Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
ing unknown territory. We do not know what all this will mean. However, it is clear we are
exceeding the capacity of our planet to support the implied future utopian global economy
and its ability to recycle our wastes. There will be uncertainty ahead for many alive today
and for all our descendants. What we do know is that nowhere is being impacted more than
the Arctic and its indigenous communities.
What can be done? The usual response is to call for political action. However, the ne-
cessary actions needed to secure our common future carry the risk of short-term pain and
lifestyle adjustment. Most readers will come from countries led by democratically elected
governments. A political party with a policy aimed at implementing such actions can ex-
pect swift slaughter at the polls because our electorate can quickly be persuaded there is
nothing to be concerned about. They will use their vote elsewhere. In the middle of the first
decade of this century, a Canadian mainstream political party (that has frequently formed
the government) fought a federal election on a sustainable development platform. It has
still not recovered.
How can we respond democratically to this situation? I see no antidote to the malaise
other than education and research. We need to equip our general population with a sound
knowledge of what we are doing to the Arctic and to our planet, an understanding of why
the ways of the past are unsustainable and a willingness to make genuine changes to cur-
rent lifestyles. Only then can we expect scientific knowledge to foster meaningful national
and international political action.
I think there are at least five elements to this educative process:
1. Education throughout the school system - from kindergarten to high school gradu-
ation : This is the most important element of all. It is during our childhood and teenage
years that our minds are moulded. It is when we learn how to behave in our society and
our culture. We learn about our responsibilities to others and form our expectations for the
future. My generation was born between about 1940 and 1960. Many of our world leaders
received their school education in this period. We learned and absorbed the then-prevail-
ing paradigm for humankind's relationship with our environment. It went something like
this: “It is ours to use and its resources are without limit.” For those of us with a Judeo-
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