Responsible ICT

Responsible ICT

Book chapter

9. The environmental dimension

Abstract

In this chapter, we discussed the influence of humankind on the environment, and our responsibility to look after our planet. We showed the negative impacts of consumerism and globalization. We also showed examples of ICT communities uniting to improve the environment by staying within planetary limits of resource consumption, through the LIMITS community and ICT4S and EnvironInfo conferences.
Next, we discussed the recently released IPCC report, and it’s worrying implications. The general Western view of nature as created by Winter & Kogerwinter2010psychology, and it’s four basic assumptions were given. These assumptions are:

  1. Nature is Composed of Inert, Physical Elements.
  2. Nature can and should be controlled.
  3. Individual human beings seek private economic gain.
  4. We must progress.

Then, we introduced the four biospheric values. The general idea of these values is that nature is an important part of life, and should be handled respectfully by human beings. These were then compared to the aforementioned assumptions. The four biospheric values are:

  • Respecting the earth
  • Protecting the environment
  • Preventing pollution
  • Unity with nature

Altruistic and egoistic values were also given. Altruistic values put the emphasis on helping fellow human beings without expecting anything in return. Egoistic values, on the other hand, put the emphasis on making oneself better, without much regard for other people. These can sometimes clash with the biospheric values, and it was concluded that especially egoistic values often do not line up with biospheric values, while biospheric values often correlate with altruistic values.
We introduced the three orders of effects of ICT on the environment:

  • ICT has a direct effect on a physical level. Example: by requiring electricity to work and by needing silicon for hardware to be created.
  • ICT has an indirect effect by the use of ICT. Example: optimizing processes and reducing emission, and giving everyone a voice so that people can share and promote their ideas and values.
  • ICT has long term effects by widespread use of ICT. Example: increase in consumerism, resulting in unnecessary purchases.
  1. Lastly, we introduced the Deep Ecology movement. This movement is build around a set of eight principles, all focused on recognizing the inherent value of all livings beings on earth. These eight principles are:
  2. The well-being and flourishing of human and nonhuman Life on Earth have value in themselves (synonyms: intrinsic value, inherent value). These values are independent of the usefulness of the nonhuman world for human purposes.
  3. Richness and diversity of life forms contribute to the realizations of these values & are also values in themselves.
  4. Humans have no right to reduce this richness and diversity except to satisfy vital human needs.
    The flourishing of human life and cultures is compatible with a substantial decrease of human population. The flourishing of non-human life requires such a decrease.
  5. Present human interference with the nonhuman world is excessive, and the situation is rapidly worsening.
  6. Policies must therefore be changed. These Policies affect basic economic, technological, and ideological structures. The resulting state of affairs will be deeply different from the present.
  7. The ideological change is mainly that of appreciating life quality (dwelling in situations of inherent value) rather than adhering to an increasingly higher standard of living. There will be a profound awareness of the difference between big and great.
  8. Those who subscribe to the foregoing points have an obligation to directly or indirectly try to implement the necessary changes.

We then made a comparison of these principles and ICT. On a fundamental level, the way ICT has been implemented conflicts with the Deep Ecology principles. The only ways ICT could potential work with the Deep Ecology movement, is if the production processes of hardware were to be made as sustainable as possible, and if the amount of e-waste produced by customers is minimized.

