Purpose

The primary purpose of this book is to interest the reader in technology. Interest leads to curiosity and further study. The secondary purpose is to deepen the reader's understanding of technology and of the dual role of technology as a source and remedy of global (environmental) change. At the end of the book's “technology journey” it is hoped that readers in general, and students, researchers, and practitioners in particular, can more fully incorporate technology issues in their reflection, conceptualization, analysis, modeling, and ultimately policy formulation when addressing global change.

My personal motivation for writing this book was dissatisfaction with the treatment of technology in studies, scenarios, models, and textbooks about global change. At worst, technology is entirely ignored, or treated as an “externality” that falls from heaven rather than evolving from within our societies and economies. At best, technology issues are included as an afterthought in a “pro forma” chapter or as an ex post model sensitivity analysis. Technology relates to all major drivers of global change such as population growth, economic development, and resource use. Technology is also central in monitoring environmental impacts and implementing response strategies. There are no textbooks on technology and global change, and technology's treatment in global change models is also rather poor. These are gaps this book hopes to start to fill.