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SUSTAINABILITY SCIENCE: RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES AND THE EMERGENCE OF A NEW METADISCIPLINES

Dr. Mohammed Alshafie
PhD Environmental Engineering, Head of Environment Section, Department of Infrastructure and Environment, DAR AL-OMRAN Planners. Architects. Engineers

Dr. Abdellatif Alshafie
PhD Waste Management, Head of Hazardous Waste Management Department,
AL-NASSER GROUP
Tel: +962 6 463 6517 Fax: +962 6 645 9170
E-mail: mohamed [at] nassergroup.com.jo website: www.nassergroup.com.jo

 

Changes in the discipline of environmental science and engineering (ESE) are reviewed and a case is made for continued growth of a new metadiscipline of Sustainability Science. This new field embraces economics, social processes, environmental processes, and industrial ecology. Research opportunities and examples of previous successes are discussed in the areas of: (1) sustainability metrics, (2) coupling of industrial ecology, economics and environmental impacts, and (3) decision support for individual, organizational and societal choices. Multiple skills and capabilities required to support the new metadiscipline of Sustainability Science are summarized. It is clear that pollution prevention and industrial ecology alone are not sufficient to achieve sustainability, because even systems with efficient material and energy use can overwhelm the carrying capacity of a region, or lead to other socially unacceptable outcomes. A critical aspect of Sustainable Science will be to understand the flow of information that supports and motivates the decisions which control material and energy flows. This will consequently affect system sustainability, and it is this integration that will motivate many of the advances in our field.

 

Application for Participation (PDF)