TABLE OF CONTENTS In a span of just a few decades, advances and new environmental applications of science, engineering, and their associated technologies have coalesced into a whole new way to see the world. Science is the explanation of the physical world, whereas engineering encompasses applications of science to achieve results. Thus, what we have learned about the environment by trial and error has incrementally grown into what is now standard practice of environmental science and engineering. This heuristically attained knowledge has come at a great cost in terms of the loss of lives and diseases associated with mistakes, poor decisions (at least in retrospect), and the lack of appreciation of environmental effects.
It is the right time to consider those events that have affected the state of environmental science and engineering. Environmental awareness is certainly more "mainstream," and less a polarizing issue than it was in the 1970s and 1980s. There has been a steady march of advances in environmental science and engineering for several decades, as evidenced by the increasing number of Ph.D. dissertations and credible scientific journal articles addressing a myriad of environmental issues. Corporations and government agencies, even those whose missions are not considered to be "environmental," have established environmental programs.
Old Paradigm:
Pollution is best controlled by rigidly enforced standards.
Paradigm Shift:
Green approaches can achieve environmental results beyond command and control.
Recently, companies and agencies have been looking beyond...
