College of Business Administration

Business Management and the Natural Environment

Discussion Questions for October 20, 1998

If technologies are, then, a combination of things, human skills and organized knowledge, they involve an intimate intermingling of the physical world and the social world. To repeat the point: technological evolution is not an autonomous affair of technologies forcing themselves on to society; and technology does not determine what society can do.
-Welford and Starkey, p. 105

1) Is technology responsible for environmental degradation? Is technology a force for positive change?

2) Should humanity stay out of the equation with regard to fixing nature? Should we not build wild animal parks, for example? How is this harmful to nature?

3) Fleming, in the article "Beyond the Technical Fix," concludes that "the new generation of technology, which will address the critical nexus of economics, soceital stability and environmental sustainablity, will not be in the form of technical fix, but of cultural change." Do you think this is true? Is cultural change possible?

4) Do you think a model based on Gaviotas is a realistic possibility for other communities? What are the parameters that are necessary for success? What limitations exist that counteract this as a feasible solution for our society?

See:
http://www.chelseagreen.com/Gaviotas/topia.htm#teeter
http://www.loe.org/html/books/gaviotas.html

"...clean technology involves a change in the technological regime prevailing in a firm. A long-term improvement in the environment-friendliness of products and processes requires that many more firms approach the latter end of the continuum. This is, arguably, itself a precondition for continuing economic growth. Growing output without such continuous improvement is liable to impose high costs on the environment."
-Welford and Starkey, p. 141

5) Is a sustainable future possible without the use of clean technology? Is it an all-or-nothing equation? In other words, must there be a planet-wide paradigm shift to achieve change, or can individuals make a difference?

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