Environmental Science: Earth as a Living Planet.
by Botkin & Keller.
ISBN: 978-0-471-48816-3
This book describes many of the concepts behind the media headlines today, and it will continue doing so into the future. Whether they are reporting on climate change or genetic research or arctic drilling or mass extinctions or expanding industrial nations or carbon footprints or alternative energy sources, the media is utilizing environmental science concepts more and more every day to explain what is going on around us. It seems as though a fundamental understanding in the academic subjects of physics, chemistry, and biology have become prerequisites in order to understand current business and political news more fully. This book encourages its readers to think through environmental issues using sound reasoning and then to make intelligent decisions regarding the environment. It is becoming increasingly more apparent every year that Science, in general, is the key to both economics and politics.
_________________________________________
Knowledge about our collective effect upon the environment is causing society to question the status quo under which we live. For most of the latter half of the twentieth century, America enjoyed unfettered prosperity brought upon by technological innovation, but recently, there are two fundamental actions being conducted in business that are calling that prosperity into question. Today, how business and politics are conducted is a topic that is falling under the public's critical eye. Some of the smartest minds in the world are beginning to look at new ways of conducting business because the current system is causing ecosystems across the globe to enter into a state of distress.
This added stress upon the natural world, inevitably, causes environmental demands and concerns to rise to the forefront of political and economic agendas, and consequently, public marketing and advertising campaigns. Everything today seems 'green', 'environmental', 'clean', or 'eco-something'. The problems of being underfunded and overspent, though, are still upon us, and more businesses continue to compete for fewer markets. The environmental stress on the planet goes on, and in just a relatively short period of time, it has already made its way into global markets.
Our prosperity here in America has always come from the grandeur of our landscape and our innovative thinking. The public has always been able to find a better way to do nearly everything. In this case, it is energy development and basic product design that is being asked to evolve; both requiring immense start-up capital, as well as a countless number of new jobs.
Global consumers are beginning to collectively demand environmental sensitivity in the products that they buy; they do not want to contribute to the destruction of the natural world. In times of prosperity, people tend to be willing to pay more for products so as to live more responsibly. While financial bottom-lines and obligations to shareholders require businesses to pursue the most efficient method of production, environmental responsibilities are not necessarily part of executive round table discussions on a regular basis. This is changing, though.
Today, the public is beginning to demand that their energy come from renewable sources; this addresses the notion of a more responsible policy toward energy development. As for the basic design of products, lifecycle development software has already been developed; this kind of computer software helps product designers run manufacturing simulations and, then, cut down on resource use by being able to change feedstock models based upon economies of scale, all before any widgets are built. Awakening to Environmental Science issues will prepare tomorrow's workforce.
As more and more people enter the world of politics and economics over the coming century, and globalization links together more and more people, Science will continue to become an even more dominant presence guiding daily life. Science, for the Next Generation Investor, will enable society to bring about the first great industrial evolution. This evolution is one that is based upon the Industrial Revolution, but this more evolved process of change is done with a more forward-looking mindset. The evolution of today's infrastructure will have to be simulated more gracefully into the natural world than the current one in which we currently live; you know, the one we are currently living in, the one where we drill, extract, stew, and burn the majority of all of the contents on the planet earth. With a sound understanding of the scientific principles involved, humanity can learn to meet their growing population’s needs AND protect the living ecosystems that sustain life on earth.
Gauging from the impacts upon the environment, whether they come from geothermal sites, solar fields, oil or natural gas drilling, coal, or any other utility-scale energy development project, Science is playing a larger and larger role in all aspects related to business. A person with knowledge of the environment in different regions across the United States will ultimately benefit society as a whole. Each ecosystem is unique and has its dominant energy resource. Adjusting our energy policy to adapt to different ecosystems will ultimately decentralize America's energy infrastructure, taking power away from a centralized structure and putting power into the hands of local communities.
Superconducting material is the central component for retrofitting the entire U.S. electric transmission system. Digital metering and demand response will both play an additional role in creating the smart grid. In the emerging field of biofuels, chemical reactions play a key role in making waste to energy a viable resource. Solar energy and hydrogen fuel cells fuse together chemical reactions with electricity in the search for clean, cheap energy. Both solar and hydrogen researchers continue to study the photosynthetic process of plants in order to learn how the plant breaks the hydrogen molecule off of the water molecule and makes fuel in the process. All of these developments offer science and technology a significant role to play in business, and as the new Farm Bill and Climate Policy show, they also have a role to play in politics.
