The community that I personally value the most at this moment in time would have to the town I was raised in for the majority of my life, Topsham, Maine. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always appreciated the healthy balance of rural and city life that my hometown offered. Whether it was offering places to play around with friends when I was a kid, or just having places to go to when you want to disconnect from technology for a little, I felt as if this value of mine is at risk of being taken away. As technology advances and consumers ask for more supply for their demands, these “hybrid” communities are losing balance and becoming industrial cities filled with air pollution and unpleasant environments. Though this possible outcome may take a while to ever potentially happen, I feel that it is beneficial to deal with these communal problems preemptively before anything gets out of hand.

Beneficial Tech:

The first digital technology that I’ve personally seen to be very beneficial to my community would have to be facebook. I’m not talking about the main feature of facebook that people tend to go to socialize amongst their friends. I’m referring to the subcategories of the app, like facebook marketplace and events that inform others in the community about things that are going on within our small town. Topsham is a pretty close community so you tend to know a lot of people around town. With such a close and small community, you tend to see a sizable amount of small businesses and local markets looking for ways to gain exposure. I’ve seen that the use of facebook has been surprisingly beneficial by allowing the community to be aware of when specials sales or events are going on.

The second technology that I believe is beneficial to my community of choice would be the transportation options available in my home town. I believe that this is an important technology for my community because it reduces the amount of emissions we release into the air. However, this is only the case if these forms of transit are actually used by the community. It’s quite common to use transportation in big cities but in smaller towns like Topsham, it’s pretty uncommon to use the bus or a taxi, since everything is relatively close. I personally find that cycling around town is the best option since it provides exercise and leaves little to no footprint.

Harmful Tech:

The most noticeable contributor to a negative ecological footprint in my hometown would have to be the numerous mills that have been around for generations. While they aid the economy of the town very well, they also produce a large amount of air pollution for both residents and mill workers alike. These mills affect the community in the same way as the big paper mill in Orono, often leaving areas around Topsham with a very pungent smell. This gives my hometown a bad look and concerns the residents of Topsham. These concerns arise from the fact that these mills have been here for quite a while, and it seems as if they have always affected the community in this way. This makes the residents of Topsham believe that the town gives more priority to profit over the environment. Many rural communities seem to have the same thoughts, and as we advance in technology, we often see that there are less and less rural communities throughout the U.S. I personally believe that with all of the studies coming out about climate change and what we’re doing to the environment, communities should put more emphasis on creating as small of an ecological footprint as possible.