CHAPTERTHREE
THEHUMANROOTSOFTHEECOLOGICALCRISIS
101. It would hardly be helpful to describe symptoms without acknowledging the human origins of
the ecological crisis. A certain way of understanding human life and activity has gone awry, to the
serious detriment of the world around us. Should we not pause and consider this? At this stage, I
propose that we focus on the dominant technocratic paradigm and the place of human beings and of
human action in theworld.
I.
TECHNOLOGY:CREATIVITYANDPOWER
102. Humanity has entered a new era inwhich our technical prowess has brought us to a crossroads.
We are the beneficiaries of two centuries of enormous waves of change: steam engines, railways, the
telegraph, electricity, automobiles, aeroplanes, chemical industries, modern medicine, information
technology and, more recently, the digital revolution, robotics, biotechnologies and nanotechnologies.
It is right to rejoice in these advances and to be excited by the immense possibilities which they
continue to open up before us, for “science and technology are wonderful products of a God-given
human creativity”.
81
The modification of nature for useful purposes has distinguished the human
family from the beginning; technology itself “expresses the inner tension that impels man gradually to
overcome material limitations”.
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Technology has remedied countless evils which used to harm and
limit human beings. How canwe not feel gratitude and appreciation for this progress, especially in the
fields of medicine, engineering and communications? How could we not acknowledge the work of
many scientists and engineerswho have provided alternatives tomakedevelopment sustainable?
103. Technoscience, when well directed, can produce important means of improving the quality of
human life, from useful domestic appliances to great transportation systems, bridges, buildings and
public spaces. It can also produce art and enable men and women immersed in the material world to
“leap” into the world of beauty. Who can deny the beauty of an aircraft or a skyscraper? Valuable
81
JOHN PAUL II,
Address to Scientists and Representatives of the United Nations University,
Hiroshima (25 February
1981), 3:AAS73 (1981), 422.
82
BENEDICTXVI,Encyclical Letter
Caritas inVeritate
(29 June2009), 69:AAS 101 (2009), 702.
