Monday, 8 October 2007
Preparing for Change
Last week I was in Finland for the 8th International Symposium on Cold Region Development (ISCORD) Conference. ASCE was a partner in this ISCORD symposium, one of a series of international events bringing together the scientific and business sectors, as well as governments and administrators of cold regions to exchange information. The larger purpose is to advance technical, economic and social progress on the cold region issues.
While I was there, I offered remarks on the subject of global warming and its effect on cold regions. Several people presented data on this issue, mostly compiled in the last 50 years. I think the data shows that as engineers, we need to anticipate and prepare for the changes global warming can bring. If, over time, the sea level rises by a foot, areas like the Barrier Islands and the coastal marshes off New Orleans will face new challenges. As the world becomes warmer, a whole host of changes will affect our profession in a variety of ways. Changes in ocean currents and flows may have implications for the temperatures of some coastline cities, like San Francisco. The economic environment for fishermen and lobstermen may shift as the supply diminishes under different conditions. New national security issues may arise. What it all comes down to is the need for us to take climate change seriously. We may need to anticipate change and be more flexible in how we adapt to change and not think of ourselves as square pegs that can only fit in one size and shape hole.
How can we as engineers better anticipate, prepare and adapt to these changes when we cannot really predict the magnitude?