Technology Case Studies 2

Lack of technology

Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes

Vulnerable to flooding from tributaries

Unplanned city building increases flood risk - many migrants affected as they flee/rebuild homes

Shanty towns are built on a hillside, home to 7 million people

Annual rainfall of more than 27 inches, which the city can't cope with

Concreting over vegetation increases flood risk

Underground drains are contaminated with sewage

Lies a few metres above sea level = evacuation threat

Lack of technology

Monsoons bring 6ft of rain

85% of people live in slums without proper drainage systems

1 toilet per 400 people

Sewage goes into the water system, causing disease

Start of a global pandemic

Charity workers relied upon

Too many people for health care systems - 2,000 people per square km

North Korea

Televisions and radios are hard wired to receive only government-controlled frequencies

Mobile phones banned in 2004

Korea is the number 1 most censored country - above Burma, Syria and Uzbekistan

Instead of filtering and blocking certain sites, North Korea has chosen to stay off the grid

Internet 'black hole'

North Korean sites praise the country to maintain the support of the population

China

In 2008, China banned Google so no search for the 23rd anniversary of the 1989 crackdown against protestors at Tiananmen square could be completed

Israel

Banned the I-pad temporarily in 2010 due to security concerns

India

Afghanistan

Google's blimps

Afghanistan has been unable to lay landline cables due to risk from unexploded bombs and landmines.

72% of Afghans are now covered by a mobile phone signal, compared to 1% who are connected by a landline.

Much of the terrain is mountainous, making it difficult and expensive to put wires into place.

In 1998, India had 22 telephone landlines per 1,000 people, compared to 554 in the UK.

In 1994, mobile phones were introduced and by 2007, 7 million Indians were signing up for mobiles every month.

Growth is fuelled by: cheap handsets at around $40 each, low price calls and top ups, a growing middle class due to outsourced jobs and bottom up innovation such as using car batteries to charge mobiles when electricity is absent.

Google is planning to develop high-speed wireless networks in sub-Saharan Africa, with the help of high-altitude blimps that can transmit signals across hundreds of square kilometres.

Google has set up a trial wireless broadband network in Cape Town using three masts at a university's campus to transmit to 10 local schools.

The use of masts and satellites is also being explored as it is believed than no one single bullet can bring net access to Africa.

Death by DDT

From 1939, DDT began to be used to control malarial mosquitoes, and was quickly adopted as a farm pesticide.

In 1955, the WHO began to use DDT for its global malaria eradication programmed, but resistance began to appear.

In 1962, it was discovered that DDT caused deaths in wildlife through bio magnification - as DDT was ingested in birds, it built up and reduced the ability for viable eggs to be laid.

The UK banned DDT in 1984.

Thalidomide

Manufactured in Germany in 1953, designed to cure morning sickness.

It had a negative unforeseen consequence of deforming babies, mostly causing limb abnormalities.

15,000 foetuses were damaged as it took 4.5 years for the drug to be suspected.

Thalidomide was withdrawn in November 1961, but from 2000-2010 it was still used to treat blood cancer (multiple myeloma).

Green Revolution

HYVs introduced in the Punjab region, India by Dr Norman Borlaug in the 1960s - to combat widespread hunger.

Positive consequences: HYVs grow so quickly that it allows two crops per year, HYVs can be bred to be resistant to pests and diseases, and 10 times the yield of traditional rice is produced.

Negative consequences: Multinational companies ensure farmers buy new seeds annually, social polarisation as large farmers get richer and small farmers can't afford seeds, over irrigation causing salinisation, use of agrochemicals leading to eutrophication, suicides from debt

Gene Revolution

Positive consequences: farmers can still maintain their livelihoods despite increased threat from climate change, supermarkets and producers can benefit from longer shelf lives, nutritional value can be enhanced (golden rice rich in vitamin A), some GM crops developed to provide new vaccines and medicines, bio-fuels can be made by breeding organic matter, land which is less fertile can be rehabilitated.

Negative consequences: increase in seed prices, seeds often can't be recycled, human health concerns like increased allergies (USA and Europe), monoculture of crops causing biodiversity loss, uncontrollable weed species created if GM crops breed with other plant species.

Rizhao

City on the east coast of Shandong province, China.

Wants to provide internet access to 1 billion people in Africa and south-east Asia.

Population of around 2.8 million.

Leapfrogging impacts of an industrial revolution by implementing solar technology.

In 2009, there was almost 1 million solar panels.

The sun shines for around 260 days of the year.

By using a solar heater for 15 years, a family can save nearly $2,200 on electricity bills, a significant amount in a country where annual per capita income is around $6,000.

Mexico City

Dhaka, Bangladesh

Government censorship

Leapfrogging

Unforeseen consequences