Hello! I’m a PhD student developing course content for an upper-level undergraduate environmental engineering course. I want to prompt students to think through how they can impact sustainability of the companies they work for even though they don’t hold a ton of power.
Some of the things we talk about are environmental impact of materials, systems thinking for life cycle assessments, air quality, and water quality. But in reality, many new engineers only see a small part of those topics in their work and it might not be obvious how to make informed, sustainable decisions.
I’m wondering, how do current practicing engineers consider sustainability in their everyday work? And what advice do you have for new engineers in incorporating sustainability into their decision-making as new or intern-level engineers?