing need for energy because of technology developments. In the developed countries like Australia, people possess more than one mobile gadgets. A young professional or even a student can have a laptop, smart phone, and a tablet. Every time, a new model of mobile phone is launched, those who can afford to buy will avail even if they still have the older model. Accumulation of gadgets consumes more energy which means additional power plants renewable or fossil to meet the energy needs of the people. We always forget the nature which suffers every day for the pollution caused by the continuing increase in energy generation and consumption.
Since the Climate Change issue hounded the world, every state especially the developed countries are being pressured to reduce their carbon footprints. Australia for one made a road map to reform its information and communications technology from 2010 to 2015. The title of the project is “Australian Government ICT Sustainability Plan 2010 - 2015.” One of the objectives of the road map is to identify the energy consumption target of the ICT in the country. This is their way of reducing carbon footprints and to develop a scheme for energy sustainability and at the same time, they make sure that any plan for ICT development will not compromise the health of the environment, and any program for sustainability will not hinder innovations on ICT.
One of the strategists of the Australian government in reducing its energy consumption is to include in the government policy the assessment on environmental risks of a gadget before the procurement. In 2005, the Australian government released a checklist on environment friendly ICT. To accomplish the checklist, the staff will have to complete the “Best Practice Checklist, ICT Asset Management”(finance.gov.au). The said checklist contain questions on the asset management, management of the ICT including its disposal. In general, the checklist will not only look into the financial aspect of the ICT procurement but its life cycle as a whole. It will also look into the possible negative effects the product procurement. Beyond the commitment of Australia with reducing carbon emissions, the country is also complying with its policies entitled, “Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act of 1999, Energy Efficiency in Government Operation” (environment.gov.au) among several other policies with regards the environment.
On the other hand, the fast changing technology can displace thousands and even million workers in the future. According to Williamson et. al. in a book entitled “Technology and Australia’s Future,” the country for the longest time does not have a plan or a narrative on the direction of the future Australia despite the rapid changes in technology. “Some of the wilder predictions suggest that by 2030, 80% of all jobs will be in firms or institutions that don’t exist now” (Williamson et. al., 2015). This wild prediction can really happen like what happened in the agricultural sectors not only in Australia but also in the other developing countries. In some countries where there are mining and agricultural workers, developments to technology has already displaced them from their work. It is then possible that this can also happen in the communications technology where thousands of workers rely to feed their families. With the displacement of workers from their jobs, another form of jobs will also arise. The challenge here is for people to cope as fast as the technology.
Meanwhile, there is no doubt that Australians or the human beings as a whole need technology. Technology whether for communications or not is central to the life of human beings then and now. Williamson et. Al. (2015) mentioned of the historical relevance of technology from food production, defense, comfort, among others. It is undeniable that technology is human is the best of human beings. They have created, innovated, and created more and have proven that homo sapien’s intelligence is boundless. It has created technologies that were impossible centuries ago. People cannot deny the fact the development of communication technology has revolutionize how people interact. If we look into mass communications, the development is sometimes unbelievable. From print media to radio waves to television. The progress has pushed scientists and inventors to aspire for a more convenient technology. Then there was the computer and the internet that today made people around the world communicate real time. It has made the world border-less.
The communication technology at the turn of the 21st century can be the best but it has trade-offs especially to the ones that has patiently accommodated us to the best of its hospitality, the mother nature. We human beings are so engrossed at admiring and worshiping the new creations specially of information and communications technology that we have forgotten our home and even forgotten that we are a living being who are dependent on the grace of nature to live.
I think it is not only the environment that will have grave changes with the rapid growth of ICT. Even the behavior or the way people act will also change following the newly created technology. Looking for example the young people of the 1990s over the young people of the late 2000s. The children of the latter are engrossed watching or playing with their mobile gadgets that most of them has already acquired illness that are brought about by not moving. The children of the 1990s however are more active in outdoor games and so, they are healthier. It is indeed true that “humanity and technology shape each other” (Williamson, 2015). Williamson added that if the government will address the problem, they will have to understand further the interrelations of humanity and technology.
