The why and the how we need societal transformation - An engineer’s perspective
As we get closer to the unfathomable 1.5°C point-of-no-return it gets clearer that the way we are organized today is not working. But how do we solve this mess? Should we wait for scientists and engineers to innovate ourselves out of this crisis like we've done in the past? Or shall we mobilize 7.9 billion people around the globe to change their habits, what they eat, what clothes they wear, how they produce their energy and how they move from A to B; and if so, how? This, amongst others, is a question I am addressing at the Catalyst Lab.
My best guess? Education.
Nothing lasts forever, everything changes - dynamically, constantly, incessantly. Sometimes it happens before our very eyes, sometimes we can't even hear it. In chemistry we call it dynamic equilibrium, the concept by which A can transform into B but given the right conditions B can reverse back to A. As time passes one question becomes more and more incumbent: "How can humanity tend to its current needs without compromising earth's ability to nourish the future generations?"
It has become my belief that our society needs new, or old but forgotten, models to organize itself. We are still largely based on the principles of the Industrial Revolution developed in the 19th century of linear production process. As a chemical engineer I have been taught to think that technology solves our problems and addresses our needs. That by building a machine, a box, a tool which you feed with some raw material it will give you what you most seek.
Technology, like fire or dynamite and nuclear weapons, is a tool and should be built with the awareness of what it is capable of. That awareness must be nourished, given room for growth and mature. It must be systematic, looked after and tended to, like a delicate flower. Educational institutions have the space and opportunity to be bastions of not only technological innovation but also of technological awareness.
As a recent graduate engineer I therefore wonder: “How can students and young professionals co-create fruitful collaborative environments that foster, and empower academic institutions to be sustainability pioneers?” Questions, not answers we must carry. Because in those questions lies the truth that we seek, ever evolving, ever-changing.
I would therefore like to invite you to join me on this quest to carry these questions together.
“Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.” - Albert Einstein.
Further literature and links to the topic
Zeit zu handeln - Konkrete Schritte für eine nachhaltige Zürcher Hochschullandschaft (NHWZ, 2021)
Six Transformations to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (Sachs et al., 2019)
Student-Led Action for Sustainability in Higher Education: A Literature Review (Murray, 2018)
At the bottom lines - student initiatives for sustainable development in higher education (Singer-Brodowski, 2016)
Change from below - student initiatives for universities in sustainable development (Drupp et al, 2012)
Blogpost written by Erik Turner, Catalyst Lab 2
Hi, I’m Erik, chemical process engineer from Ticino. I studied at EPFL in Lausanne and then ETH in Zürich, where I earned a Master's degree in Process Engineering. Currently, I work as a Project Manager at a successful start-up enabling permanent CO2 storage in mineral waste material: www.neustark.com!
At Sustainability Week International, and previously YES-Europe, I aim to connect young adults who are enthusiastic about energy and sustainability and jointly develop concrete proposals for a sustainable education strategy.