Sustainability in Engineering

Unquestionably, the issues of sustainability and our environment should receive apppropriate consideration in all engineered projects. We should, however, restrain from uninformed overindulgence in the issue of global warming. There is a lot of viable evidence on both sides of that issue. School is still out on whether,or not, knee jerk reactions, such as Cap and Trade, at a tremendous cost, will  provide relief from perceived global warming. Engineers are duty bound to deal with facts, not undecided esoteric issues. Any engineer who decides to jump off irrationally into such uncharted waters better have his professional liability insurance paid up to date.  

Historical data illustrate that fluctuation in global temperature is a fact, existing before the industrial revolution began; thus, one might wonder how much man really is contributing to current temperature variation. We certainly are responsible for our environment and natural resources to the extent we're capable of making a practical difference. NSPE’s Code of Ethics for Engineers, Section III Professional Obligations, (2.d) specifically cites our duty to adhere to the principles of sustainable development. Engineering continues to be a major resource in safeguarding our environment while making continuous improvements in the stuff with which we live, work and play.
 
Rigid standards may be good, to the extent they are supported by goods and services that have been engineered and developed to be reliable, reasonably safe and commercially feasible for us humans using them. Rigid standards, associated carbon taxes and abridged development timing re/ climate change, sans commercially available resources and infrastructure for widespread use will, in my view, be damaging to our economy with a very questionable effect to the man made contribution to global warming, or cooling.

An example of government and engineering working together, over time, for the betterment of humankind is the Highway Safety Act of 1966, which birthed a gradual, engineered pathway to safer vehicles, highways and numerous other aspects of our current transportation fleet. This did not happen overnight or in a just a few short years, but from cooperation between engineers and government personnel to design, test and commercially develop these vehicle systems. This same process continues today, and presents an alternative path to hastily legislated climate change mandates.