● The path that brought me to Environmental Engineering.
Many of you, while you read this, will remember or be going through this stage that I
I spent: my 17 years when I got up what career to pursue for the future. I wanted to study
something that lets me bring solutions to the problems of society using creativity.
I didn't like to read or decorate. At school I felt comfortable with math,
physics, chemistry. If there was a cuadriculated leaf I was fine, with the renglons I did not
I was. I said “listo, I will be naive”, but of what?
I thought of naval or civil engineering until, in a conversation with my friends, I realized that
It wasn't either of those. It was all the environment that surrounds these structures, what else I am
He captivated. At that time, environmental engineering was not very well known.
Today the environment is in everyone's mouth, especially the youngest. Those same as in
in the next 5 or 7 years, when those who start studying their career are received,
Will be those who make decisions about the world around these structures that
Finally, they have not captivated me and are often the cause of the problem that we,
environmental engineers, we must avoid or resolve. The world has changed and will continue
changing. It depends on us who do it in the right direction.
● Well, what do environmental engineers do?
More than one of us may be worth seeing the connection between engineering and the environment. If
and we think of engineering
bridge, pollution, imposing industrial plants, artificial intelligence, chimneys.
What if you think about the environment? Maybe you come to mind a beautiful landscape, fauna, air
pure.
Let me tell you that these worlds, which in principle seem a little distant, are more
Close to what you think.
Stop thinking about the environment around you. These reading this note from a device
electronic that is connected to the internet. Maybe you're drinking or eating something in your
home or in your work, with electrical artificial lighting, or maybe you're traveling in
public transport. In order for all this to happen, the infrastructure had to be developed
technology, communications, food industry, electrical generation and system
of transport, at least.
Our lifestyle in 2023 allows us to meet a no-ending of basic needs
with an ease that 2 decades ago was unthinkable and others that are simply enjoying and
They simply seek to improve what we consider a good quality of life.
We must also observe this global context: the development of technology in
It allows an exponential advancement in health systems. The average
Global life expectancy has increased, depending on the country of birth,
between 10% and 100% in the last 60 years.
The advance in telecommunications on and connects people who, now,
they can work together no matter how long they can separate them.
Of course, the development of science and technology brings enormous benefits, but everything
It has a cost. The more we live, the more populated the planet is and more resources
We consume it. And the more technology we develop, the more energy is needed to sustain
the system. The price of this is paid with greenhouse gas emissions which
Today we see in the form of climate change. Everything leads us to think we can't
continue within the same linear production model that neglects the care of
environment. That's where environmental engineering comes in.
From the 1980s, companies began to see that, in addition to taking
responsibility for the social consequences of their actions, benefited from
implement an environmental look. There were savings by being more efficient in their processes and
environmental engineers were management filters and opportunity detection
improvement.
Today we see that, in the energy crisis that crosses the world, questioning is no longer
As more people will be supplied, but how to guarantee electricity to
current inhabitants. A solution alternative could be to reconsider our practices
industrial consumption, taking advantage of natural resources like rainwater for
cooling of technological equipment, or the same marine currents, instead of building
thermoelectric plants and continue to extract gas while the energies advance
Renewable. The wonderful of this alternative is that it meets the 3B: Well, beautiful and cheap.
We can apply the same principle to waste management, transport,
air pollution, etc. This opens the door to which small changes, without high
costs, can bring superior improvements.
Environmental engineering, in short, is the continuous study of the human relationship
with the effects that inevitably provokes in your environment and summons the work
interdisciplinary of professionals. Evolution is continuous and therefore the
questions also, because it implies a replanning of our habits and work
multilateral between society, governments and companies.
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