Today, it seems that the development of technology is unprecedented and that only a few people across the globe are expressing their critics on this. Most people are driven by technology. They do not not worry of how their health and the environment feels with the greed-driven development. Smarts phones, tablets, and new models of computers are only peoples’ wants rather than needs. Corporations are continuously inventing gadget models and sell it to people whose wants are insatiable. Mobile phones are continuously phasing in and out. Corporations’ way of enticing us that the new gadgets are what we need is boundless. People will then stop using their old models and opt for the new one believing that it has applications they need, but the truth is, we do not really need those new applications. We just want to follow the trend.
As a result, technological wastes are accumulated, energy needs for manufacturing and using of the technology rise. Fossil based energy will the shoot up despite the efforts to shift into renewable energy. Peoples’ health is overlooked because we are so engrossed of waiting for new gadget models. As I have observed, we do not care how these models are manufactured. We do not care thinking of how many workers were exposed to hazardous chemicals just to manufacture those luxuries. We do not care if the environment is rapidly degrading due to massive mineral extraction. We are intelligent as evidently shown by the revolutionary inventions but we seemingly lack the intelligence of managing our wants and luxuries.
Willamson et.al. (2015) in their book entitled “Technology and Australia’s Future” mentioned that the government plays a decisive role in regulating the effects of using technology rather than regulating the technology itself. They explained that regulating the development of technology may stifle the development of Australia. If I am given the power to decide, this recommendation is not feasible. The recommendation means that the regulation will be at the expense of the population using the technology. They will regulate the end users and not the manufacturers. For me, this is a clear pro-corporation way of thinking. The regulation should be among the manufacturers. There should be a limit of mobile phones sold which is based on a research that shows the gadget needs of the Australian population.
Moreover, the government should set a ceiling on the extraction of mineral and chemical resources within their borders and also outside. Australian mining companies are operating not only in Australia but in the developing countries. The Australian government should see to it that within or outside their borders, Australian mining companies should abide by the environmental rules set by the Australian government and also respect the laws and human rights in their host countries.
In this argument, I think Australia needs policy makers who are service oriented and are well versed with the environment policies, intergovernmental declarations, and United Nations recommendations to governments specially to Australia. The Australians need policy makers whose hearts are with health and with the environment; not with and among the corporations that manufacture technologies and mining corporations.
On the other other hand I commend Australia for imposing a policy on technology procurement which includes an item that assesses the environment impact of the procured technology. However, the will to strictly implement this is still to be seen. It needs the political will to implement the checklist. Without political will among the supervisors and the staff themselves, it will just remain a checklist that is done mechanically.
For a government like Australia that has the resources and the capacity to protect its environment and the health of its people, change for the better Australia is possible. It needs a massive education campaign on the sustainability of the environment vis a vis the technological needs. It can start by including it to the curriculum of schools specially public schools starting from primary to secondary education. There is a needs to instill among the youth the importance of simple living and the negative effects of feeding their luxuries. I think the young the old need to unite on the need-based consumption and reiterate one of the values which despises gluttony. Health workers will have to take on a great role in the health education vis a vis technology development. It will have to be part of public health where front line health workers will have to include this as part of their health education program.
In the policy making, there should be a regulative law which sees to it that the resources are used on a need-based rather than based on the unending needs of the world market. The government should conduct a study to compute the resources as to how long will it take before they are depleted. Base on this research, it should be the government that decides on what technologies are needed but sees to it that it does not curtail the rights of the consumers. However, there should be a law imposing for a maximum number of gadgets that a person have. These policies will be easily implemented after the people understood its objective. If the people understand that the actions are grounded on an objective that resources will be sustainable and for a lesser risks on peoples’ health.
References
Australian Government Information Management Office (2008). “Better Practice Checklist - 24. ICT Asset Management.” Retrieved from http://www.finance.gov.au/agimo-archive/better-practice-checklists/asset-management.html
Piccirillo, C. (2011). “Environmental Impact of Information and Communication Technology.” Decoded Science. Retrieved from http://www.decodedscience.org/environmentalimpactofinformationandcommunicationtechnology/7453
Williamson, R.C., Raghnaill, M. N., Douglas K., & Sanchez, D. (Sept. 2015). “Technology and Australia’s Future.” Melbourne: Australian Council of Learned Academies.
