A farm is as much a technology as a conveyor belt or a car. It is the transformation since 1945 of the technologies we use that, in part, explains why many environmental problems have got worse. In farming, there has been a dramatic shift from what were primarily organic and mixed crop systems to ones based on agrochemicals and cereal monocultures, with many farm animals kept indoors for all or part of their lives. In transport, the private motor car took the place of the bus and train. In the manufacturing sector, all kinds of new synthetic substances replaced naturally occurring resources, be it wood or wool.
Examples abound across all sectors of economic activity.
One of the simplest examples is the switch from the technology of returnable glass bottles to that of non-returnable plastic containers. One choice is more appropriate to a sustainable society than the other. Many people think that technologies are essentially neutral tools, and that any failings merely a result of their misuse in the wrong hands. In rality, technologies not only embody different human values and priorities but also produce different social and environmental impacts-regardless of who owns or operates them. If it is assumed that different technologies possess different characteristics, the question then follows whether it is possible to distinguish 'inappropriate' technologies from more appropriate ones.