Engineering, Poverty, and the Earth

In this book, author George Catalano argues that there has been until very recently no reference in engineering to addressing two of the most important issues of our times - environmental degradation and poverty. Is engineering as a profession somehow excused from such issues or do we hope by serving our employers faithfully and professionally, it will somehow all work out in the end?Catalano offers a different vision for the engineering profession, one that explicitly deals with the issues of environmental degradation and of poverty. Rather than writing solely in broad terms about the issues of environmental degradation and poverty, the present work will focus on two specific problems garnering considerable attention here in the U.S., namely, the plight of the polar bears in the Arctic and the plight of the poor in the wake of Hurricane Katrina which struck New Orleans in 2005. By concentrating on these two issues, which are symptomatic of larger concerns, greater insights into the nature of environmental degradation and poverty will be achieved.