Engineering Ethics:

Peace, Justice, and the Earth

Second Edition
 Synthesis Lectures on
Engineering, Technology and
Society
Editor
Caroline Baillie, University of Western Australia
e mission of this lecture series is to foster an understanding for engineers and scientists on the
inclusive nature of their profession. e creation and proliferation of technologies needs to be
inclusive as it has effects on all of humankind, regardless of national boundaries, socio-economic
status, gender, race and ethnicity, or creed. e lectures will combine expertise in sociology, political
economics, philosophy of science, history, engineering, engineering education, participatory
research, development studies, sustainability, psychotherapy, policy studies, and epistemology. e
lectures will be relevant to all engineers practicing in all parts of the world. Although written for
practicing engineers and human resource trainers, it is expected that engineering, science and social
science faculty in universities will find these publications an invaluable resource for students in the
classroom and for further research. e goal of the series is to provide a platform for the publication
of important and sometimes controversial lectures which will encourage discussion, reflection and
further understanding.
e series editor will invite authors and encourage experts to recommend authors to write on a wide
array of topics, focusing on the cause and effect relationships between engineers and technology,
technologies and society and of society on technology and engineers. Topics will include, but are not
limited to the following general areas; History of Engineering, Politics and the Engineer, Economics
, Social Issues and Ethics, Women in Engineering, Creativity and Innovation, Knowledge Networks,
Styles of Organization, Environmental Issues, Appropriate Technology

Engineering Ethics: Peace, Justice, and the Earth, Second Edition

George D. Catalano
2014

Mining and Communities: Understanding the Context of Engineering Practice

Rita Armstrong, Caroline Baillie, and Wendy Cumming-Potvin
2014

Engineering and War: Militarism, Ethics, Institutions, Alternatives

Ethan Blue, Michael Levine, and Dean Nieusma
2013
iv
Engineers Engaging Community: Water and Energy
Carolyn Oldham, Gregory Crebbin, Stephen Dobbs, and Andrea Gaynor
2013

e Garbage Crisis: A Global Challenge for Engineers

Randika Jayasinghe, Usman Mushtaq, Toni Alyce Smythe, and Caroline Baillie
2013

Engineers, Society, and Sustainability

Sarah Bell
2011

A Hybrid Imagination: Science and Technology in Cultural Perspective

Andrew Jamison, Steen Hyldgaard Christensen, and Lars Botin
2011

A Philosophy of Technology: From Technical Artefacts to Sociotechnical Systems

Pieter Vermaas, Peter Kroes, Ibo van de Poel, Maarten Franssen, and Wybo Houkes
2011

Tragedy in the Gulf: A Call for a New Engineering Ethic

George D. Catalano
2010

Humanitarian Engineering
Carl Mitcham and David Munoz
2010

Engineering and Sustainable Community Development

Juan Lucena, Jen Schneider, and Jon A. Leydens
2010

Needs and Feasibility: A Guide for Engineers in Community Projects — e Case of

Waste for Life
Caroline Baillie, Eric Feinblatt, imothy amae, and Emily Berrington
2010

Engineering and Society: Working Towards Social Justice, Part I: Engineering and Society
Caroline Baillie and George Catalano
2009

Engineering and Society: Working Towards Social Justice, Part II: Decisions in the 21st
Century
George Catalano and Caroline Baillie
2009
 v
Engineering and Society: Working Towards Social Justice, Part III: Windows on Society
Caroline Baillie and George Catalano
2009

Engineering: Women and Leadership

Corri Zoli, Shobha Bhatia, Valerie Davidson, and Kelly Rusch
2008

Bridging the Gap Between Engineering and the Global World: A Case Study of the
Coconut (Coir) Fiber Industry in Kerala, India
Shobha K. Bhatia and Jennifer L. Smith
2008

