B. Life Systems · Interactions in the Environment

Assessing the Environmental Impact of Technologies

B1.1 A2.2 A3.1 A1.1About 55 minutes

Learning goals

I can assess the positive and negative impacts of a technology on the environment.
I can use a life cycle (materials, making, using, disposal) to find impacts that are easy to miss.
I can describe how new technologies, including artificial intelligence, can both help and harm ecosystems.
I can support my assessment with evidence and consider who is affected.

Words to know

technology
A tool, device, material, system or process that people design to solve a problem or meet a need.

environmental impact
Any change, good or bad, that a human activity or technology causes in the environment.

life cycle assessment
Looking at a product's impacts at every stage: getting raw materials, making it, transporting and using it, and getting rid of it.

trade-off
Giving up something in order to get something else; a benefit that comes with a cost.

e-waste
Thrown-away electronic devices like phones, computers and batteries.

microplastics
Tiny pieces of plastic, smaller than 5 mm, that come from broken-down plastic items and fibres.

artificial intelligence (AI)
Computer systems that can do tasks that usually need human thinking, such as recognizing images or patterns.

A plastic bag's long journey

A plastic bag is used for maybe 20 minutes to carry groceries home. But the bag's story started long before: oil or natural gas was pumped from the ground, turned into plastic in a factory, shipped across the country. And its story goes on long after: if it blows into a ditch, it can last for many years, breaking into tiny pieces that animals can swallow.

Every technology has a story like this. To judge its impact on the environment, you have to look at the whole story, not just the part you see.

A torn white plastic bag caught in the branches of a shrub beside a river. — A plastic bag may be used for a few minutes, but it can last for many years in the environment, where it can harm wildlife. AI-generated image

What does it mean to assess impact?

To assess a technology's environmental impact means to weigh its positive and negative effects on ecosystems, using evidence. Good questions to ask:

Life cycle: What are the impacts when we (a) get the raw materials, (b) make it, (c) transport and use it, (d) throw it away or recycle it?
What parts of the ecosystem are affected? Air, water, soil, plants, animals, people?
How big, how long, how far? Is the effect small or large? Short-term or long-term? Local or global?
Who is affected? Who gets the benefits, and who bears the costs? Are some communities affected more than others?
What are the alternatives? Is there a technology with fewer harmful impacts that meets the same need?

Most technologies have trade-offs: benefits and costs. A good assessment does not just say "good" or "bad".

A technology's life cycle. A fair assessment looks at all four stages, not only the part you see. Recycling (dashed) can send materials back to the start.

Technology	Positive impacts	Negative impacts
Hydroelectric dam	Makes electricity without burning fuel, so very little air pollution or carbon dioxide while running.	Floods land and habitats behind the dam; blocks fish from moving up and down rivers; flooded soils can release mercury into food chains; can affect the lands and ways of life of nearby communities, often First Nations.
Wind turbine	Makes electricity with no air pollution while running; land around it can still be farmed.	Some birds and bats are killed by the blades; needs roads and land; materials must be mined and made.
Smartphone	Helps people report wildlife, track invasive species and share science; can replace other devices.	Mining metals for it damages land and water; making it uses energy; short life and e-waste with toxic materials if not recycled.
Bright city lights and glass buildings	Light and views for safety and comfort.	Night lights confuse migrating birds, and many birds are killed hitting windows. Lights also affect insects.
Single-use plastic items	Cheap, light, keep food clean.	Made from fossil fuels; litter harms animals that tangle in it or swallow it; breaks into microplastics that spread through water and food chains.

Impacts of some technologies. Real impacts depend on how and where each one is designed, built and used.

Worked example

Let's assess a technology with a life cycle

Assess the environmental impact of an electric car compared with a gasoline car, for a family in Ontario.

Raw materials: both need steel, aluminium and plastic. An electric car's large battery needs metals such as lithium, nickel and cobalt. Mining these can damage land and water and use a lot of energy. So the electric car starts with a larger impact at this stage.
Making: building the battery uses a lot of energy, so making an electric car usually causes more carbon dioxide than making a gasoline car.
Using: a gasoline car burns fuel every day, releasing carbon dioxide and other air pollutants from its tailpipe. An electric car has no tailpipe. Its impact depends on how the electricity is made. Most of Ontario's electricity comes from nuclear and hydroelectric power plants, which release very little carbon dioxide, so using an electric car in Ontario causes much less carbon dioxide.
Disposal: batteries contain valuable and toxic metals. They should be recycled; recycling technology is still improving. Both kinds of cars can have most of their metal recycled.
Weigh the evidence: the electric car's larger impact at the start is usually made up for after some years of driving, because of its much lower impact during use. But both still need roads and parking, and both cause tire and brake dust. Walking, cycling and public transit have even lower impacts.

