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The limits of technological solutions to sustainable development

机译：技术解决方案对可持续发展的局限性

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Sustainable development has been defined by political and corporate leaders as the combination of environmental protection and economic growth. As a result, the concept of eco-efficiency has been promoted as the primary tool for achieving industrial sustainability. However, there are at least four reasons why technological improvements in eco-efficiency alone will be insufficient to bring about a transition to sustainability. First, considering that the very foundations of western industrial societies are based on the exploitation of non-renewable minerals and fuels, it will be extremely difficult to switch to an industrial and economic system based solely on renewable resources. Clearly, the continuing use of non-renewables is inherently unsustainable because of finite material supplies and the fact that 100% recycling is impossible. Second, given the limited supply of nonrenewable fuels, long-term sustainability can only be guaranteed if all energy is derived directly or indirectly from the sun. However, if the current U.S. energy demand would have to be supplied solely from solar sources, a wide range of serious and unavoidable negative environmental impacts are likely to result. Third, even the best of human ingenuity and the greatest technological optimism are bounded by the second law of thermodynamics, which dictates that all industrial and economic activities have unavoidable negative environmental consequences. Finally, improvements in eco-efficiency alone will not guarantee a reduction in the total environmental impact if economic growth is allowed to continue. Unless growth in both population and consumption is restrained, these technological improvements only delay the onset of negative consequences that, as a result, will have increased in severity, thereby reducing our freedom to choose satisfying solutions.
机译：政治和企业领导人已将可持续发展定义为环境保护与经济增长的结合。结果，生态效率的概念被推广为实现工业可持续性的主要工具。但是，至少有四个原因说明仅凭生态效率的技术改进不足以实现向可持续性的转变。首先，考虑到西方工业社会的基础是基于对不可再生矿物和燃料的开采，因此很难转向仅基于可再生资源的工业和经济体系。显然，由于有限的材料供应以及不可能100％回收的事实，持续使用不可再生能源本质上是不可持续的。其次，鉴于不可再生燃料的供应有限，只有所有能源直接或间接地来自太阳，才能保证长期可持续性。但是，如果当前美国的能源需求只能由太阳能提供，那么很可能会造成一系列严重的和不可避免的负面环境影响。第三，即使是最好的人类创造力和最大的技术乐观主义也受热力学第二定律的限制，该定律规定，所有工业和经济活动都不可避免地会对环境造成负面影响。最后，如果允许经济继续增长，仅靠提高生态效率将不能保证减少对环境的总体影响。除非限制人口和消费的增长，否则这些技术进步只会延迟负面后果的发生，因此，后果将越来越严重，从而降低我们选择令人满意的解决方案的自由。

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