A special issue on Earth Systems Engineering, following from the successful ESE2012 symposium that was held in Newcastle in July 2012, has now been published in ‘Engineering Sustainability’ Volume 166, Issue 5 – you can view and download the papers here.
Excerpt from the Editorial by Professor of Earth Systems Engineering, Richard Dawson:
“The potential of technology to help solve many of the world’s most pressing problems – such as urbanisation, economic and demographic change, pollution and loss of ecosystems, uncertainties in our future climate, competition for resources and an increasingly interdependent network of infrastructure systems – is widely recognised. Clearly, engineers have a crucial role to play in the development and implementation of any response. However, from genes to the Internet, few aspects of the Earth system do not reflect humanity’s presence. The dynamics of major cycles of key nutrients such as water, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous and flows of other materials are more and more dominated by, often unintentional or unforeseen, anthropogenic activity. A traditional view of engineering (and indeed other subjects) may remain appropriate for addressing many problems. However, it is inevitable that narrow approaches to engineering fail at the level of the complex, interacting systems which characterise major societal challenges. Engineers not only need their fundamental science and disciplinary skills, but must now be capable of working across systems – understanding and analysing the systemic social, economic, environmental and technological effects of engineering projects within a global context. This process of analysis, design, engineering and management of coupled human, environmental and engineered systems has become known as earth systems engineering (ESE).
published on: 2nd October 2013