Technology: Friend or Foe?

Technology is certainly a contributor to our world's current state of environmental destruction, but it's not the only one. It's linked to society's demand for bigger and better things. We do have to be realistic in the sense that we won't go back to using the horse-and-buggy as Rob stated in his blog, but we also have to acknowledge that the reasoning for this is because technology has managed to set our standard of living. When we have discovered a quicker and more efficient mode of transportation, what's the incentive to move backwards?
This is my main concern. Granted, some technologies are extremely useful in the sense that they save lives and even help the environment in some respect, but is a new model of ipod, cell phone, or computer really necessary every few years? If we want to address one of the bigger issues here, I think that it's our need to consume combined with technology. It's always a rat race between industries to see who can sell more which is a problem because our limited resources are being depleted at rapid rates.
On the other hand we have made great efforts in discovering technologies which work to minimize our environmental impact. Although, once again technology is not the only thing we must consider when evaluating this issue. Technology can only do so much before societal cooperation is called into play. If we have cleaner, more efficient cars but no one is buying them, what good will they do? In this respect people must be interested in fixing the problem before technology can start to minimize our footprint. That being said, I think technology can help us fix some of our problems in the future, but more importantly there has to be the desire for change.