Engineering and Social Justice

Donna Riley
2008

Engineering, Poverty, and the Earth

George D. Catalano
2007

Engineers within a Local and Global Society

Caroline Baillie
2006

Globalization, Engineering, and Creativity

John Reader
2006

Engineering Ethics: Peace, Justice, and the Earth

George D. Catalano
2006
Copyright © 2014 by Morgan & Claypool

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Engineering Ethics: Peace, Justice, and the Earth, Second Edition

George D. Catalano
www.morganclaypool.com

ISBN: 9781627055413 paperback

ISBN: 9781627055420 ebook

DOI 10.2200/S00589ED1V01Y201408ETS022

A Publication in the Morgan & Claypool Publishers series

SYNTHESIS LECTURES ON ENGINEERING, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY

Lecture #22
Series Editor: Caroline Baillie, University of Western Australia
Series ISSN
Print 1933-3633 Electronic 1933-3641
Engineering Ethics:
Peace, Justice, and the Earth
Second Edition
George D. Catalano
State University of New York at Binghamton

SYNTHESIS LECTURES ON ENGINEERING, TECHNOLOGY AND

SOCIETY #22

M
&C Morgan & cLaypool publishers
ABSTRACT
A response of the engineering profession to the challenges of security, poverty and underdevelop-
ment, environmental sustainability, and native cultures is described. Ethical codes, which govern
the behavior of engineers, are examined from a historical perspective linking the prevailing codes
to models of the natural world. A new ethical code based on a recently introduced model of
Nature as an integral community is provided and discussed. Applications of the new code are
described using a case study approach. With the ethical code based on an integral community in
place, new design algorithms are developed and also explored using case studies. Implications of
the proposed changes in ethics and design on engineering education are considered.

KEYWORDS
engineering ethics, models of the natural world, engineering design, engineering ed-
ucation
 ix

With gratitude and appreciation for my family and all my two- and
four-legged friends and spiritual directors.
 xi

Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv

1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 e Challenge of Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 e Challenge of Poverty and Underdevelopment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 e Challenge of Environmental Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.4 e Challenge of Native Cultures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.5 Other Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.6 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

2 Engineering Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.1 Historical Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.2 Reviewing Today’s Codes of Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.3 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

3 Models of the Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

3.1 Earth as Great Chain of Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.2 Earth as Mechanical Clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.3 Earth as Living System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.4 Earth as Self-Organizing System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.5 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

4 Engineering in a Morally Deep World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

4.1 Borrowing from Environmental Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.2 Case Study 1: Wolves in the Southwestern U.S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4.3 A New Engineering Ethic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.4 Case Study 2: A Plow for Mexican Peasant Farmers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.5 Case Study 3: A Ticket-Tearing Device for a Disabled Person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.6 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
xii
5 Engineering Design in a Morally Deep World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
5.1 Overview of Traditional Engineering Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
5.2 Eco-Effective Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
5.3 A Design Algorithm for a Morally Deep World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
5.4 An Enriched Morally Deep World Design Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
5.5 Case Study 1: Grape Workers in Northern California . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
5.6 Case Study 2: Transporting Tourists in Cape Churchill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
5.7 Hydraulic Fracturing in the Marcellus Shale Region in New York . . . . . . . . . . . 47
5.8 Germline Engineering: A Look into the Future Nexus of Engineering and
Biology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
5.9 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

6 Implications for Engineering Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

6.1 A New Paradigm for Engineering Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
6.1.1 Living in Peace with Ourselves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
6.1.2 Living in Peace with Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
6.1.3 Living in Peace with the Planet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
6.2 Accreditation Codes and Modifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
6.3 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

7 Final oughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Author’s Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
 xiii

