PRIZE WINNING TITLE-; ENGINEERS DOING WONDERS-ARE THEY?
By the passage of time,with the increase in technology our needs have also increased.
And as we know that,”Necessity is the Mother of Invention”. That increase in needs
also brought up a change in the living standards of human beings. The accountability of
that change , either positive or negative is solely on the engineering fraternity. The idea
of sustainable development is a big change in the mentality of environmentalists. Now
the people in higher authorities i.e. at international level the problems that are
associated with advancement of engineering are now being acknowledged. But are the
efforts that are being made enough? We can’t hinder the pace of development just for
the sake of some environmentalists claiming global warming, climate change, pollution
as a tool to do so. Is it that simple? To understand this first we need to know that what
are those problems that are associated with those engineering marvels that are being
admired globally.so let us start from civil engineering asit is the oldest branch of
engineering and is the most basic one. Previously, three to four hundred years ago
civil engineering was not that developed ,so its repercussions of environment were not
known.
But now with increase in population and its effects we are forced to
acknowledge its negative impacts. In previous times, the type of mega structures that
are now being built were not so common. But now these mega structures bring a lot of
challenges in the path of a healthy surroundings.The material that is being used in the
construction has to go through different procedures & these procedures emit a lot of
heat/energy into the environment. Not only the materials even a building that is now
constructed and which will be there for minimum 50 years will continue to pollute the
environment as it keeps on emitting the heat energy into the environment .To tackle
this problem a new idea was brought up which is called “ GREEN CONSTRUCTION”.
A code containing guidelines for this idea is also developed by the GOVT. of India i.e.
ECBC( Energy Conservation and Building Code). The parameters that are to be followed in order to construct a green building are enlisted In this code. The blame for
environmental pollution is not only on civil engineering but on other fields of engineering
also contribute to the fact that ‘ Our Development and Environmental Degradation’ are to
sides of a single coin and both will go hand in hand. It doesn’t mean that human beings
should not work for the betterment of living standards i.e. Development . But that
development should be sustainable.With the inventions of wheel and fire the
automobile sector, Energy sector prospered with leaps and bounds but this prosperity
is becoming a curse for the mother nature. Due to our cruelty towards nature in the
form of over exploitation of nature and natural resources we are witnessing the cruelty
of mother nature on a regular basis.Now a days cyclones in the deserted area is not a
unique thing,glaciers are melting and the water level in the ocean is increasing.But the
fresh drinkable water in decreasing day by day. In a survey,it is found that a mega city
like Cape Town,South Africa will run out of water in few years. This example can be
seen in our country also, our city Chennai is facing acute shortage of water.It is justified
to say that the wonders done by engineers in our point of view are building blocks of
endof life on this planet . Yes it is true that as human beings we should enhance our
living standards but not at the cost of nature.This planet is a way too bigger cost for our
development. As if we keep on going at this pace there will be no human to be
developed in years to come. And to remind you and all of us there is only one earth in
our solar system.
Rishabh Goyal
Civil 7 th sem
BABA FARID COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, Bathinda
All the winners of this competition will be awarded by Council of Engineers & Valuers with life time membership (worth Rs. 30,000/-) subject to completion of necessary documentation required and their articles will be published in CEV Techno News with their name & photographs.