Negative Impact of Technology on Environment Persuasive Essay Example

I think that new technologies hurting the earth’s environment is important because it affects all the people, animals, and the overall progression of the entire world. This is a subject that should be discussed more. There are positive things that are produced by having these new technologies, but the negative things heavily outnumber them. During this essay, I will examine, analyze, provide opinions from trusted experts, and give compelling evidence of why there’s no doubt that new technologies are definitely affecting our environment in a negative way. 

My reasons are driven by the literature review, and the articles I have found that support my views. I will also talk about articles that oppose my views on this subject. The Carnegie Academy’s article called “How Technology can Harm the Environment” is the most useful article that I found. The negative side effects they listed of having new technology include: pollution, consuming resources, waste, disrupting ecology, health hazards, and carbon emissions. Pollution can very negatively affect our food, water, and other resources. Everyone who eats, drinks, or uses the resources that were affected by the pollution might see a major deterioration in their overall health. Some of these new technologies require non-renewable resources to be produced. These resources are very hard to come by and are extremely valuable. As a result, these resources might become even harder to find. The production of these new technologies might also result in waste. Most of this waste is hard to dispose of. Disposing of them might also be terrible for the environment. The manufacturing of these new technologies can also affect the animals in a negative way. The building of factories and pollution of animal resources are the major factors. The environment of these animals could be flipped upside down. Where they get food, water, and live peacefully could also be changed. Diseases might also be caused. These diseases could worsen to the point where they would cause death. Another environmental impact of producing new technologies is the discharge of waste into the atmosphere. The Carnegie Academy also discusses some positive outcomes of manufacturing new technology. First, they say how the new technology helps us make products that actually help the environment. I think that this makes no sense. If the new technology is hurting the environment, and a new product has to be made to get rid of these negative effects; then it’s pointless to even make the new technology in the first place. The second article that I found was on the Brookings Education website. This article discussed how new technology is a “double-edged sword.” This means that there are negative and positive impacts that come from producing new technology. The effects of the industrial revolution are talked about in-depth during this article. The industrial revolution brought a plethora of new jobs, easier ways to manufacture a number of other products, and it sparked a movement that was extremely important to the United States. However, the negative outcomes were still prevalent. It brought climate changes, water pollution, and problems with waste control. The climate changes negatively impacted the plants and animals nearby. The plants were not used to these types of climates, and it often would lead to their death. Animals didn’t have the ability to adapt fast enough and most of them were also killed off. Water pollution is also a huge negative factor. Animals would become terribly sick from the water being polluted, and some of them would even die. The positive outcomes listed in this article include the advancement of human knowledge throughout the world and the abundance of new information that we possess from having these new technologies. The article also cites that Americans have seen a huge increase in income per capita since the industrial revolution.

The article by Brookings says, “The number of U.S. cities failing to meet national air quality standards for ozone, 199 in 1990, was just 70 by 1995.” This number has gotten better throughout the years, but it still isn’t where it should be. It just provides even more evidence of why producing new technologies is hurting the earth’s environment. If we don’t start to improve this, it might become too bad to even recover from. The air quality is also affecting our health. It gives us diseases and sicknesses that lead to death. The animals are also suffering from the air quality as much if not worse than we are. As of 2018, the United States has 292.4 tons of waste. As you can see, waste management has become a problem for the United States. The majority of this waste is from producing new technology. With nothing to do with this waste, it results in having more air pollution and water pollution problems. These problems negatively affect everyone who inhabits the earth. There is also no way to remove this waste. The only ways that it could be removed would result in even more environmental issues and destruction. 

Finally, according to my judgment, new technologies hurt our world more than help it. The negative effects of the new technologies outweigh the positive. There need to be safer ways to produce new materials that can help the earth. These new ways shouldn’t destroy our environment. There also needs to be better ways of disposing of the waste made from making the new technology. The ways we have been doing aren’t working. They are resulting in more and more deaths of people and animals. We have to change something if we want to have a better quality of life and longer expectancy. These environmental impacts might be holding humans back. Our potential only grows if this is fixed. For a long time, older people in the United States have been moving to places with better air quality. Arizona and Florida have been hotspots for doing this. However, they shouldn’t have to move. They should be able to stay where they want to, and if these environmental problems are fixed they wouldn’t have to move. My grandma suffered from lung cancer for almost twenty years of her life. Sadly, she lived in Utah. Utah has the worst air quality in the United States. She wouldn’t move somewhere with better air quality and she died because of that. These problems desperately need to be fixed so people around the world can stop suffering.