Every day I hear a new story about the BP oil spill on the radio. Yesterday’s firsthand report of oil washing up in marshlands made me cry. One thing is becoming very clear. We don’t have the technology to fix it. The country that put a man on the moon is unable to close up this welt on the bottom of the ocean. We’ve made a mess that we can’t clean up, and no one knows what the consequences will be.
I love my iPod as much as the next person. But technology has its limits, as evidenced by the BP oil spill, and its running amok is nothing new. I think technology has created as many problems as solutions. To believe that technological innovation will fix everything from global warming to wildfires, extinctions, and overpopulation—that’s just wishful thinking. Technology will not allow us to abuse this planet indefinitely. The inability of scientists and engineers and the government to fix the BP oil spill is evidence of our hubris, and sends a clear message that some things are just not worth the risk, even if we have the technology.—Meg West, S.B.