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Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society
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A Failing Grade for Our Efforts to Make Our Civilization More Environmentally Sustainable

Nina Nakajima

University of Toronto

Willem H. Vanderburg

University of Toronto

In the decades to come, the authors expect growing pressures to reform current production systems to make them more compatible with the biosphere. A proactive approach to this pressure involves consideration of an alternate value chain based on a comprehensive engineering and marketing approach to recover value from end-of-life products. To estimate the potential advantages of the new value chain, the authors calculate the minimum throughput advantages and environmental advantages that can be realized from a comprehensive strategy of recovering value from end-of-life products. The efforts of corporations and other organizations to make modern ways of life more environmentally sustainable are evaluated against this benchmark in terms of activities in the area of selling services, product take back, life cycle assessment, Responsible Care, voluntary emission reduction initiatives, and engineering and management education. It is concluded that in general, these efforts make only a minor contribution toward achieving.

Key Words: preventive engineering • selling services instead of products • product take back • life cycle assessment • Responsible Care • voluntary emission reduction initiatives • engineering education

Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, Vol. 25, No. 2, 129-144 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0270467605274856
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