Our future is in our hands and minds
As 2012 launches into view and the population of mother earth approaches seven billion: the skills, crafts and ingenuity of the humble engineer will be arguably one of the most important resources for mankind.
I’ve heard it said that a comfortable sustainable population of humans that can co-exist on mother earth’s surface without undue strain on its natural systems is probably as low as one billion – and yet we’re about to break that sevenfold, and will undoubtedly go even much higher.
Total population of people, the demand they create and the waste they produce is the real driver of three major challenges facing society: water supply, energy and transport and these are core areas of engineering. The challenge is to deliver the solutions without exhausting mother earth and to hand the planet back to our children in better condition than we inherited it ourselves.
The dramatic irony of the story is that it was engineers who contributed to making it initially possible for the population to expand and civilisation to develop through Roman Civil Engineers and their construction of aquaducts and roads, and our survival as a species is now ironically contingent upon the ability of engineers to solve the challenges of true sustainability.
Of all the professions, there is no profession better suited than Engineering to the solution of difficult physical problems, within limited financial resources and within shortened time frames.
Now, more than ever before, the Profession of Engineers needs to be taking a greater role in leading the way in social and political arenas, leading comment, discussion and community debate and demonstrating initiative, skill and competence in the management of mother earth’s resources and the development of true sustainability.
While engineering has been described as a skill of mind and hand, our future is in our hands and minds.
John Nichols BE (Civil) CPEng FIEAust
Deputy President, Engineers Australia Sydney Division