Preface
I have been a professor for nearly 30 years and have taught thousands of students who have pursued
careers in engineering. Over the course of the last several decades, I have, as an engineer and an
engineering professor, struggled with issues related to the environmental and societal impacts
that technology has in the modern world. I have wondered what views of their responsibilities to
society and the natural world do students take with them after graduation? Have I given them
the tools to make their way in a world in which the natural world is under siege unlike any time
before? How will they respond to the poverty and the injustices which dominate so much of our
shrinking global society?
Over the course of my career, I have been a faculty member at colleges in the Deep South,
the Midwest, and now the Northeast, at large land grant institutions, elite military academies,
and small, predominantly liberal arts universities. I have also been a soldier during times of war.
Much has changed in engineering education since my formal schooling where we imagined the
engineering profession as value free. Today students do not let us get away with such a narrow
view of engineering as more and more of them bring to the classroom an awareness of the state
of the world’s ecosystem as well as poverty and underdevelopment throughout the world. We in
engineering can no longer pretend that such issues are for some other profession, not ours.
My sincere hope in writing the present work is to provide a mechanism whereby issues
related to the four great challenges that confront us today—security, poverty and underdevel-
opment, environmental sustainability, and impact upon native cultures—can be discussed in the
context of the engineering profession.
When I first wrote this work, I addressed the three challenges that were set out by the
Worldwatch Institute, namely security, poverty and underdevelopment, and environmnetal sus-
tainability. Over the course of the last decade, I have realized that the issues surrounding technol-
ogy and poverty/development are much more complex than I had first considered. It has become
clear to me that the manner in which engineering defined its role was very much linked to our
preference for a modern Western lifestyle. It has occurred to me that maybe not all cultures view
such a transformation as desirable or healthy. As a result I have included a fourth challenge, one
that focuses on the proper and desired goals for the engineering profession while considering the
impact on the indigenous peoples throughout the world, although herein the discussion is limited
to Native Americans.

George D. Catalano
August 2014
 xv

Acknowledgments
I am grateful to many who have helped this effort become a reality. My sincerest thanks are
extended to my family, my friends, both two-legged and four-legged, and my many students. I
am also grateful to the Re-member Organization located on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South
Dakota for their efforts on behalf of the Lakota nation and also in awakening me to many of the
biases I have had as an engineer. Each has played a part in the development of the ideas that I
have put forward. I will remain forever in their debt. ank you.

Pax et bene.

George D. Catalano
August 2014
 1

CHAPTER 1

Introduction
According to the Worldwatch Institute, in their annual report on the state of the world, we face
three interrelated challenges: the challenge of security—including risks from weapons of mass
destruction and terrorism—the challenge of poverty and underdevelopment, and the challenge of
environmental sustainability [1].
Recently, I have discovered there is a fourth challenge that also merits consideration and
exploration, one centered on the relationships among native or indigenous cultures throughout
the world and engineering. Often the concepts of development and poverty have very different
meanings than we have here in the Western world.
Technology and rapidly accelerating technical advances have played key roles in the creation
of these challenges. us, engineers and the profession of engineering have much to say as to
whether or not the challenges of security, poverty, and sustainability can be successfully met.
To speak of a profession, particularly the profession of engineering, implies the following
five characteristics, which are useful in distinguishing professions from nonprofessional occupa-
tions [2]. First, entrance into a profession requires a mastery of some set body of knowledge and
thus involves an extensive period of intellectual training. Second, the professionals’ knowledge
and skills are seen as vital to the well being of the larger society. ird, professions typically have
a monopoly or near monopoly on the provisions of their particular set of professional services.
Fourth, professionals routinely have an unusual degree of autonomy in the workplace. Fifth, pro-
fessionals claim to be regulated by ethical standards, usually embodied in a code of ethics. It is
this last characteristic, the existence of ethical standards set forth in a code of conduct, which is
the focus of the present work.

