The contrasting roles of science and technology in environmental challenges

Abstract

Sustainable development is widely recognized as an existential challenge. To address it, humanity needs to change its ways. However, people seem slow to act, not always understanding and often denying environmental imperatives, creating substantial social and psychological barriers. Social inertia and denial have been allegedly amplified by a public discourse increasingly distrustful of science. But is this discourse a rejection of science or an erosion of trust in how science is applied? The paper examines the main differences between environmental science and technology, reviews how the wider science-technology convergence has affected them and evaluates potential implications for sustainability challenges. We question whether the "convergence" between environmental science and technology, could be behind the growing public dissatisfaction and distrust of environmental science and policies. Although environmental science plays a role in enabling understanding and communicating complexity, technology requires political, social and economic skills, beyond conventional disciplinary expertise. To avoid putting academic freedom at risk, environmental technologists, a new breed of professionals, should have a clear understanding of scientific capacity and uncertainty and be able to engage with stakeholders, policy makers and the public to design integrated, interdisciplinary and holistic solutions, and also better define the many environmental problems we face. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Strengthen the European collaborative environmental research to meet European policy goals for achieving a sustainable, non-toxic environment

“…Emerging transition pathways such as repurposing of waste, which involve fundamental changes in chemical life cycles need incentives. • Encourage multi-stakeholder involvement in EU collaborative projects to capture added value and address complexity Solution-oriented research needs to go beyond the scientific community and needs to engage with the private sectors, governments, citizen groups and environmental organizations [12]. Multiple stakeholder participation in ambitious integrated research projects can play several roles.…”

“…The EU strategy for a non-toxic environment (http:// ec.europ a.eu/envir onmen t/ chemicals/non-toxic/index_ en.htm) responds to these challenges and provides an ambitious commitment in support of goals, geared towards the provision of food (SDG 2), clean water for humans (SDGs 3 and 6), responsible production and consumption (SDG 12), as well as safeguarding of aquatic life (SDG 14). Furthermore, as the SDGs are interconnected [12], integrated environmental policies and strategies are required to protect our natural capital, stimulate resource-efficient, low-carbon growth and innovation, safeguard people's health and well-being while respecting the Earth's natural limits [13].…”

Model of Forensic Hydrography

“…Environmental management refers to scientific and professional research related to habitat conservation, hazard control, monitoring, use, and conservation of various natural resources. Scientists and experts from different scientific fields and branches of science are involved in scientific and professional environmental research (Voulvoulis, Burgman, 2019). Besides biophysical sciences, important components of environmental management are the socio-economic and governance regulatory aspects.…”

The effects of personality and intention to act toward responsible environmental behavior

“…Furthermore, the study revealed that these environmental changes stem from problems in environmental objects and subjects that are responsible for the sustainability of the environment itself (Brookfield, 1999). Various factors are indicated as triggers of environmental problems such as climate change (Blennow, Persson, Tomé, & Hanewinkel, 2012;Clavero, Villero, & Brotons, 2011), changes in natural resources (Jacobs & Brown, 2014), technological change and development (Voulvoulis & Burgman, 2019), the presence of pollution (Wiessner et al, 2014), and the most crucial factor is human activities (Li & Wu, 2019). Human activities are said to be crucial factors due to their role as agents of environmental preservation (Short, 2009).…”