Place and Time - Sustainable Design: The Science of Sustainability and Green Engineering - page 186

biocentrism or ecocentrocism, known as deep ecology . This is actually a mod-
ern form of utilitarianism , holding that nature and the natural order should
be valued over individual human happiness, which has even spawned views
that the worth of certain human beings (e.g., newborns, elderly, the infirm)
is less than that of more sentient beings. Consider this quote by the ecocen-
trist Peter Singer: “In our topic, Should the Baby Live?, my colleague Helga
Kuhse and I suggested that a period of twenty-eight days after birth might
be allowed before an infant is accepted as having the same right to life as
others”. (P. Singer, Rethinking Life and Death , St. Martin's Griffin, New York,
1996, p. 217.)
Such views are counter to the engineer's first canon, which is to hold
paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public. In fact, the socially
responsible and green engineer has an ethical obligation to the most vul-
nerable members of society. Most of our plans cannot be targeted for the
healthiest or strongest but for the most sensitive. For example, air pollution
controls need to protect infants, the elderly, asthmatics, and others sensitive
to airborne contaminants. Similarly, food and water supplies must meet stan-
dards to protect the more vulnerable members of society (e.g., those with
allergies, young children). Thus, the life cycle extends beyond a single point
in time and space.
22. The source for this discussion is S. B. Billatos and N. A. Basaly, Green Tech-
nology and Design for the Environment , Taylor & Francis, Bristol, PA, 1997.
23. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “What is green engineering?”
http://www.epa.gov/oppt/greenengineering/whats ge.html, 2004, accessed
November 2, 2004.
24. See: Billatos and Basaly, Green Technology and Design for the Environment ;
and V. Allada, “Preparing engineering students to meet the ecological
challenges through sustainable product design,” Proceedings of the 2000 In-
ternational Conference on Engineering Education , Taipei, Taiwan, 2000.