1.1 THE CHALLENGE OF SECURITY

e challenge of security is at the forefront of everyone’s attention today, as it has been every
day in the United States since the horrific event of September 11, 2001. at terrible tragedy as
well as the 2004 terrorist attacks in Beslan in Russia [3], the bombing of trains in Madrid [4]
on March 11, 2004, and many other terrorist attacks in Japan, Indonesia, the Middle east, other
parts of Europe, and elsewhere have all driven home the fact that we are not adequately prepared
to deal with new threats. But better preparation may suggest a different kind of thinking or ap-
proach, not the traditional thinking from the past. is may be especially true for the profession
of engineering.
2 1. INTRODUCTION
In 2004, by one count, 24 significant on-going armed conflicts (1000 or more deaths) raged
around the world, with another 38 hot spots that could slide into or revert to war. Armed conflicts
have many costs, in addition to the cost in human lives that is reported in the news. e 1999
Report of the UN Secretary-General [5] put the economic costs to the international community
of seven major wars in the 1990s, not including Kosovo, at $199 billion. In addition, there are the
costs of economic losses to the countries actually at war. Other important areas affected by armed
conflict are: eco-terrorism, environmental destruction as collateral damage, and social casualties.
Over the course of the last decade, the United States has been involved in two wars in
Iraq and an armed conflict in Afghanistan and Pakistan. e wars begun in 2001 have been
tremendously painful for millions of people in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan, and the United
States, and economically costly as well. Each additional month and year of war adds to that toll.
e best estimate of all of the war’s recorded dead, including armed forces on all sides, contractors,
journalists, humanitarian workers, and civilians, is that over 350,000 people have died due to direct
war violence, and many more indirectly [6]. Millions of people have been displaced indefinitely
and are living in grossly inadequate conditions. e number of war refugees and displaced persons,
over 7 million, is nearly equivalent to the entire population of the New York City fleeing their
homes. While we know how many U.S. soldiers have died in the wars (nearly 7000), what is
not known are the levels of injury and illness in those who have returned from the wars. New
disability claims continue to be filed with the Veterans Administration, with 970,000 disability
claims registered as of March 31, 2014 [7]. e U.S. costs for the Iraq war, including an estimate
for veterans’ medical and disability costs into the future, is more than $2 trillion dollars. e cost
for both Iraq and Afghanistan/Pakistan is approaching $4 trillion, not including future interest
costs on borrowing for the wars [8].
Consider the impact of wars on children alone. A report prepared for the United Nations
General Assembly reveals the full extent of children’s involvement in the 30 or so armed conflicts
raging around the world [5]. “Millions of children are caught up in conflicts in which they are
not merely bystanders, but targets. Some fall victim to a general onslaught against civilians; others
die as part of a calculated genocide. Still other children suffer the effects of sexual violence or the
multiple deprivations of armed conflict that expose them to hunger or disease. Just as shocking,
thousands of young people are cynically exploited as combatants.”
According to Vesilind,¹ engineering from its inception has been intimately associated with
waging war. e earliest engineers were military engineers who worked at the behest of leaders
who either were leading conquering armies or defending their conquered lands from invasion.
Vesilund makes reference to the British linguist Young who in 1914 described the lineage of the
word engineer tracing it back to the Latin word ingenium, an invention or engine [9]. Young
adds, “ere must have been confusion of Latin ingenuus and Latin ingeniosus. ese should be
opposite in meaning. I suppose an engineer ought to be ingenious and ingenuous, artful and
¹P. Aarne Vesilind is an Emeritus Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and R.L. Rooke Chair in the Historical
and Societal Context of Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Bucknell University. At
Bucknell, Dr. Vesilind’s specialties include environmental engineering and professional ethics, among other areas.
 1.2. THE CHALLENGE OF POVERTY AND UNDERDEVELOPMENT 3
artless, sophisticated and unsophisticated, bond and free.” Vesilund concludes with a description
of the dichotomy that he claims captures the essence of engineering today:

“e engineer is sophisticated in creating technology, but unsophisticated in under-

standing how this technology is to be used. As a result, engineers have historically
been employed as hired guns, doing the bidding of both political rulers and wealthy
corporations” [10].

