Majority of Civil Engineers Don't Understand Climate Change

I was faced with an interesting truth this week. As an unofficial, non-scientific poll in ASCE Smartbrief showed, the majority of civil engineers don't understand climate change. The poll was included in their daily email (which I find very informational and strongly recommend it). The reason for the poll was because of a reader's comments to ASCE:

I was hoping that engineers would take a progressive view on the issue of global warming and climate change, but I wasn't holding my breath on the issue. For those who can't read the options, they are:

• Our use of fossil fuels has created a crisis. We need emission reduction regulations to halt climate change
  
• We should look into alternative energy sources, but climate change isn't as dire as some predict.
• The climate-change models are so flawed, we have no idea what's really going on.
• Climate change is natural. Regulations will only benefit some companiees and will hurt most of the rest of us.
  

Voting has ended and the results were posted in the following day's Smartbrief. Here are the final results:


Results show that the majority of engineers are uncomfortable with the topic of climate change, believing either that it is not caused by humans, not a real problem, or not enough is known to justify intervention. In fact, only 25% of engineers thought emission reduction regulations were required.

Once again, I am concerned that ASCE is trying to portray themselves as "leaders of sustainability" but not spending any time educating their own members. (see my previous posts on ASCE) The consequences of global warming are severe, but many engineers have chosen to ignore the risks completely. A great comment by Daniel Kurkjian on ASCE's blog summarizes what ASCE itself should be communicating to the profession:

Scientists are in agreement that carbon dioxide increases global temperatures and that can have significant negative effects on our way of life. Civil engineers have a role to plan in lobbying regulators to make sure that new rules are phased in and do not cripple construction and infrastructure development.

It’s unbelievable to hear comments on the ASCE website claiming global warming is not real and the carbon dioxide is somehow not a pollutant. At elevated concentrations in the atmosphere CO2 raises temperatures, which can have devasting impacts on climate and the way we live. That defines a pollutant; something that can damage the enviroment at elevated concentrations.

It’s understandable to fear an over-reach by the goverment that hurts business. However, the way to deal with that isn’t to deny reality and claim global warming isn’t associated with carbon dioxide pollution. The role of the civil engineer is to make the government aware of the imapcts of their regulations and to seize the business opportunities that will come with being current on regulations.

This is an excellent statement, I hope that ASCE will continue to hear these comments and realize that being a leader in sustainability means educating ASCE members. As this comment so rightly points out, it is unbelievable that ASCE would entertain the idea that climate change has not been associated with CO2 increases and human activity.

The problem with global warming "skeptics" is that they are not skeptics at all. A true skeptic is one who approaches an issue with an open mind, refusing to be swayed by arguments until the evidence is presented. Instead, those who deny global warming are the opposite of skeptics, having decided their opinion before evidence was presented. For a quick look at the evidence that is accepted by the global scientific community, which Daniel Kurkjian referred to in his comment, see my earlier post on Global Warming Potential.