Sustaining Engineering : Rationale and Directions for Preparing

SUSTAINING ENGINEERING: RATIONALE AND DIRECTIONS FOR PREPARING ENGINEERS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT by Fiona S. Crofton B.G.S., Simon Fraser University, 1980 M.A. (Educ)., Simon Fraser University, 1984 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Faculty of Education @ Fiona S. Crofton 1995 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY April 1995 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. APPROVAL Name: Fiona Crofton Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Title of Thesis: Sustaining Engineering: Rationale and Directions for Preparing Engineers for Sustainable Development Examining Committee: Chair: Leone M. Prock Michry-Casimir Prof Senior Supervisor Roland Case Associate Professor Milton McClaren Associate Professor Allan MacKinnon Assistant Professor Internal/External Examiner Norman Ball Associate Professor Systems Design Engineering University of Waterloo Waterloo, Ontario External Examiner Date Approved PARTIAL COPYRIGHT LICENSE I hereby grant to Simon Fraser University the right to lend my thesis, project or extended essay (the title of which is shown below) to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. I further agree that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by me or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this work for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Title of Thesis/Project,Extended Essay Sustaining Engineering: Rationale and Directions for Preparing Engineers for Sustainable Development Author: - Fiona CJ,7ature' fton (Name) (Date) ABSTRACT This thesis offers a rationale and directions for preparing engineers to meet the challenges of sustainable development. More specifically, this study (a) examines various interpretations of sustainable development and articulates a defensible interpretation of its meaning and requirements; (b) investigates the current status of the engineering profession as it pertains to sustainable development; (c) identifies gaps in engineers' knowledge, skills and practices which have implications for engineers' role and effectiveness in sustainable development; and (d) proposes and justifies directions for change in the practice and education of engineers in Canada. The study proceeds by reviewing the literature of sustainable development, describing the landscape of sustainable development and different perspectives arising out of the tensions between the economy and the environment. This review yields a reasonable and comprehensive interpretation of sustainable development including its goals and basic principles. Subsequently, the study examines the alignment between ideals of sustainable development and engineering. Next this investigation examines B.C. engineers' current understandings of sustainable development by focussing on engineers' perceptions of (a) the meaning of sustainable development, (b) their roles and responsibilities for sustainable development, (c) knowledge and skill requirements for sustainable development, and (d) adequacy of current knowledge, skills and practices. Other studies of engineers, bearing on the requirements of sustainable development, are drawn upon to enrich understanding of current knowledge, skills md practices. When compared with the ideals, the findings reveal that engineers' knowledge, skills and/or practices for sustainable development are deficient in a number of areas. Deficiencies include knowledge of contexts, environmental sciences, social sciences; interpersonal, communication and group process skills; education and training. Recommendations for overcoming these deficiencies and better preparing engineers for sustainable development focus on a) increasing engineers' awareness and understanding of sustainable development; b) improving knowledge and skills; and c) improving or developing organizational and educational support. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to howledge and give many thanks - to Earth for nourishing me physically, emotionally, and spiritually, and to my feline friends Amra and Tarna for always being with me and giving me comfort; to my mother, Edit. Whipple, for instilling in me an appreciation of beauty, color, tone and texture; for initiating me into my search for a quality of life; and for bringing me soup, flowers and other things to sustain me throughout the dissertation process; to some very special friends - Charlie, Colin, Johan, Lome, and Maryanka - who offered encouragement when I was tired or despairing, and who were patient and understanding through my periods of seclusion; to professional associates who willingly spent time talking about sustainable development and/or engineering and encouraged me to press on - Darwin Donachuk, P.Eng., Senior Policy Analyst, Sustainable Development Coordinating Unit, Manitoba Round Table on Environment and Economy; Ann Hillyer, Barrister and Solicitor, West Coast Environmental Law; Peter Jones, P.Eng, Chair, APEGBC Sustainable Development Task Force; Dr. Garland Laliberte, P.Eng, CCPE president; Susan Stevenson, Instructor, SFU School of Engineering Science; Dr. Marsha Trew, Director, UBC Women Students' Office; and my business John Dickinson and Wayne Penney; to members of my supervisory committee for helping me bring this dissertation to a successful conclusion - to Mike for his kind and gentle support, for providing friendly guidance, and for helping to negotiate pitfalls that might have swallowed me up; to Roland for his detailed reviews of my work, for facilitating my understanding of conceptual argument, and even for what I came to call his "conceptual-nit-pickingn;and to Milt for welcoming, supporting and encouraging my vision, and for being a formidable ally in efforts to walk the path to sustainability; to all the members of the examining committee for challenging me to say more than I had already said, for asking questions that gave me other ways of looking at my work, and for welcoming and celebrating my success; to various organizations whose support facilitated the APEGBC study - to the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of B.C. (APEGBC) for the opportunity to undertake a study of their members' views of sustainable development, and for their financial support of the study; to APEGBC, Kelowna Branch, for organizing participants for the Kelowna focus group; to SFU Education, Kelowna, for providing a site for conducting a focus group; to SFU Continuing Education, Harbor Center, for providing the site for conducting focus groups in Vancouver; to those engineers, engineering students and faculty members, who were willing to participate in the various studies that make up this dissertation; and to others I have not named who were with me in thought and spirit. I could not have done it without you. TABLE OF CONTENTS Approval ................................................ ii ABSTRACT .............................................. iii Acknowledgements ......................................... iv ListofTables ............................................. viii List of Exhibits and Figures ................................... viii List of Abbreviations ......................................... xi CHAFTER 1: BACKGROUND AND STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM ....... 1 Statement of the Problem .................................. 3 Intentions of the Study .................................... 5 Assumptions ........................................... 5 ApproachandMethods .................................... 6 Step 1: Articulating "Standards" ........................... 7 Step 2: Determining the Current Status of the Canadian Engineering Profession ...................................... 8 Step 3: Recommending Changes .......................... 9 Limitations ............................................ 9 Definition of Terms ...................................... 10 Overview of Chapters ..................................... 13 Endnotes ............................................. 14 CHAPTER 2: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS: GOALS. IDEALS AND REQUIREMENTS ........................... 16 Sustainable Development: A Historical Review .................... 17 International Attention ................................. 18 The Canadian Response ................................ 21 Increasing Currency of the Idea ........................... 22 TheUltimateGoal ....................................... 23 Different Perspectives ..................................... 28 Principles of Sustainable Development .......................... 38 HumanNeeds ...................................... 40 Ecological Integrity ................................... 43 Equity and Social Justice ............................... 4!5 Participation and Cooperation ............................ 49 Organizational/Relational Structures and Systems ............... 51 Appropriate Technology ................................ 56 Summary .......................................... 58 Alignment with Goals and Requirements of Professional Engineers ....... 60 Summary ........................................ 65 Endnotes ............................................. 67 CHAPTER 3: CURRENT STATUS OF THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION ...... 77 TheAPEGBCStudy .....................................

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