Technology is the great hope for those who fear environmental degradation has moved beyond the point of no return. Advancements in clean energy or scalable methods for scrubbing pollutants from the air and water could allow us to turn back the clock.
However, with a growing global population, it won’t be enough just to shift the timeline via breakthroughs in the physical sciences. In order to preserve the natural resources required to sustain future generations, we need to fundamentally change the way we do things in society, and this is the great promise of Information Technology.