In Ontario, an electric car usually has a lower total impact on the climate over its life than a gasoline car, but it is not impact-free (mining and battery disposal). This is a trade-off, and a full assessment also considers other options like transit.

A sketch of the idea (no real numbers). The electric car starts with more CO₂ from making its battery, but adds much less each year in Ontario, so after some years its total falls below the gasoline car's.

Just for fun

A plastic bag works for about 20 minutes, then can hang around in a ditch for years. It's the guest who helps carry one bag of groceries and then refuses to leave the party.

New technologies: AI and the environment

Coding and artificial intelligence are changing how we study and protect ecosystems:

Trail cameras take thousands of wildlife photos. AI programs can sort them and recognize species much faster than people can.
Sound recorders in forests and wetlands collect bird, frog and bat calls, and AI can identify the species.
Satellites and drones take images that help spot forest fires, track ice and measure forest loss.
Apps let anyone photograph a plant or insect and get a suggested identification. The photos can add to scientific records.

But AI and computing also have impacts. Large data centres that run AI and store data use a lot of electricity, and many use water for cooling. Devices need mined metals and become e-waste. AI identifications can also be wrong, so experts still need to check them. Again: trade-offs.

Careers connection

Environmental assessment specialists study the possible impacts of a project, like a new mine, highway or wind farm, before it is built. Electricians and electrical engineers install and maintain solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicle chargers. E-waste recyclers safely take apart old electronics to recover metals. Many of these are skilled trades with growing demand.

Hands-on activity

Technology life cycle audit

You need: paper, a pencil, and a computer or library for research (with a grown-up's help).

Choose one technology you use: a smartphone, a pair of running shoes, a plastic water bottle, a snowblower, a video game console, an LED light bulb.
Draw a life cycle diagram with four boxes in a circle or line: raw materials → making → using → disposal.
In each box, write at least one positive and one negative environmental impact. Use at least two reliable sources (for example, government or university websites, or a science magazine). Write down where you found each fact.
Rate the overall impact of each stage: low, medium or high. Which stage has the biggest impact?
Suggest two changes (to the design, or to how people use or dispose of it) that would reduce the negative impact.
Share your diagram with someone at home and explain your rating.

What to look for: all four stages included, both positive and negative impacts, sources named, a rating with a reason, and realistic changes (for example: buy refurbished; repair instead of replace; recycle at an e-waste depot; use a reusable bottle).

Your turn

What does it mean to assess the environmental impact of a technology?

Name the four stages of a life cycle assessment.

Give one positive and one negative impact of a hydroelectric dam.

What is a trade-off?

Why should you look at the whole life cycle, not just how a product is used?

Give one way AI helps scientists study ecosystems.

Give one environmental cost of AI and computing.

More practice: warm-up

What is e-waste?

What are microplastics?

Do wind turbines release air pollution while they run?

Name one technology that harms migrating birds in cities.

What stage of a smartphone's life cycle includes mining metals?

More practice: on your own

Why does an electric car's impact depend on where you live?

Explain how a plastic bag can affect a food chain years after it is thrown away.

A town wants to put up a wind farm. Who might benefit, and who might bear costs?

Your phone is 3 years old and still works. Using the life cycle, explain why keeping it longer helps the environment.

Why should an AI species identification from an app be checked before a scientist uses it?

Challenge

Assess LED light bulbs using the life cycle. Include at least one positive and one negative impact, and an overall judgment.

A new hydroelectric dam is proposed on a northern Ontario river. List four questions you would ask to assess its impact.

Some people say technology causes environmental problems, and others say technology solves them. Use two examples from this lesson to argue that both are true.

Check your understanding

Quiz

A life cycle assessment looks at a product's impacts...

Which is a negative environmental impact of hydroelectric dams?

Why do most of an electric car's extra impacts happen at the start of its life?

Which is the best example of AI helping ecosystems?

A trade-off means...

Which action best reduces the impact of e-waste?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: every technology has environmental impacts across its whole life cycle, usually with both benefits and costs. A good assessment uses evidence, considers who is affected, and compares alternatives.

How to help at home:

Help your child research one household technology for the life cycle audit. Guide them to reliable sources (government, universities, science organizations).
Find your nearest e-waste or battery drop-off and talk about why it exists.
Discuss a local issue (a new road, wind farm, or development) and list the trade-offs together.

Common difficulties:

Judging a technology as only "good" or "bad" instead of weighing trade-offs.
Forgetting the raw-materials and disposal stages.
Using opinions instead of evidence. Ask: How do you know? Where did you find that?