Can pollution problems be effectively solved by environmental science and technology? An analysis of critical limitations

It is currently believed that science and technology can provide effective solutions to most, if not all, environmental problems facing western industrial societies. The validity of this optimistic assumption is highly questionable for at least three reasons: First, current mechanistic, reductionist science is inherently incapable of providing the complete and accurate information which is required to successfully address environmental problems. Second, both the conservation of mass principle and the second law of thermodynamics dictate that most remediation technologies — while successful in solving specific pollution problems — cause unavoidable negative environmental impacts elsewhere or in the future. Third, it is intrinsically impossible to design industrial processes that have no negative environmental impacts. This follows not only from the entropy law but also from the fact that any generation of energy is impossible without negative environmental consequences. It can therefore be concluded that science and technology have only very limited potential in solving current and future environmental problems. Consequently, it will be necessary to address the root cause of environmental deterioration, namely, the prevailing materialistic values that are the main driving force for both overpopulation and overconsumption. The long-term protection of the environment is, therefore, not primarily a technical problem but rather a social and moral problem that can only be solved by drastically reducing the strong influence of materialistic values. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.