Environmental Challenge for Engineers

Abstract

This paper is taken from a talk given by the author during the September 26–30, 1993 Joint Triennial Conference in London and Maidstone, Kent, U.K., during a session entitled, “The Environmental Challenge for Engineers.” The writer begins by defining the word “environment” as “being surrounded,” then describes how the civil engineer's efforts at service to the public are surrounded on at least five sides, namely the public's desires, national governmental laws and regulations, the legal profession, local officials' needs, and the development of increasingly sensitive analytical instruments that seem to take on a life of their own. The writer then addresses the need for civil engineers to adapt to changing conditions, feelings, and philosophies. The paper ends by indicating that the environmental challenge is the civil engineer who has the technical knowledge, a diverse range of expertise, and experience with those entities within a community directly affected by our work, and who must be the leader of professional teams facing today's complex projects and those in the future.