Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Microethical and Macroethical Green Engineering
Perspectives
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of
comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and
controversy.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963) *
Getting back to matching green design with client expectations, we need to
consider scale. For example, the green health care initiatives start with a global
perspective but place the principal onus for success on the individual health
care facility, and ultimately, on the health care provider. Design professionals
often characterize phenomena by their dimensions and by when they occur,
that is, by their respective spatial and temporal scales . Design always includes
a dimensional analysis by which to measure and describe physical, chemical,
and biological attributes of what we design. This analysis is often intuitive and
qualitative, but to satisfy the client, the scale must be known at the outset of the
design process. So this begs the question: Can we “measure” ethics in a similar
way? King's advice is that we can measure ethics, especially in our behavior
during worst cases. How well can we stick to our principles and duties when
things get tough? Philosophers and teachers of philosophy at the university
level frequently subscribe to one classical theory or another for the most part,
but most concede the value of other models. They all agree, however, that
ethics is a rational and reflective process of deciding how we ought to treat
each other.
The engineering profession has recently articulated its moral responsibility to
society to ensure that designs and technologies are in society's best interest. In
addition, the individual engineer has a specific set of moral obligations to the
public and the client. The moral obligations of the profession as a whole are
greater than the sum of the individual engineers' obligations. The profession
certainly needs to ensure that each of its members adheres to a defined set
of ethical expectations. This is a necessary but insufficient condition for the
ethos of engineering. The “bottom-up” approach of ensuring an ethical engi-
neering population does not completely ensure that many societal ills will be
addressed.
Political theorist Langdon Winner has succinctly characterized the twofold
engineering moral imperative:
* M. L. King, Jr., Strength to Love, Augsburg Fortress Publishers, Minneapolis, MN, 1963; Fortress
ed., May 1981.
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