Hi Mollie, back then they probably didn’t think much about pollution. People invent things to improve on current method or products, so that is why cars was made – to replace the horse. Early on, there was steam-engine driven cars that came before the internal combustion engine but it was quite limited. The steam-engine car still require burning of a fuel source to generate the steam. People wanted to get to places faster and easier – it is faster now to drive in a car than using a horse and cart. With improvements in fuel economy and electric/hybrid technologies, pollution from cars have been reduced – although pollution is still happening when electricity is being generated (from coal and gas sources). Newer technologies such as Fuel Cells that uses hydrogen or natural gas should generate less pollution.
Herbert is spot on. A similar example is space junk/pollution. We have been so concerned with putting things into space and advancing out technology that we are actually getting a lot of junk (broken parts, dead satellites) orbiting the Earth causing problems. If we don’t deal with it in the next 20 years, we won’t be able to send things into space anymore. Its one of the problems we are working on at Mt. Stromlo Observatory.
The others are right, it was a simple lack of knowledge and foresight that prevented people from seeing the potentially damaging consequences of their actions. (Although I wonder whether people would still have gone ahead with developing cars and trucks and planes even if they had known the damage it would do to the environment. I think they would have. What do you think?) Situations like these are one reason that scientists and regulators like to carry out “environmental impact assessments” before starting new developments these days, to prevent damage before the project starts.
I don’t think anyone back then would have thought to consider how advances would affect the environment. Obviously, we need these modern conveniences but the hope is that we can develop technologies and advances that have a lower impact, or at the very least try to protect the environment in other ways (solar panels, etc).
I agree with the others. It is very difficult to predict the full implications of any invention or new technology until it is used. Many things end up being used for very different reasons then what they were invented for.
But we cannot stand still and stop trying to improve things because of what may happen. We do risk assessment and model and try and work these things out but sometimes you just cannot
Hi Mollie, back then they probably didn’t think much about pollution. People invent things to improve on current method or products, so that is why cars was made – to replace the horse. Early on, there was steam-engine driven cars that came before the internal combustion engine but it was quite limited. The steam-engine car still require burning of a fuel source to generate the steam. People wanted to get to places faster and easier – it is faster now to drive in a car than using a horse and cart. With improvements in fuel economy and electric/hybrid technologies, pollution from cars have been reduced – although pollution is still happening when electricity is being generated (from coal and gas sources). Newer technologies such as Fuel Cells that uses hydrogen or natural gas should generate less pollution.
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Herbert is spot on. A similar example is space junk/pollution. We have been so concerned with putting things into space and advancing out technology that we are actually getting a lot of junk (broken parts, dead satellites) orbiting the Earth causing problems. If we don’t deal with it in the next 20 years, we won’t be able to send things into space anymore. Its one of the problems we are working on at Mt. Stromlo Observatory.
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The others are right, it was a simple lack of knowledge and foresight that prevented people from seeing the potentially damaging consequences of their actions. (Although I wonder whether people would still have gone ahead with developing cars and trucks and planes even if they had known the damage it would do to the environment. I think they would have. What do you think?) Situations like these are one reason that scientists and regulators like to carry out “environmental impact assessments” before starting new developments these days, to prevent damage before the project starts.
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I don’t think anyone back then would have thought to consider how advances would affect the environment. Obviously, we need these modern conveniences but the hope is that we can develop technologies and advances that have a lower impact, or at the very least try to protect the environment in other ways (solar panels, etc).
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I agree with the others. It is very difficult to predict the full implications of any invention or new technology until it is used. Many things end up being used for very different reasons then what they were invented for.
But we cannot stand still and stop trying to improve things because of what may happen. We do risk assessment and model and try and work these things out but sometimes you just cannot
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