Technology is undoubtedly destroying the planet through its negative environmental impacts. Transportation like automobiles is a major contributor to air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Raw material extraction such as coal mining, oil drilling, and fracking pollutes land, water, and air. Other technologies such as pesticides, nuclear energy, and farming practices harm ecosystems. However, renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and ocean power could help reduce environmental damage if societies shift away from fossil fuels and toward more sustainable options. Overall, overuse of resources and lack of alternatives are forcing the planet to bear the consequences of unchecked technological development.

1. Technology Will Destroy
Our Planet
Brianna van Niekerk
Tiffany Bayes

2. Technology Defined
• “The branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of
technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the
environment, drawing upon such subjects as industrial arts,
engineering, applied science, and pure science”

3. Technology in Today’s Society
• used more commonly than any generation prior
• has the ability to make peoples lives easier, but has consequences
• constantly surrounded by it
• technology is constantly changing and evolving
• society always needs and depends on the latest evolving
technology

4. Transportation Through Automobiles
• motorized vehicles are one of the largest sources of air pollution
• this can be the cause of negative health effects
• scientific studies show children living in areas highly populated
with cars have more respiratory-related illnesses, such as asthma
• has also been linked to heart attacks, coronary artery disease and
increased risk of death from respiratory and cardiac conditions
• 1/5 of all greenhouse gas emissions in the United States is caused
from automobiles
• the number of cars on the road is continuing to increase rapidly

5. Transportation Through Automobiles
• cars emit chemicals such as fine particulate matter,
nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide/dioxide and volatile
organic compounds (organic chemicals that have a high
vapour pressure at room temp)
• a single car emits 12,000 pounds of carbon dioxide (this
would require 240 trees to offset this amount)
• oil is required to keep cars moving
• drilling for oil interferes with the world’s ecosystem
• roads created in order to travel on; this requires the
removal of trees and animal habitats, reducing the amount
of trees available to create oxygen and interfering with
animal reproduction

6. Raw Resources
• Coal Mining
• the largest source of electricity in the world
• requires large areas of land to be disturbed
• causes climate change
• releases methane; a green house gas that is twenty times more powerful
than carbon dioxide
• there has been the rise in mountaintop removal mining where tops of whole
mountains are blasted away to get to the coal seams underneath. Several
open-pit mine craters are so large that they are visible from outer space
• bad mining practices can ignite coal fires, which can burn for decades,
release fly ash and smoke laden with greenhouse gasses and toxic chemicals

7. Raw Resources
• Oil Mining
• Wintershall states that Crude oil is seen as the most important
raw material it is used to produce almost everything such as:
fuel, plastic, detergent, paint, and clothing. Living without this
oil is almost impossible
• modern life is inconceivable without Crude oil. The world
consumes almost 14 billion liters of oil each day
• oil produces large amounts of CO2 into the air and oil spills also
pollute bodies of water and wildlife

8. Nuclear Energy
• according to the U.S department of Energy
2012, Energy does not produce any carbon
dioxide into the air while operating but does
require a lot of energy
• nuclear energy does in fact impact the
environment by producing large amounts
radioactive waste such as: uranium mill
tailings, and reactor fuel these reactive
materials can be harmful to human health for
thousands of years

9. Nuclear Energy- The Funkushima Nuclear
Disaster in Japan
• Michael Snyder states that: The tsunami in Japan hit the
Funkushima Nuclear power plant in 2011 causing a radioactive
fallout for hundreds square miles in Tokyo
• officials in Japan admit that 300 tons of radioactive water from
Fukushima is entering the Pacific Ocean every 24 hours
• a total of somewhere between 20 trillion and 40 trillion becquerels
of radioactive tritium have gotten into the Pacific Ocean since the
Fukushima disaster first began

10. Farmers and Agriculture
• farmers use a variety of pesticides on the crops in their fields
• the result of this is the dangerous chemical leaks into streams and
bodies of water
• this then results in digestion of the pesticides into the human body
• also results in a disruption in ecological imbalances

11. Global Warming
• the result of the mentioned technologies is resulting in global
warming
• polar ice caps are shrinking at a rate of 9% per decade
• the earth’s temperature is rising consistently
• Causes disturbances in the ocean’s flow which can result in storms

12. How can we use Technology to help?
• Technology is undoubtably destroying the planet as we are
consuming more resources (trees, oil) much faster than they are
being produced
• there is too much Co2 and greenhouse gases in the air and not
enough tress to off set the amount. Ultimately, this is destroying
our ozone layer
• our planet cannot fix its self and will need major changes in the
areas that have been destroyed in order to be repaired
• changes do not mean society needs to change their lives a whole
lot but simply means using other resources for energy such as
renewable energy

13. Renewable Energy
Renewable energy is energy that comes from the earths natural
resources; this includes but is not limited to:
Solar
Solar energy uses the suns UV rays and converts it to energy. Solar
power provides enough energy to supply an entire home
Wind
Wind turbines use the wind to turn the turbines that are hooked up
to a generator and together make energy
Ocean Energy
Ocean energy uses a dam to convert tidal energy by forcing the
water through turbines and activating a generator

14. Conclusion
• technology is undoubtedly destroying the planet.
• technology such as: cars, nuclear power plants, and pesticides
are all contributing to the amount of green houses gases emitted
into the air as well as global warming
• the planet cannot fix itself when society is using more resources
than it can produce
• we cannot blame technology for destroying our planet as it is
society that has created the technology and is at fault for its
overuse and overdevelopment
• society needs to start thinking of ways to help save the planet
from technology
• Using renewable energy is a resource that could help make this
happen

15. References
• Dictionary.com. (2014). Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/technology?
s=t
• Schwarzfeld, M. (n.d.). Top 10 ways man is destroying the environment. Retrieved from
http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/curiosity/topics/10-ways-man-destroying-
environment.htm
• Road traffic and air pollution. (2012, 12 10). Retrieved from
http://healthycanadians.gc.ca/environment-environnement/outdoor-air-exterieur/traf-eng.php
• M.Snyder (2013). Facts about the ongoing Fukushima nuclear holocaust too
horrifying to believe. Retrieved from http://www.trueactivist.com/11-facts-about-
the-ongoing-fukushima-nuclear-holocaust
• U.S department of Energy (2012). Nuclear power and the environment. Retrieved
from: http://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=nuclear_environment
• Mining impacts. (2010, 04 15). Retrieved from
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/climate-change/coal/Mining-impacts/
• Wintershall. (2014). oil can do more . Retrieved from
http://www.wintershall.com/en/company/oil-and-gas/oil-can-do-more.html