Transitions - Sustainable Design: The Science of Sustainability and Green Engineering - page 113

affected, the worse the disaster, such as the extent of an oil slick or the size of
a toxic plume in the atmosphere. Even monetary and other values are used as
benchmarks. Sometimes, however, timing may be the most important criterion.
Even if an event does not lead to an extremely large number of deaths or diseases,
or its spatial extent is not appreciably large, it may still be very important because
of where and when the event occurs. For example, the contamination of Times
Beach, Missouri, although affecting much of the town, was not the principal rea-
son for the national attention. The event occurred shortly after the Love Canal
hazardous waste problem was identified and people were wondering just how
extensively dioxin and other persistent organic compounds were going to be
found in the environment. Times Beach also occurred at a time when scientists
and engineers were beginning to get a handle on how to measure and even how
to treat (i.e., by incineration) contaminated soil and water. Other events also seem
to have received greater attention due to their timing, such as the worries about
DDT and its effect on eagles and other wildlife, Cryptosporidium outbreaks, and
Legionnaire's disease.
Some environmental incidents are not well defined temporarily but are impor-
tant because of the pollutants themselves. One would be hard pressed to identify
a single event that caused the public concern about lead. In fact, numerous incre-
mental steps brought the world to appreciate lead toxicity and risk. For example,
studies following lead reductions in gasoline and paint showed marked improve-
ments in blood lead levels in many children. Meanwhile, scientific and medical
research was linking lead to numerous neurotoxic effects in the peripheral and
central nervous systems, especially of children. Similar, stepwise progressions of
knowledge of environmental risk occurred for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs),
numerous organochlorine, organophosphate, and other pesticides, depletion of
the stratospheric ozone layer by halogenated (especially chlorinated) compounds,
and even the effect of releases of carbon dioxide, methane, and other “greenhouse
gases” on global warming (called more properly, global climate change ).
CONTROL
Engineers and other design professionals are control freaks—this is necessary. De-
sign professionals are held accountable for the success of any design: congratulated
when it succeeds and blamed when it fails.
Like almost everything else in environmental protection, new systematic ap-
proaches call for new terms (and new acronyms). In green engineering and
sustainable design, these are design for the environment (DFE), design for dis-
assembly (DFD), and design for recycling (DFR). 8 For example, the concept
of a cap and trade has been tested and works well for some pollutants and has
elements of DFE, DFD, and DFR. This is a system whereby companies are