As responsible business practices slowly become more frequent across the world’s markets, the demand for science degrees will rise. Green building standards are already virtually mandated in architectural design; many of architecture's energy efficiency and alternative energy components have already attained competitive pricing in 15 year financing plans. Controlling emissions from manufacturing facilities is becoming a more pressing issue; funny that algae may be the solution to capturing CO2. Figuring out how to capture the waste heat and water from manufacturing facilities and turn them both into reusable material feedstock requires a knowledge of engineering, chemical, and in some cases, biological concepts. Running the turbines that generate electricity requires a knowledge of physics. The list of business applications for science is endless.
Over time, Americans are finding out that it is beneficial in the long term to incorporate environmental and social costs into the design of politics and business. Free health care now, not as many huge health insurance/pharmaceutical claims later. Higher energy prices now, cheaper clean energy later. This is where the environmental politician comes in.
Public policy is beginning to change regarding environmental issues. Debates in Congress and around executive roundtables would benefit greatly from sound scientific assessment and retrofitting their financial bottom lines. Politicians today are being asked to know more about the environment than ever before, and they are being asked to incorporate public policy that helps relieve some of the economic strain on the markets associated with energy issues.
The problem with high costs associated with product design is that once a resource is extracted and manufactured, figuring out the ecological impacts of the product over the course of its entire lifetime requires knowledge, not only of business structures, but also of the natural processes involved in decomposition and recycling; just look at the e-Waste problem in India and China. These days, product design also involves knowledge of the huge database of toxic chemicals that we put into almost all of our consumer goods. Obtaining all of this information before a product is manufactured raises costs, but in the coming years, the costs associated with neglecting environmental responsibility regarding the lifecycle of a product will far outweigh the initial investment.
A more environmentally educated workforce creates a more sustainable society. People who are conscious of their own consumption practices is what is needed for the future of business to sustain its own life. Economics relies, first and foremost, upon a plentiful supply of resources. Global population, in the 6 billion plus range, is currently putting enormous strain upon ecosystems across the globe. A citizenry that works toward sustainability can regenerate itself.
At present, current economic and political policies are killing off much of the natural world. While coal and oil and natural gas can be mined in a desert environment without clean air and water and food, many more life forms on earth will continue to go extinct if the current practices continue to be employed.
Until the ‘payoff policies’ of economics and politics are changed, more people will continue to suffer, and the gap between the rich and the poor will continue to widen. The gap can be shrunk by allowing a patchwork system made up of differing alternative energy technologies to develop. Then, as our domestic infrastructure is retrofitted, renewable energies can find their own specialty markets. Large scale anything is no good for the planet; our addiction to oil is not providing domestic stability.
With Science education as the base of a whole new workforce, we can build a new energy system and simultaneously retrofit America’s infrastructure, we can accommodate the coming spike in human population and provide decent healthcare for people in need, and we can pass laws that have sound scientific reasoning at their base.
If we ignore the problem and continue to look at the short term gains instead of the long term costs, we will only invite calamity upon humanity. Demand for limited resources is beginning its steep climb upward. Doing things now to accommodate for a more populated world will reduce costs later, and may, with the right investments, pay for an early retirement.
Regardless of which branch of science gives you that glimpse into the magical world of nature, an environmentally educated public will serve society well into the future. Whether it be astronomy, particle physics, chemistry, or life sciences, knowledge about the natural world gives society a chance to look 'behind the curtain' and come up with something that revolutionizes how it fundamentally interacts with itself and its surroundings.
Environmental Science courses generally are separated into three parts; the study of earth systems and its resources, the living world and all of its biodiversity, and the human impact upon the planet. Environmental Science does not necessarily delve into all of the technical aspects of physics, chemistry, and biology, and so, can be added onto virtually any degree major, including those in business and politics. What these kinds of courses do are to give the student here a broad knowledge base about how the natural world functions. People can then draw upon in their knowledge of living systems in their chosen respective professional fields.
In tomorrow’s ‘greentech’ economy, there is no doubt that science will continue to fuel business right on through the great green industrial evolution.
No comments:
Post a Comment