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human cancer consuming the globe. Even moderate greens can be anti-tech, reflecting both skepticism about
capitalism and the counter cultural ideology that characterizes most environmental discourse.
Consider, for example, something as mainstream, as the precautionary principle, which holds that no new
technology be introduced until it can be demonstrated to have no harmful environmental impacts. Taken at face
value, this embeds within it a strong preference for "privileging the present" – that is, attempting to ban or limit
technological evolution – for the potential implications of all but the most trivial technological innovations can-
not be known in advance.
Positioning environmentalism against technology, however, has its problems. For one, it misunderstands
the nature of complex cultural systems. These inevitably evolve, generally towards greater complexity; con-
sider, for example, how much more complex international governance, information networks, or financial struc-
tures are now than just a few years ago.
And technologies are evolving rapidly as well, particularly in the three areas that promise to impact envi-
ronmental systems the most: biotechnology, nanotechnology, and information technology. The first will, over
time, give us design capabilities over life; the second will let us manipulate matter at the molecular level; the
third will change how we perceive and understand the world within which the first two are accomplished.
Moreover, developing such capabilities will give the cultures that do so significant competitive advantages
over those that opt for stability rather than technological evolution. There are historical examples of this process
– for example, China, from roughly the 11th to the 14th centuries. At that time, China was the most technically
advanced society, but for a number of reasons its elite chose stability over the social and cultural confusion that
development and diffusion of technologies (such as gunpowder and firearms) might have caused. Northern
Europe, however, followed a more chaotic path, including the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution,
which favored technological evolution. The result: Eurocentric, not Chinese, culture forms the basis of today's
globalization.
Applying this lesson to current conditions raises the question of whether deep-green opposition to certain
technological advances, especially genetically modified organisms, could halt technological advance. Some so-
cieties – Europe, in particular – may choose stasis over evolution. But biotech is such a powerful advance in hu-
man capabilities that other societies – especially developing countries with immediate needs that biotech can
address – are not likely to forego its benefits. And to the extent, their cultures become more competitive by do-
ing so, they may come to dominate global culture.
So is the answer then to simply give up and let technology evolve, as it will? Not at all. In fact, the essen-
tial problem with an ideological opposition to technology is that it prevents precisely the kind of dialog between
the environmentalist and technological discourses required to create a rational and ethical anthropogenic earth.
For technologies are not unproblematic, and their evolutionary paths are not preordained; rather, they are prod-
ucts of complex and little-known social, cultural, economic, and systems dynamics, it is important that they be
questioned and understood.
The challenge is thus not unthinking opposition, or maintenance of ideological purity, or even meaningless
repetition of ambiguous phrases such as "precautionary principle." It is far more demanding. It is to learn to
perceive and understand technology as a human practice and experience, and to help guide that experience in
ways that are environmentally appropriate.
8. BUT I WANT TO WORK ON ENVIRONMENTAL STUFF!
One of the horrible existential challenges of being a student is that, in most cases, one must at some point
leave school and begin work, presumably in an area for which one has been training these many years. For
those reading this column, the area of interest is likely environmental, usually expanded these days to include
sustainability. Put bluntly, the relevant questions are likely to be "How do I do well and what is the job market
like?" Recognizing that planning your career on the basis of a 750-word column is probably not a great idea,
here are some thoughts while you hit the books.
First, the good news. There are plenty of opportunities to do great things: to help your employer (be it a
private firm, government, or NGO), help the world, and feed yourself. Now, the bad news. Most of these oppor-
tunities are disguised, most have nothing to do with environment as currently taught and thought about at most
schools, many of the opportunities have yet to be invented, and almost any worthwhile job will require that you
develop it yourself, from inside.
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