Opinion piece by Nicholas Holz GradIEAust, National Representative for Young Engineers Australia Queensland.
Nicholas Holz GradIEAust graduated from the University of Queensland in 2014, receiving a dual-Bachelor of Civil Engineering and Marine Science. Since graduating, Nicholas has been working as both a structural and environmental engineer for Lambert and Rehbein in Brisbane. Nicholas also currently holds the position of National Representative for Young Engineers Australia Queensland.
In 1779, Thomas Malthus wrote an essay on the relationship between a growing population and its ability to sustain itself. It was his opinion that, given enough time, a population would inevitably collapse as its size exceeded the rate at which it could produce the necessary resources to survive.
Dubbed the ‘Malthusian Catastrophe’, this viewpoint was not without its critics, many of who took a more optimistic stance. For example, in 1965, Danish agricultural economist Ester Boserup argued that humanity will always be able to provide for its population through both social change and scientific innovation.
Despite both views being at extreme ends of the continuum, both propositions have merit and it is a fact that somewhere in the world, every day, there are situations where Malthusian catastrophe events would be unavoidable without intervention through the processes described by Boserup. In the nearly 240 years since Malthus’ paper, the world’s population has grown by seven times without such an event occurring on a wholly global scale due to the gains of scientific research. However, the focus of our efforts has tended to be on maximising production rather than delivering gains through sustainable practice, resulting in the abuse of finite resources.
The best example of this is the use of fossil fuels. The utilisation of fossil fuels for energy is responsible for our rapid and extensive advancements in science and the significant growth in the population delivering the lifestyles we enjoy today.
However, due to global population size, in conjunction with unfettered use of these resources, it is predicted that, depending on the source, our global fuel reserves will only last between 35-110 years. Despite this, governments around the world still choose to subsidise and invest in foreseeably redundant technologies, failing to fully recognise the strategic value in alternative sustainable sources of energy and conservation of increasingly scarce resources.
Modern advances in sustainable energy production have resulted in more than just environmental benefits. Renewable energy has created its own economy as public interest grows and the technology improves its ability to compete with traditional energy sources. In The US alone, renewable energy constitutes 11.1% of its total energy production but accounts for 62% of all electrical power generation jobs and 26% of all jobs across the entire energy sector (US Energy and Employment Report, Department of Energy, January 2017).
As the pressure on finite resources increases and the science that underpins renewable energy production improves, it must become evident to policy makers that there is nothing to be gained from playing to the extremes, pitting Malthus against Boserup. Instead, policy makers need to understand that we will only move forward if we accept that both are right and that the risk hypothesised by Malthus can be mitigated if we take a more cooperative approach.
The reality is that, today, renewable energy technologies are not fully capable of replacing fossil fuels without serious economic and social ramifications. The role of sustainability is to formulate strategic pathways that produce a system that provides our basic needs, while preserving our current way of life, accommodating a manageable rate of change. Innovation is the key to this by providing new technology and methods to achieve safe levels of economic and social adjustment.
By allowing the relationship between sustainability and innovation to evolve through collaborative processes, we reduce the risk of catastrophe. From an economic and social viewpoint, following the traditional model of pursuing maximum production without considering sustainability will only delay the inevitable, heighten the risk and force us to confront a period of disruptive social change. Innovation, guided by sustainability, is the future of science and engineering, and as such, it is the responsibility of engineers to lead industry, and Australia as a whole, towards this position.
Young Engineers Australia Queensland and the College of Leadership and Management invite you to join in the interactive CPD event, 'Turning innovation into reality' on Tuesday 13 June in Brisbane. Find out how to turn your innovative ideas into business realities, with experienced guest speakers, interactive stalls demonstrating real-life problems from various local companies, and valuable networking opportunities.
Image: iStock.