1.2 THE CHALLENGE OF POVERTY AND

UNDERDEVELOPMENT
According to the Social Summit Programme of Action, “Poverty has various manifestations,
including lack of income and productive resources sufficient to ensure sustainable livelihoods;
hunger and malnutrition; ill health; limited access or lack of access to education and other basic
services; increased morbidity and mortality from illness; homelessness and inadequate housing;
unsafe environments; and social discrimination and exclusion. It is also characterized by a lack of
participation in decision-making and in civil, social and cultural life. It occurs in all countries: as
mass poverty in many developing countries, pockets of poverty amid wealth in developed coun-
tries, loss of livelihoods as a result of economic recession, sudden poverty as a result of disaster
or conflict, the poverty of low-wage workers, and the utter destitution of people who fall out-
side family support systems, social institutions and safety nets” [11]. It further emphasizes that
“Absolute poverty is a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, in-
cluding food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.
It depends not only on income but also on access to social services.”
e challenge of poverty and underdevelopment was addressed in October 2004 at the tenth
anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development. e United Na-
tions International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) was held from Septem-
ber 5–13, 1994 in Cairo, Egypt. During this two-week period, world leaders, high ranking offi-
cials, representatives of non-governmental organizations, and United Nations agencies gathered
to agree on a Program of Action [12]. e assembly found that significant progress in many
fields important for human welfare has been made through national and international efforts.
However, the developing countries are still facing serious economic difficulties and an unfavor-
able international economic environment, and people living in absolute poverty have increased in
many countries.
Around the world many of the basic resources on which future generations will depend
for their survival and well-being are being depleted and environmental degradation is intensify-
ing, driven by unsustainable patterns of production and consumption, unprecedented growth in
population, widespread and persistent poverty, and social and economic inequality. e main con-
clusions of the final report centered on the fact that while some progress has been made, poverty
continues to undermine progress in many areas of the globe. Diseases such as HIV/AIDS are on
4 1. INTRODUCTION
the rise, creating public health time bombs in many counties. In addition, approximately 20 mil-
lion children have died of preventable waterborne diseases. Today, hundreds of millions of people
continue to live in squalor and destitute conditions associated with the lack of clean drinking
water and adequate sanitation.

1PQVMBUJPO *ODPNF

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 1.1: Distribution of world income, 1989 [10].

e report recommends a series of principles [13] that focus on the challenges associated
with poverty and underdevelopment in the world. Specifically, Principle 15 states:

“Sustained economic growth, in the context of sustainable development, and social

progress require that growth be broadly based, offering equal opportunities to all peo-
ple.”

e following figure (Fig. 1.1) from 1989 UNDP report, shows the unequal distribution of
world income and illustrates the underlying reason why 3 billion people have virtually no recourse
to the basic necessities of life.
e following table (Table 1.1) from UNDP (United Nations Development Program)
shows the millions of people living without the basic necessities of food, education, water, and
sanitation.
A fascinating comparison of actual expenditures on luxury items vs. basic needs points to
the issue of poverty and underdevelopment as a result of priorities is shown in Table 1.2. Compare
the annual expenditure on makeup vs. the funding provided for health care for all women or the
money spent on perfumes vs. the funds allocated to universal literacy, for example.
Table 1.1: Priorities of expenditures
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1.2. THE CHALLENGE OF POVERTY AND UNDERDEVELOPMENT
5
 6
1. INTRODUCTION

Table 1.2: Annual expenditure on luxury items compared with funding needed to meet selected basic needs
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 1.3. THE CHALLENGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY 7
With few exceptions, engineering and the engineering profession have not addressed is-
sues related to poverty and underdevelopment. Notably, Vallero describes engineering as becom-
ing increasingly complex and the responsibilities of engineers to society as changing as society
evolves [14]. According to Vallero, the great challenge in engineering is to treat all people fairly
and justly although the motivation for doing so arises out of the observation that undesirable land
use results in the creation of unhealthy environments which typically the least advantaged parts
of society are forced to bear. us, the responsibility to the poor is linked to the destruction of
the natural environment not out of a sense of responsibility to address their specific conditions.

