I saw one of those environmental programs on television the other day. It showed how human technology is developing to increasingly control the environment. Experiments are even now being conducted on things like controlling the weather to provide more food security for the world's expanding population. Now I've been wondering about the sustainability and also the ethics of this: is it really a good idea to use technology to manipulate the environment like this? How sustainable is it? How ethical is it? How good is it for the "future generations" we're so worried about?<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Some feel that it is wrong and dangerous to manipulate the environment and ecology by means of technology. One could however point out that we've been manipulating the environment with technology for quite some time now. We've built cities and made mass-producing, genetically enhanced farms for our food. We use technology for everything from communication to high-speed travel. These things do not worry us because we're used to them.

On the other hand, these forms of technology have also created severe harm to the environment that sustains us. This in itself proves that we cannot just manipulate as we please and expect to go on forever. We need to be responsible for the environment, even as we use technology. We can't just build a weather machine to make it rain when we want to. We need to consider how the environment and ecology will be affected.  How will animals be affected? How will biodiversity be affected?

Of course we want to live. There's nothing wrong with the survival drive. But our human intelligence also allows us to moderate and be responsible. Surely we have learned from our mistakes in the Industrial Age.  Perhaps the Information Age will make us slightly wiser in the use of our technological prowess.  Maybe we can indeed find a way to survive that won't kill both us and the world in the end.