Technology and Environment: A Thorny Problem?

There was a man in our town,

And he was wonderous wise,
He jumped into a bramble bush
And scratched out both his eyes...

And when he saw what he had done,

With all his might and main,
He jumped into the bramble bush
And scratched them back again!

The traditional rhyme "The Bramble Bush" depicts the source of a problem
being turned into the solution of the problem. Nature (in this case the bush) is
used to redress the problems that nature itself has inflicted upon us - or
allowed us, despite our wonderous wisdom, to inflict on ourselves by our
relation to the natural world. (The rhyme does not tell us whether there was
an error of judgement - leaping before looking, or misinformation about the
consequences of leaping - or whether the damage was to some extent
intentional. I like to think that the protagonist is a scientist carrying out an
experiment)

The current discussion of technology and environment brings this rhyme to

mind strongly. In much the same way as the bramble bush is entered again, it
is hoped that technology can be applied to overcoming the problems which
our historical and current use of technology have caused for the natural world
and for human existence within it. Another piece of folklore is also brought to
mind: the dire consequences of biting the apple (leading to expulsion from a
Garden of Edenic harmony between humanity and nature). The implication is
that we should be taking a second bite of the apple.

Achieving the objective of redressing the problems associated with our use of
technology, however, is going to require more than a second jump of the same
sort, into the same bramble bush; or a second bite of the same apple.
Technology will have to be used in new ways, and technological knowledge
organised along new lines.