Sustainable Development vs Environmental Engineering: Energy Issues

Man can't live without environment, one with some strictly specified parameters. Despite this known truth, the relation between man and environment is far from peaceful coexistence. From history's point of view, it can be noticed that mankind have repeatedly caused environmental disasters. At first those were purely local. The primitive nomad usually moved elsewhere in the face of an ecological problem. Later on, the situation became much more complicated. Underestimating the environmental conditions lead to the downfall of the first literate and highly advanced civilization in history, the Sumerians (Ponting, 1993), stabilized as early as 3000 B.C. The area it occupied, between the rivers of Euphrates and Tigris (Lower Mesopotamia), favored agricultural development. The yields were high due to the highly developed irrigating system. A rapid increase in population was observed, along with the increasing demand for food. The increase in yields slowed down however, and depleted systematically, reaching one-third of the maximal yields about 1800 B.C. The signs of crisis were ignored, however, which led to a complete breakdown of the agriculture as well as the entire civilization. Among many causes of the yields' decrease, two deserve a special mention. • Widespread irrigation favored the increase of soil's salinity (one of the major causes of soil degradation). • The growing demand for food, along with the increasing populace entailed expanding cultivated area. After utilizing all available farming areas, forests were cut out and the land obtained in this way was cultivated. This resulted in increasing erosion – another important form of soil degradation. Moreover, depletion of plant cover and erosion made way to creating large runoffs and the silting of rivers, which caused floods as a consequence. Modern technical powers of mankind are much bigger however, than those of the Sumerians. Our pressure on the environment has also increased. Not only can mankind cause its own extinction, but the destruction of the entire biosphere. Not so long ago it seemed that environmental protection will bring rescue. A breakthrough moment of its development was the U'Thant report in 1969. Although earlier efforts to help the environment were made – the first known act regarding the environment was introduced in China about 1122 B.C. – it was the 20th century and U'Thant's report that made way to large-scale international initiatives. Media publicity, that accompanied the report also helped shape the worldwide society's awareness of the environmental threats.