- Technogaianism
Technogaianism (a
portmanteau word combining "techno-" fortechnology and "gaian" forGaia philosophy ) is abright green environmentalist stance of active support for the research, development and use of emerging and future technologies to help restoreEarth 's environment. Technogaians argue that developing safe, clean,alternative technology should be an important goal ofenvironmentalist s.cite book| author = Hughes, James| title =Citizen Cyborg : Why Democratic Societies Must Respond to the Redesigned Human of the Future| publisher = Westview Press| year = 2004| id = ISBN 0-8133-4198-1] This point of view is different from the default position of radical environmentalists and a common opinion that all technology necessarily degrades the environment, and thatenvironmental restoration can therefore occur only with reduced reliance on technology. Technogaians argue that technology gets cleaner and more efficient with time. They would also point to such things ashydrogen fuel cell s to demonstrate that developments do not have to come at the environment's expense. More directly, they argue that such things asnanotechnology andbiotechnology can directly reverseenvironmental degradation .Molecular nanotechnology , for example, could convert garbage in landfills into useful materials and products, while biotechnology could lead to novel microbes that devour hazardous waste.While many environmentalists still contend that "most" technology is detrimental to the environment, technogaians point out that it has been in humanity's best interests to exploit the environment mercilessly until fairly recently. This sort of behaviour follows accurately to current understandings of evolutionary systems, in that when new factors (such as foreign
species ormutant subspecies ) are introduced into anecosystem , they tend to maximise their own resource consumption until either, "a)" they reach an equilibrium beyond which they cannot continue unmitigated growth, or "b)" they become extinct. In these models, it is "completely impossible" for such a factor to totally destroy its host environment, though they may precipitate major ecological transformation before their ultimateeradication . Technogaians believe humanity has currently reached just such a threshold, and that the only way for human civilization to continue advancing is to accept the tenets of technogaianism and limit future exploitive exhaustion ofnatural resource s and minimize further unsustainable development or face the widespread, ongoing mass extinction of species.cite book| author = Rosenzweig, Michael| title = Win-Win Ecology: How The Earth's Species Can Survive In The Midst of Human Enterprise| publisher = Clarendon Press| year = 2005| id = ISBN 0195156048] Furthermore, technogaians argue that onlyscience and technology can help humanity be aware of, and possibly develop counter-measures for,risks to civilization, humans and planet Earth such as a possibleimpact event .One controversial example of technogaian practice is an artificial
closed ecological system used to test if and how people could live and work in a closedbiosphere , while carrying outscientific experiment s. It is in some cases used to explore the possible use of closed biospheres inspace colonization , and also allows the study and manipulation of a biosphere without harming Earth's.cite book| author = Gitelson, I. I.; Lisovsky, G. M.; and MacElroy, R. D.| title = Manmade Closed Ecological Systems| publisher = Taylor & Francis| year = 2003| id = 0-415-29998-5] The most advanced technogaian proposal is the "terraforming " of aplanet , moon, or other body by deliberately modifying its atmosphere,temperature , orecology to be similar to those ofEarth in order to make it habitable by humans.Zubrin, Robert, "", pp. 248-249, Simon & Schuster/Touchstone, 1996, ISBN 0-684-83550-9]Sociologist
James Hughes mentions Walter Truett Anderson, author of "To Govern Evolution: Further Adventures of the Political Animal", as an example of a technogaian political philosopher;cite book| author = Anderson, Walter Truett| title = To Govern Evolution: Further Adventures of the Political Animal| publisher = Harcourt| year = 1987| id = ISBN 0151904839] argues that technogaianism applied toenvironmental management is found in thereconciliation ecology writings such asMichael Rosenzweig 's "Win-Win Ecology: How The Earth's Species Can Survive In The Midst of Human Enterprise"; and considersBruce Sterling 'sViridian design movement to be an exemplary technogaian initiative.cite paper| author = Sterling, Bruce| title = Viridian: The Manifesto of January 3, 2000| date = 2001 | url = http://www.viridiandesign.org/manifesto.html| accessdate=2007-01-28]Related environmental ethical schools and movements
*
Bright green environmentalism
*Reconciliation ecology
*Social ecology
*Viridian design movement ee also
*
Environmental ethics
*List of environmental issues
*List of environment topics References
External links
* [http://www.greenprogress.com/ Green Progress]
* [http://www.viridiandesign.org/ Viridian Design Movement]
* [http://www.worldchanging.com/ WorldChanging]
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