It's Earth Day, and we're meant to think deeply about the planet that sustains us. And in this age of accelerating technological innovation, which brings with it a constant demand (or unnecessary push) for new products—more than anything to sustain domestic and global economies—to think of the planet on Earth Day is to reckon with the costs that technology exacts on the ecosystem.
Recently, San Francisco's anti-tech movement, notably through the anonymous Counterforce group, has written intelligently on this issue. Which got me wondering what other environmental activists had to say about technology and sustainability.
First, this doesn't require a descent into Luddism; it demands an understanding that sustainability shouldn't become another marketing ploy—something designed to convince college-educated liberals to buy a product. It's an idea with far-reaching implications for the global economy. A system that, by its nature, must create new products and grow market share or suffer the shock of global recession or depression.