Canon #8

Engineers shall consider environmental impact and sustainable development in the performance of their professional duties.

Our interpretation of Canon 8 is as follows:

1. Engineers shall concern themselves with the impact of their plans and designs on the environment. When the impact is a clear threat to health or safety of the public, then the guidelines for this Canon revert to those of Canon 1.
2. Engineers shall consider development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. When the impact of the trade-off between economic, ecological, and social issues forms a clear threat to health or safety of the public, then the guidelines for this Canon revert to those of Canon 1.
3. “Sustainable development” is the challenge of meeting human needs for natural resources, industrial products, energy, food, transportation, shelter, and effective waste management while conserving and protecting environmental quality and the natural resource base essential for future development.

This canon is relatively new to the ASME code, and is a result of the rising awareness of sustainable development, of the impact of human activity on the earth, and of the substantial role that engineers play in that activity.

It is important to note the difference between the phrasing of this canon and of the other canons. Canons 1 – 7 prescribe a behavior that is reasonably well-defined. Canon 2, for example, states that engineers shall perform services only in their area of competence. But Canon 8 does not state or give guidance on how to resolve the conflicts unless the conflict involves a clear harm to the public (Canon 1). It only states that engineers shall consider the impact of the design and the interpretations attempt to clarify the definitions of environmental impact and sustainable design.

The Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in China is an example of a project that could cause an engineer concern. This project might be the largest construction project in human history; it will result in the resettlement of many people, it will flood agricultural lands and historic relics, and will provide flood control and clean electricity to millions. The impact on the environment, both physical and social, is immense and immediate. The benefits are distributed and in the future. How does an engineer decide?

Similar concerns arise around the development of alternative energy sources, reduction of “carbon footprint”, and other “green” projects and policies. Consider, for example, the issue of installing wind turbines in Nantucket Sound (off Cape Cod in Massachusetts).. Wind data suggest it would be feasible and it would provide power to a portion of the country that is heavily dependent on fossil fuels for electrical power. On the other hand, residents of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket claim such a wind farm would spoil their visual environment, be a hazard to navigation and injure migrating birds.

The utilitarian model provides a method for evaluating the impact of such projects, although some of the values needed for the evaluation may be difficult to obtain. If the benefits outweigh the costs, then the project should proceed. The respect for persons model suggests that the rights of the potentially adversely affected persons supersede the societal benefits.

Thus, while this canon requires the engineer to consider environmental impacts and sustainability, it is necessary to refer to other canons and perhaps moral models to help an engineer make a decision. It also requires the engineer to make judgments between competing models of environmental impact, future development, and future technologies. In the words of Edward Deming, the most important things are unknown and unknowable. (Deming, W. E. 1986. Out of the Crisis MIT Press) and in that framework the engineers must make decisions, and also remember that not making a decision is a type of decision.