1.3 THE CHALLENGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL

SUSTAINABILITY
e challenge of environmental sustainability results from a wide-ranging list of critical issues.
A few examples of the urgency associated with sustainability are described. Concentrations of
carbon dioxide, the main global warming gas in the Earth’s atmosphere, posted the largest two-
year increase ever recorded. Studies note that if the global temperature rises 2–6 degrees as now
predicted, up to 35% of the world’s species would become extinct by 2050 [15]. e United
Nations published a study noting that the number of oceans and bays with “dead zones” of water,
so devoid of oxygen that little life survives, has doubled to 146 since 1990 [16]. Two thirds of
Caribbean coral reefs are threatened by human activities, including over-fishing and pollution
runoff from agriculture. Toxic metals from discarded cell phones threaten both groundwater and
he health of recyclers in Pakistan, India, China, and elsewhere [17].
Polar ice caps and mountain glaciers are experiencing rapidly increasing temperature and as
a result are melting at an accelerating rate. e Arctic Climate Impact Assessment study released
in 2004 estimates that the Arctic Ocean might be ice-free by the end of the 21st century [18].
e ice sheets covering Greenland and Antarctica are seriously weakening and in many instances
disintegrating. is disintegration would cause raising ocean levels around the world and concur-
rently significant flooding of coastal areas.
Over the course of the last decade, a team of U.S. and Canadian researchers said the Bering
Sea was warming so much it was experiencing “a change from arctic to sub-arctic conditions” [19].
Gray whales are heading north and walruses are starving, adrift on ice floes in water too deep for
feeding. Warmer-water fish such as pollock and salmon are coming in, the researchers reported.
Off the coast of Nova Scotia, ice on Northumberland Strait has been so thin and unstable
during the past few winters that thousands of gray seals crawled on unaccustomed islands to give
birth. Storms and high tides washed 1500 newborn seal pups out to sea last year.
Focusing on one particular animal, the main natural habitat of the polar bear is under
increasing threat as a consequence of the dramatic thinning of the Arctic sea ice. e link between
the thinning of the ice and rising temperatures has been discovered by scientists at UCL and the
Met Office Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research, whose findings were published
in Nature [20]. e thinness of the ice covering the Arctic Ocean, approximately 3 m deep, makes
8 1. INTRODUCTION
it far more vulnerable to longer summers than the glaciers of the Antarctic. A 40% thinning of
the ice has occurred since the 1960s. Polar bears rely on the ice to hunt for seals, and its earlier
break-up is giving them less time to hunt. Continued decrease in the Arctic’s ice cover would
also act to increase the effects of global warming in the northern hemisphere by decreasing the
amount of sunlight reflected by the ice. It is also believed that the Arctic ice plays a role in the
operation of the Gulf Stream, and that this could be disrupted by the continued thinning.
According to a study funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, 75% of the farmland in sub-
Saharan Africa is severely degraded and is being depleted of basic soil nutrients at an ominous
rate, deepening a food production crisis that already affects 240 million people. e report, Agri-
cultural Production and Soil Nutrient Miningin Africa, found substantial soil decline in every
major region of sub-Saharan African, with the highest rates of depletion in Guinea, Congo,
Angola, Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda, where nutrient losses are more than 60 kg per hectare
annually [18]. e problem is exacerbated by fertilizer costs that are 2–6 times the world average,
limiting the amount that African farmers can afford to buy, and the adoption of non-traditional
farming techniques that sap the soil’s fertility.
In summary, the world is in the midst of a period of unprecedented and disruptive change.
is is particularly evident when examining the health of the world’s ecological systems. A host
of human forces impinge upon coral reefs, tropical rain forests, and other critical natural systems
located around the world. Half the planet’s wetlands are gone. Total carbon emissions and atmo-
spheric concentrations of carbon dioxide are both accelerating and 2004 was the fourth warmest
year ever recorded. Over the course of the last 120 years, the 10 warmest years have all occurred
since 1990.
Other evidence that supports the existence of a significant disruption to the Earth’s climate
includes the following facts. Global sea level rose about 17 cm (6.7 in) in the last century. e
rate in the last decade, however, is nearly double that of the last century [19]. All three major
global surface temperature reconstructions show that Earth has warmed since 1880. Most of
this warming has occurred since the 1970s, with the 20 warmest years having occurred since
1981, with all 10 of the warmest years occurring in the past 12 years [20, 21]. Even though the
2000s witnessed a solar output decline resulting in an unusually deep solar minimum in 2007–
2009, surface temperatures continue to increase. e oceans have absorbed much of this increased
heat, with the top 700 m (about 2,300 ft) of ocean showing warming of 0.302ı F since 1969 [22,
23]. Both the extent and thickness of Arctic sea ice has declined rapidly over the last several
decades [24]. Glaciers are retreating almost everywhere around the world including in the Alps,
Himalayas, Andes, Rockies, Alaska, and Africa [25]. e number of record high temperature
events in the United States has been increasing, while the number of record low temperature
events has been decreasing, since 1950. e U.S. has also witnessed increasing numbers of intense
rainfall events [26]. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the acidity of surface ocean
waters has increased by about 30% [27]. is increase is the result of humans emitting more
carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and hence more being absorbed into the oceans. e amount
 1.4. THE CHALLENGE OF NATIVE CULTURES 9
of carbon dioxide absorbed by the upper layer of the oceans is increasing by about 2 billion tons
per year [28].

