1 / 11

Sustainability

Sustainability. What’s it all about ? A Quick Review. Roger Middleton. Black & Veatch. Sustainability Defined ?. Brundtland: ‘meet the needs of today without compromising the needs of future generations’ Engineering for our Grandchildren…..

claire
Download Presentation

Sustainability

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Sustainability What’s it all about ? A Quick Review Roger Middleton Black & Veatch

  2. Sustainability Defined ? • Brundtland: ‘meet the needs of today without compromising the needs of future generations’ • Engineering for our Grandchildren….. • Triple bottom line: Environmental, Social, and Economic; technology is only a tool. • Long term thinking across boundaries, • Uncertainty leads to the Precautionary Principle, • Natural systems are complex, not Newtonian, linear or mechanistic; we need to fit nature • Sustainability is a balance we can keep forever.

  3. Need for Change? • Indicators are all around us:-- Climate Change,- natural and man-made: CO2, SOx, NOx, etc • Ocean temperatures and glaciers, ice records, • Large systems, hence long response time lags, • So do we wait and see? • Causes start with the Industrial Revolution • The Sun is our sole source of energy: We need to match our usage rate to the earth’s reception rate.

  4. Development Chart Cause curves in black Response curve in Blue Developed countries ? Developing countries ? Sustainability ? Survive? Crash & Burn ? 1800 1900 2000 2100

  5. Panic ? No ! Change? Yes. • But we didn’t leave the Stone Age because we ran out of stones…..We left because Bronze is better ! • Wood Coal  Oil  Nuclear  RE ?? • We won’t leave the Oil Age because we run out of oil …..We’ll leave because it’s too hot !!

  6. Social Bottom Line • Fair trade or ExploitationWhich is more sustainable? • Stakeholder views and participation ?or imposition of culture from strength? Social Equity on a local and global scale will become our biggest concern; Exploitation + deprivation  Resentment Resentment + opportunity  9/11 ?

  7. Living Within Our Means Five Forms of Capital(FftF)

  8. What can we do about it? • Maybe no quantum leaps yet, but some leaders are:-- Nike: toxic trainers and sweatshop labour,- Interface Carpets, materials and trading method,- Sherwood Energy Village, miners bought the land,- Holsworthy agricultural sludge CHP,- ABN Amro bank, Equator Principles,- Forestry Stewardship Council, Fair Trade, etc • Waste segregation, composting, school trains, • Client management: check the big picture, advise against short-term expediency, BATNEEC, etc • Develop sustainable technology for mutual benefit.

  9. On a Practical Level: • ID early wins, things we can do now; learn and move on, • Get as many people involved as possible, and take them with you, • Don’t be scared of saying, “We can’t do that yet, but the time will come …” • Keep the big picture in mind and open for all to see, • Don’t scare people before we have the technology and people to do the needful, • Don’t forget things on the back burner, • Keep pushing the limits, because nature always will, • And if we ever think we are on top of nature, entropy will bite us back!

  10. And my Personal Action Plan: • Disseminate on about 5 levels, • Liaise with people in relevant roles, to plan coherent implementation, • Incorporate Susdev items in design checklists, • Check relevant QM docs for Susdev input, • Check current relevant projects and assess any input required, • Check current clients and their receptiveness, • Check possible new clients with Marketing intentions.

  11. So Why Bother ? • What is our philosophy, do we care? do we leave it to the kids or do we start now? • Check our personal beliefs, why us? • What is our religion, what are we doing here? • What is different about Planet Earth? • Do we fly over, drive past, or walk within; are we a part of, or apart from nature? • Animal kings or earth stewards; ad infinitum or ad hoc; Use it or lose it? • How will our grandchildren remember us? Roger Middleton Black & Veatch middletonr1@bv.com

More Related