Engineers need to look at sustainability in a different way

Engineers, trained to be object problem solvers, need to look at sustainability in a different way than they would approach other subjects in order to fully understand it


If you say that you’re interested in sustainability, what that generally means is that you are a person who is inclined towards egalitarianism, both within and among generations; you’d be inclined toward the redistribution of wealth, and probably inclined toward restrictions on consumption; and you’d have a certain enlightenment conceptualization of nature and what’s appropriate for nature

The ideological aspect of sustainability makes it a particularly difficult concept to present to engineers, who are trained to look at the world objectively.


If a climate scientist insists on looking at the world with an egalitarian perspective, it wouldn’t necessarily affect their work

But an engineer needs to look at the world the way it is now in order to problem-solve within it


This year’s theme, "Science and Technology for Sustainable Well-Being," reflects the growing concern in the scientific community and among the general public about issues such as loss of biodiversity, unequal living standards throughout the world, weather-related disasters, proliferation of nuclear weapons and overdependence on petroleum.