1.4 THE CHALLENGE OF NATIVE CULTURES

e challenge of native cultures often results from a lack of knowledge and ultimately a developing
arrogance among us in the West. e engineering profession has embraced the rapidly advancing
technologies that surround us as an answer to many of the world’s maladies, particularly poverty.
Yet the very nature of poverty has been cast in a culturally biased and insensitive way. Shenan-
doah, an elder and clan mother of the Wolf Clan in the Onondaga Nation in Upstate New York,
characterized her childhood as one of growing up in richness [28]. By our standards we would
judge her circumstance as one of poverty yet she pointed to the existence of a strong family life,
the unspoiled nature of the land, and the abundance of both wild and raised foods much more im-
portant than any convenience technology could provide. We could dismiss her analysis as biased,
innocent, and ultimately flawed or, alternatively, we could re-examine what it means to be poor.
at is the basis for the argument here. Too often the notion of developed vs. underdeveloped has
in it a bias towards a particular lifestyle which often is not consistent with many native cultures.
More than simply not consistent, the lifestyle of the West has had devastating impacts on many
indigenous peoples throughout the entire globe but most especially here on Turtle Island, the
native peoples name for North America.
Reference has been made to Native American cultures but the point should be made that
there is not just one Native American society. In fact, it is estimated that at the time of the
European arrival, there may have been over 500 nations [29]. As a result, for the sake of many
meaningful observations, our gaze will be sharpened even more and be directed towards one of
those 500 nations, the Lakota culture found on the Pine Ridge Reservation near Rapid City,
South Dakota.
e Pine Ridge Indian Reservation (“e Rez”) is an Oglala Lakota Native American reser-
vation located in the U.S. state of South Dakota. e reservation consists of 3,000 square miles
and has a population of approximately 34,000, although that number is somewhat uncertain [30].
e poverty on Pine Ridge can be described in no other terms than third world [31]. It is
common to find homes overcrowded, as those with homes take in whoever needs a roof over their
heads. Often children sleep on the floor. Many homes are without running water, and without
sewers. e unemployment rate is 80–90% with a per capita income of $4,000. Residents expe-
rience eight times the United States rate of diabetes, five times the United States rate of cervical
cancer, twice the rate of heart disease, and eight times the United States rate of tuberculosis. e
alcoholism rate is estimated as high as 80% and perhaps most troubling of all, the overall suicide
rate more than twice the national rate while the teen suicide rate is an incredible four times the
national rate.
Pine Ridge is the site of several events that marked tragic milestones in the history be-
tween the Lakota and the United States government and its citizens. Stronghold Table, located
10 1. INTRODUCTION

Figure 1.2: Typical street scene on Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota.

