Sustainable technology - an appeal in itself?

The 3rd BTU Science Club on October 4, 2023, revolved around the apparent discrepancy between technology and sustainability. Prof. Dr. Melanie Jaeger-Erben brought this question into focus and triggered a lively discussion.

"With this series of events, we want to fund interdisciplinary discourse and the networking of scientists within the BTU," explained University President Prof. Dr. Gesine Grande in her welcoming speech. This time, too, a current and forward-looking topic was examined from various perspectives. About 30 professors as well as members and representatives of the BTU Sponsors' Association followed the keynote speech by Prof. Dr. Melanie Jaeger-Erben, Head of the Chair of Sociology of Technology and the Environment, who spoke on the topic "Sustainable technology - an oxymoron? How sustainability in technology can (not) succeed."

"Current relationships between society, technology and the environment are neither sustainable nor future-proof," said Melanie Jaeger-Erben. On the one hand, technologies are supposed to save the project of sustainability, but on the other hand they continue to overuse natural resources and ecosystems to a large extent. In particular, industrial and large-scale technologies reproduce a relationship between society and nature that is primarily characterized by the expansion of human claims to power and control.Thinking about and developing technologies sustainably requires a fundamental shift in how engineering and technologies mediate the relationship between society and nature and how people can appropriate technologies to shape their lives in a self-determined way.In her presentation, Prof. Jaeger-Erben discussed possible approaches such as frugal ("humble") innovation, open knowledge / open source, or convivial ("sociable") technology and their respective potential to create sustainable conditions.

Sociologist and psychologist Melanie Jaeger-Erben has been Professor of Sociology of Technology and Environment at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg since 2021. Among other things, she is a member of the Expert Commission for the Fourth Equality Report of the Federal Government, co-leader of the ESYS working group " Energy Transition of the Built Environment" in the academy project "Energy Systems of the Future - ESYS", and a member of the Resource Commission of the Federal Environment Agency.

The BTU Science Club is realized thanks to the support of the Förderverein der BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg e. V..

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