The acidification of the ocean today is bigger and faster than anything geologists can find in the fossil record over the past 65 million years. Indeed, its speed and strength — Ridgwell estimate that current ocean acidification is taking place at ten times the rate that preceded the mass extinction 55 million years ago — may spell doom for many marine species, particularly ones that live in the deep ocean.Sullivan reacts:
This is the beginning of Lent. As a Catholic, one of the things I'll be repenting for is living in a civilization that treats this astonishing planet as something to be used rather than conservedWhat can be done by an individual? Why bother trying, at this point, to save the Earth? At some point in a skydive, when your parachute has failed, your backup parachute has failed, and you are helplessly falling to your death, a person accepts their fate and quits fighting. They grab their cell phone and maybe punch in an "I love you" to their spouse, or record a short video of their fading moments, so that they can be remembered or immortalized.
Or what of the sailor/fisherman, thrown overboard in the North Pacific, knowing he has minutes to live, storm raging about him, hands and feet freezing. He can fight the inevitable, and hope the ship rescues him. But the ship does not come. Five minutes becomes fifteen, and then 20. He feels consciousness leaving him. At that point, he can continue to pitifully and vainly struggle against the embrace of the cold water. Or he can accept his fate and stop struggling. Death comes so easily, so quickly, if one just invites it.
I fear this is how many Americans think about the environment. They see themselves as a hapless cog in a machine that isn't nearing a cliff at breakneck speed; rather the machine has already plunged off the edge, hurling inescapably to the valley below. Americans, mostly, believe in Anthropogenic Climage Change (ACC), but if asked what they individually could do that would cause it to stop...they are flummoxed. Even ACC denialists, when asked about a hypothetical day when ACC would be a factor, have no solutions.
Sure, we all grasp concepts like "going green", be it driving hybrids, turning down the thermostat in Winter, eating local, using better insulation on your house, or a myriad of things we have been taught do a tiny bit to decrease the negative effects humanity has on the environment. But as far as environmental fixes go, solutions are in short supply.
So what can a Christian do? In Sullivan's case, he can lament, with well written words, the destruction of God's Creation. Writers can motivate others to action. Similarly, preachers can motivate change with their words. Politicians can write legislation to combat ACC, or finance new investments in clean energy and provide tax credits to citizens who "go green."
But what of the engineers? How can we honor God's creation? Mostly by not being greedy. This report shows that 8 of the top 10 new grad salaries are filled by different types of engineers. At the top of the list: petroleum engineering. Will wonders never cease?! Not only do petroleum engineers make the most, they make on average 33% more as a starting salary than the next highest group!
It would be easy for me to say "case and point, the greedy A-hole petrol engineers rape the Earth, and get big bucks for it! Stop that! Go idealism!" but the story is not so simple. Petroleum accounts for many wondrous and magical things, like credit cards and bra straps. So the story gets tangled, somewhere between "we need air travel but we don't need SUV's."
Each type of engineer, it turns out, has this same moral dilemma: in your field you can do good or you can do bad. Mechanical engineers can design hybrid/plug-in cars, or they can design V12 sports cars. Electrical engineers can design efficient power grids or they can design boardwalks flooded in a blaze of incandescent lighting. Chemical engineers can develop new enzymes to dissolve plastics or they can design new plastics that resist photodegradation. And our dear, wealthy, petroleum engineers can develop new and remarkably efficient ways of plumbing the depths of the earth for petroleum, and clean, efficient piping networks...or they can basically do the opposite of that.
One might argue that if the engineer that invented the "plastic sack" now inescapably linked to every supermarket chain in the world had instead sat on his invention for the good of the world and had not licensed it, then someone else would have. With that I cannot argue. But what I can argue with is that engineers who strive to design factories that churn plastic bags out in higher and higher quantities at faster and faster speeds for less and less money in order to achieve higher and higher profits need to look deep down in themselves and ask if they're really doing all they can with the remarkable talents and education they have received. Are they making the world a better place with their skills and gifts? Or are they just plundering the Earth to make the fastest buck possible?
The same goes for mechanical engineers; certainly a V12 roadster looks awesome, is super powerful, and gains a hefty profit for the designer. But as that beast guzzles fuel at nearly a quarter gallon a minute, shouldn't the engineer pause and ask himself/herself if they are really using their car-design skills for good? Or are they really just trying to make a fast (excuse the pun) buck off rich people who are equally guilty of Earth-raping?
Should the electrical engineer devote himself to 600 watt lighting in high-end retail stores so jewelry looks really nice in its display case, and be pleased with his Christmas bonus, or should he instead press, press, press for LED lighting, at 38 watts a fixture, and tell his boss that there are more ways to please a client than just pandering to their egos?
Some might argue that I'm hopelessly idealist in a down economy. But engineering jobs continue to be the most recession-proof, and even as I write this my own boss is doing phone interviews as quickly as he can to find mechanical, electrical and software engineers (hopefully not to fill my position!).
Whereas most career fields are helpless to make direct, positive change in the world, or at least in their daily lives, engineers are uniquely equipped both to know how to change things, and to be in the right position to initiate that change.
To my fellow engineers, I beg you: do what's right!
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