Knowledge clip


Adriaan Kisjes, Victor Soons, Aram Bakir, Nizar Haroun

[1] M. A. Aizen, L. A. Garibaldi, S. A. Cunningham, en A. M. Klein, “How much does agriculture depend on pollinators? Lessons from long-term trends in crop production”, Annals of botany, vol 103, no 9, bll 1579–1588, 2009.
[2] D. Wallace-Wells, The uninhabitable earth. Columbia University Press, 2019.
[3] D. Winter en S. Koger, The psychology of environmental problems: Psychology for sustainability. Psychology press, 2010.
[4] N. K. S. Descartes, Descartes’ philosophical writings. NY: The Modern Library, 1958.
[5] E. A. Burtt, The English philosophers from Bacon to Mill. NY: The Modern Library, 1939.
[6] E. Kolbert, Under a white sky: The nature of the future. Crown, 2021.
[7] IPCC, “AR6 Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis”, United Nations, 2021.
[8] A. Sabloff en J. Lemon, “Reordering the natural world: humans & animals in the city”, Urban History Review, vol 30, no 1, 2001.
[9] T. M. Smith en R. L. Smith, Elements of Ecology. Pearson Education, 2015.
[10] F. Hole, “The Neolithic Revolution”, Paléorient, vol 10, no 2, 1959.
[11] G. H. Haug, D. Günther, L. C. Peterson, D. M. Sigman, K. A. Hughen, en B. Aeschlimann, “Climate and the collapse of Maya civilization”, Science, vol 299, no 5613, bll 1731–1735, 2003.
[12] D. Ehrenfeld, “Globalisation: Effects on Biodiversity, Environment and Society”, Conservation & Society, vol 1, no 1, bll 99–111, 2003.
[13] B. Nardi et al., “Computing Within Limits”, Communications of the ACM, vol 61, no 10, bll 86–93, 2018.
[14] A. Drengson, “The deep ecology movement”, The Trumpeter, vol 12, no 3, 1995.
[15] C. Coglianese, “Social movements, law, and society: The institutionalization of the environmental movement”, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, vol 150, no 1, bll 85–118, 2001.
[16] A. Naess, “The basics of deep ecology”, The Trumpeter, vol 21, no 1, 2005.
[17] A. Drengson, B. Devall, en M. Schroll, “The deep ecology movement: Origins, development, and future prospects (toward a transpersonal ecosophy)”, International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, vol 30, no 1–2, bll 101–117, 2010.
[18] A. Naess, “The three great movements”, The Trumpeter, vol 9, no 2, 1992.
[19] A. Naess, “The shallow and the deep, long-range ecology movement. A summary”, inquiry, vol 16, no 1–4, bll 95–100, 1973.
[20] A. Naess, Ecology, community and lifestyle: outline of an ecosophy. Cambridge university press, 1990.
[21] B. Devall, “The deep ecology movement”, Nat. Resources J., vol 20, bl 299, 1980.
[22] B. Devall en G. Sessions, Deep ecology. Pojman, 1985.
[23] “Google Books Ngram Viewer Ecology”. Google.
[24] “Google Books Ngram Viewer Ecology”. Google.
[25] “Google Books Ngram Viewer Deep Ecology”. Google.
[26] J. W. Chitotombe, “Globalization of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and consumerism in developing countries: Confronting the challenges of e-waste disposal in Harare urban, Zimbabwe”, International Journal of Environmental Sciences, vol 3, no 6, bll 2172–2185, 2013.
[27] E. Salmón, “Kincentric ecology: indigenous perceptions of the human–nature relationship”, Ecological Applications, vol 10, no 5, bll 1327–1332, 2000.
[28] L. Yi en H. R. Thomas, “A review of research on the environmental impact of e-business and ICT”, Environment international, vol 33, no 6, bll 841–849, 2007.
[29] R. S. Snelgar, “Egoistic, altruistic, and biospheric environmental concerns: Measurement and structure”, Journal of environmental psychology, vol 26, no 2, bll 87–99, 2006.
[30] J. I. M. De Groot en L. Steg, “Value orientations and environmental beliefs in five countries: Validity of an instrument to measure egoistic, altruistic and biospheric value orientations”, Journal of cross-cultural psychology, vol 38, no 3, bll 318–332, 2007.
[31] R. Howell en S. Allen, “People and planet: Values, motivations and formative influences of individuals acting to mitigate climate change”, Environmental Values, vol 26, no 2, bll 131–155, 2017.
[32] J. I. M. De Groot en L. Steg, “Mean or green: which values can promote stable pro-environmental behavior?”, Conservation Letters, vol 2, no 2, bll 61–66, 2009.
[33] W. J. Bock, “The Darwin-Wallace Myth of 1858”, Proceedings of the zoological Society, vol 62, no 1, bll 1–12, 2009.
[34] P. Bairoch, Cities and economic development: from the dawn of history to the present. University of Chicago Press, 1988.
[35] L. Yang, F. Qian, D.-X. Song, en K.-J. Zheng, “Research on Urban Heat-Island Effect”, Procedia Engineering, vol 169, bll 11–18, Des 2016.
[36] L. Putterman, “Agriculture, diffusion and development: Ripple effects of the neolithic revolution”, Economica, vol 75, no 300, bll 729–748, 2008.
[37] E. J. Chapman en C. J. Byron, “The flexible application of carrying capacity in ecology”, Global Ecology and Conservation, vol 13, 2018.
[38] S. Postel, “Carrying capacity: Earth’s bottom line”, Challenge, vol 37, no 2, 1994.
[39] K. Raworth, “Why it’s time for Doughnut Economics”, IPPR Progressive Review, vol 24, no 3, bll 216–222, 2017.
[40] L. J. Bozzelli, “Urbanization and population growth: projected impacts of growth on ecological resources in Ontario”, International ResearchScape Journal, vol 6, no 1, 2019.
[41] S. Rizou et al., “Water4Cities: an ICT platform enabling holistic surface water and groundwater management for sustainable cities”, in Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Proceedings, 2018, vol 2, bl 695.