in the Badlands National Park, was the location of the last of the Ghost Dances. e U.S. au-
thorities’ attempt to repress this movement eventually led to the Wounded Knee Massacre on
December 29, 1890 [32]. A mixed group of Lakota and others sought sanctuary at Pine Ridge
after fleeing the Standing Rock Agency, where Sitting Bull had been killed during efforts to ar-
rest him. e unarmed families were intercepted by a heavily armed detachment of the Seventh
Cavalry (General George Armstrong Custer’s infamous unit), which attacked them, killing over
100, mostly women and children. Later, incredulously, many of the soldiers who took part in the
massacre were awarded the U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor. A second tragedy occurred at
Wounded Knee in 1973 [33]. On the night of February 27, a long caravan of dilapidated old cars
carrying dozens of native men and women, members of the American Indian Movement (AIM)
and the local Lakota, traveled into Wounded Knee village. Shortly thereafter, police and Federal
agents cordoned off the small town which would soon became the stage of a violent standoff. e
AIM and local Lakota held out against the U.S. Government for 71 days. By the time the occu-
piers left, the village had been destroyed, two Native Americans were dead, and a U.S. Marshal
was left paralyzed.
Notwithstanding the poverty and the history of the Lakota on the Rez, rather than wish-
ing to become more “American,” there is a significant and growing movement spearheaded by
leaders in the Native American community to return to important aspects of their own culture
and disengage to a greater extent from some aspects of modern Western society. is is not a
21st century effort similar to the grossly and tragically mischaracterized Ghost Dance² of the late
²e Ghost Dance was a new religious movement in the 1800s incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems.
According to the prophet Jack Wilson’s teachings, proper practice of the dance would reunite the living with the spirits of the
 1.5. OTHER CHALLENGES 11
1800s but rather a deliberate attempt by the Lakota to re-discover and re-dedicate themselves
to many of their ways that have existed for thousands of years prior to the European Encounter.
An example of such an effort is the Summer Mathematics Camp³ held on the reservation for
elementary school children. Here, lessons in mathematics are embedded within the context of
Lakota spirituality and ritual.

1.5 OTHER CHALLENGES

ere are other challenges surfacing as we head forward into the 21st century that perhaps are
a combination of the three challenges described previously. One issue that has recently gained
considerable attention deals with the relation between internet service providers and China. e
National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has passed an Internet cen-
sorship law in mainland China. In accordance with this law, several regulations were made by
the PRC government, and a censorship system is implemented variously by provincial branches
of state-owned ISPs, business companies, and organizations. e project is known as Golden
Shield.
e operations of U.S. Internet companies in China are attracting concern in Congress after
years of complaints from free speech and human rights advocates about these firms aiding Bei-
jing’s ability to censor content. Trade liberalization has sent China’s economy booming, making
it an attractive—even essential market for U.S. companies to enter. But China’s government has
retained tight political controls. China is believed to have the world’s most sophisticated network
for monitoring and limiting information online. Combined with Beijing’s controls on traditional
media, this surveillance program has limited domestic debate on issues such as China’s human
rights record, Tibetan independence, or Taiwan. Hardware and software provided by many major
U.S. technology companies have allowed the PRC government to use the internet as a tool for
controlling public opinion.

1.6 CONCLUDING REMARKS

e question then becomes how can the engineering profession effectively respond to these three
four challenges, that is, to the challenge of peace, of poverty and underdevelopment, and of en-
vironmental sustainability and of native cultures? As responses will depend upon the underlying
ethical foundation for the engineering profession as described in the ethical codes, the next sec-
tion of this work will examine engineering codes of conduct and seek to place them in an historical
context.

dead and bring peace, prosperity, and unity to native peoples throughout the region. Unfortunately, it was ultimately seen as
a threat to U.S. control over Native Americans and its existence has been linked to the massacre at Wounded Knee.
³Inila Wakin Janis (Lakota activist ), a leader and member of the Kit Fox Warrior Society and Cheyenne River Lakota. Janis
resides on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, and is a Co-Founding member of Green Party USA. He lived for
two years in a remote section of the Badlands called the Stronghold, protesting the Parks Service’s attempted control over
sacred Lakota lands.