Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
environmental management, health, public communication and so on - if it is to be
anything other than a large body of warm words. If society, social norms and
expectations, and major institutions are part of the problem and of any solution,
Beck's notion of reflexivity as self-confrontation is undoubtedly extremely relevant
to the making of green knowledge (Jamison, 2001, 2003). Contrasting forms of
knowledge about nature and society derived from community, professional, militant
activist and personal experiences are slowly combining to form new theories of and
approaches to sustainable socio-ecological development. These forms of knowledge
range from the empirically based notions of bottom-up 'citizen science' to the
professionalized top-down expertise of international NGOs, universities and think-
tanks, the deep ecological action-orientated militancy of activist groups like Earth
First!, the meditative spiritualism of some religious people, and the knowledge
management practices of business and government. There is certainly a need for a
new extended approach to knowledge creation, what Funtowicz and Ravetz (2001:
178) term a 'post-normal science', where, instead of supporting what is too often
presented as salvation, scientists deal mainly with managing uncertainties, so 'assuring
the quality of the scientific information provided for policy decisions':
The new paradigm of post-normal science, involving extended peer commun-
ities as essential participants, is visible in the case of AIDS. Here the research
scientists operate in the full glare of publicity, involving sufferers, care-givers,
journalists, ethicists, activists and self-help groups, as well as traditional institu-
tions for funding, regulation and commercial application of pharmaceuticals.
The researchers' choices of problems and evaluations of solutions are equally
subjected to critical scrutiny, and their priority disputes are similarly dragged in
the public arena.
(Funtowicz and Ravetz, 2001: 192)
For German philosopher Martin Heidegger, tools and instruments, science and
technology are the means by which human beings impact on and perceive, model,
and visually and imaginatively construct our view and understanding of the planet.
Technology can allow us to see. Digital modelling, computer-enhanced imaging and
photographs taken by orbiting telescopes or in the lab by electronic microscopes all
serve as extensions of ourselves. Science is embodied in technology, and scientific
practice is embodied in much of our attitudes and behaviour, but sustainability
practitioners have also highlighted the value of other more spiritual and/or sensual
ways of seeing, in many ways reflecting the growing global influence of Buddhist
thought and insight (Schumacher, 1974; Capra, 1991, 1996; Kumar, 1992) and the
growing value of traditional ecological knowledge, dreamtime and kanyini to us all.
Case study: biotech and the state of the future
Nanotechnology has now superseded biotech as the new technological frontier,
heralding amazing possibilities and potentially massive, unknowable, risks (Hunt
and Mehta, 2006). Phillip Bond, the US Undersecretary of Commerce for Technology,
told the World Nano-Economic Congress held in Washington in 2003 that this
miraculous technology had the power to make the blind see, the lame walk and the
