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A systems approach to environmental engineering
Author(s) -
Thompson Mark
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
behavioral science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1099-1743
pISSN - 0005-7940
DOI - 10.1002/bs.3830200504
Subject(s) - commit , incentive , scope (computer science) , computer science , factory (object oriented programming) , risk analysis (engineering) , consumption (sociology) , adaptation (eye) , linkage (software) , production (economics) , control (management) , operations research , environmental economics , computer security , environmental resource management , business , economics , engineering , microeconomics , sociology , social science , biochemistry , chemistry , physics , database , artificial intelligence , optics , gene , programming language
Problems of the environment have arisen because subsystem management—of the household, the factory, the farm and the town—neglects external effects. Optimal resolution of these problems can only be achieved if analysts and management themselves do not commit the error of focusing on too limited systems. In particular, the full geographic and conceptual extent of polluting systems, their linkage with other polluting systems, the ecological systems they drive, and the human systems engendering them must be taken into account. Effective environmental management must, however, also avoid the counter‐part trap of considering systems in such great scope and detail that operational tractability is lost. It is recommended that three specific systems be kept in mind throughout the search for the most effective policy handles: (1) the economic system of consumption, technological adaptation, and production which all are linked by monetary incentives; (2) the political system through which actions designed to preserve or restore the environment are organized and (3) the information system which transmits the data and the understanding required for adept environmental control. The real name of the devil is sub‐optimization, finding out the best way to do something which should not be done at all. (Kenneth Boulding, 1970) .