Green Dreams of Reason. Green Nanotechnology Between Visions of Excess and Control

Abstract

Nanotechnology has recently been identified with principles of sustainability and with a 'green' agenda generally. Some maintain that this green dream of nanotechnology is a rather ephemeral societal phenomenon that owes its existence to the campaign ploys of politics and business. This paper argues that deeper lying societal and cognitive structures are at work here that complement or even substantiate in some sense the seemingly manipulative saying of a greening of nanotechnologies. Taking seriously the concept of 'green nano', this paper examines the common ground between sustainability discourse and the discourse of nanotechnology. Green nanotechnology is understood as a boundary concept in which disparate discourses and concepts join together. The primary concern of the paper is to show that nanodiscourse and ecodiscourse share visions of control and of excess. Both ecotechnology and nanotechnology accept and incorporate arguments about limited growth, and each develops strategies of control-be it through a new-found precision in the control of material flows or through greater efficiency in product design.

The public value of nanotechnology?

“…Two of the nine areas that NSE has the ''potential to significantly impact'' listed in the 2007 NNI strategic plan include ''energy'' and ''the environment'' (NSTC 2007); and the second sentence of the preface to the 2004 NNI strategic plan states that NSE has the potential ''to increase the efficiency of lighting, enhance the performance of electronic devices, decrease waste and pollution during manufacturing … and provide more costeffective solar energy conversion'' (NSTC 2004). As commentators have observed, 'green nano' has been an emphasis in government literature promoting NSE since the late 1990s and is an area that has received tremendous attention that verges on 'hype' (Jorgensen and Jorrgensen 2009;Lubick 2009;Schwarz 2009). …”

What Is Nanotechnology, and What Should We Be Worried About?

“…Nanotechnology could have a huge impact on developing countries, having the potential to advance agricultural productivity through the genetic improvement of plants and animals, delivery of genes and drug molecules to specifi c sites at cellular levels in plants and animals, and gene technologies for plants and animals under stress conditions (Kuzma and VerHage 2006 ). Iron nanoparticles that apparently break down harmful substances in soil could prove environmentally valuable (Schwarz 2009 ) and so would water fi ltration devices (extremely fi ne nanofi lters) allowing rural populations in Africa to access clean water at minimal cost. The 1.6 billion dollars of public money pledged for research in the USA in 2010 indicates the central role the US government thinks nanotechnology will play across several areas of technology.…”

Responsibility in Nanotechnology Development

“…Schwarz 2009 ). In so doing she picks up on discourses in which control of matter, at the nanoscale, will enable control of material effects: safety, in the form of an awareness of 'toxicology or the potential hazards' can be engineered into new materials such that they can be made 'less risky' (cf.…”