Introduction

Technology educators are in an ideal position to incorporate an environmental perspective into their teaching. One of the most effective ways to explore the environment is to use problem solving, the fundamental approach underpinning technology education. By establishing situations and exploring design briefs students have the opportunity to investigate environmental issues, assess and predict the impact of technologies and examine values that affect environmental decisions.

Students should have the opportunity to learn about the environment in the past, present and future. Opportunities should be provided to forecast and anticipate environmental consequences of technology decisions. Consider for example, the impact of information technology. From the expectation that computers would lead to the paperless office to the impact of the Internet on research methods and the currency of information.

Students should have the chance to clarify, analyse and judge their own values and those of other people and organisations. This may include analysis of environmental issues and how they are presented in the media and how organisations use the media to influence community perceptions. These activities should help students acquire a new set of values with an environmental perspective.

Design, make and appraise activities allow students to 'think globally and act locally'. In so doing their understanding of the environment increases while at the same time addressing issues relevant to their own lives. This opportunity allows them to assume personal responsibility for their own environment. Design activities allow concepts to be applied, issues to be explored and decisions to be made that improve the quality of the environment.

Analysing situations and developing design briefs can empower students, allowing them to feel in control and that situations are not impossible to resolve. Collaborative design processes using group work provide students with the opportunity to negotiate with others and to experience working as a team with all its advantages and disadvantages. The personal skills students develop will be directly applicable to many work situations.

Technology education as described in A Statement on Technology for Australian Schools (Curriculum Corporation, 1994:5) comprises four strands of learning:

While teaching/learning strategies are planned to develop the knowledge and skills of students in each strand, it is also important for teachers to incorporate an environmental perspective.

Technology impacts on our physical and social environment. The consequences of technology, which may be expressed as costs and benefits need to be evaluated. This is reflected in the Common and Agreed National Goals for Schooling in Australia (Curriculum Corporation, 1994:4)

"To develop in students . . . an understanding of and concern for balanced development of the global environment."

As technology educators we have a responsibility to increase awareness of not only the environmental impact of technology, but to consider it as one of the criteria of design. Although green or eco design has come a long way in recent years it is not as yet a consideration for all designers and manufacturers. The environment, rather than being an issue, should be part of the philosophy for all designers.

This paper attempts to outline the global environmental picture and to examine how technology education can address environmental issues. Appropriate strategies for environmental technology education are suggested to provoke thought and discussion of this important perspective of technology education.

The global environmental picture

The key to our continuing existence is ecological sustainability, but how can it be achieved? Our earth is a self-sustaining biosphere, but the question facing us in the 1990s, and beyond, is – how to ensure this living planet continues to self sustain. If humanity continues on its current path of destruction then it is unlikely our world will continue as we know it today.

In order to understand the unique sustainable nature of the world it is necessary to consider the life support mechanisms within it. The nature of this self sustaining biosphere or 'Gaia' consists of life support systems which function on natural feedback mechanisms. Each organism is linked by a series of support systems. (Note that 'Gaia' is only one of a range of theories about ecologically sustainable systems).

Each living organism relies upon the benefits of sun, water, air and earth. The atmosphere protects the earth's inhabitants from interplanetary effects, and protects us from ultraviolet radiation - but for how long? The plants provide a conversion centre through the process of photosynthesis and then convert it to chemical energy for animal and human survival. "Plant cover provides the basis of all food chains, mediates water cycles, stabilises microclimate, and protects the living soil - the foundation of the biosphere." (Myers, 1994, p12)

The biosphere is the life supporting zone on earth, including atmosphere, water and soils. Most of the world's natural resources are contained within this biosphere.

One of the problems many people have when looking at the earth and its population is that the two are looked at in isolation - without any attempt to look at their interrelationship and how they effect each other. An ecosystem approach is now seen as a suitable context for examining the past and the future. Many technology educators are familiar with the idea that as individuals and families they are part of an ecosystem whereby they have impact on the social, economic and physical environments and vice versa.

Costs and benefits

There are a number of ways to consider the problems we face as a society and importantly as part of the biosphere. One is to consider the types of resources available and how they can be managed. Another is to assess our own needs and wants.

It is the nature of our society that causes many of our problems for the future. The intense market oriented setting of the industrialised societies promotes a high level of consumption that results in much waste due to by products, or the throw away nature of goods. The designer and certainly the student studying technology education needs to be aware of these issues of consumption. The technology educator needs to plan activities that satisfy the needs and wants of students whilst extending students knowledge and experience.

Students and teachers of technology education should take into consideration the environmental impact of resources and processes used. This can be achieved by considering the costs and benefits of each resource or process. Resources are classified into two categories.

1. Renewable resources - those derived from living matter - food, fibres, wood, water. These resources will be renewable if they are managed with care.

2. Non-renewable - those which cannot be replaced. Soil, for example, if not cared for can become infertile. Petroleum, coal, minerals fit this category as it has taken millions of years to produce them and very few years to consume much of the supply.

Computer software can be used to conduct life cycle analysis (LCA). However, for designers and students without access to expensive research labs and LCA computer programs the following guidelines may be useful:

The state of play

It is difficult to give a priority rating to the serious issues facing the survival of the planet. However a summary of the problems is outlined with some basic action plans and suggested design, make, appraise activities that may help to highlight particular issues and concerns. The term design has been used to encompass the process of creating/designing, making and appraising. The activities address a broad spectrum of context areas – agriculture, computing, food, graphics, industrial arts, media, and textiles. The tasks have been written in very open terms. There is little to constrain students, for example, design a way to help protect people from UV radiation may result in a product such as a hat or a swimming costume, an information system detailing periods of the day when UV rays are strongest and an environment such as a gazebo, where people can take refuge from the sun when outdoors. Presentation of student work may take the form of instruction leaflets, oral presentations, audio, video, graphics and multimedia presentations.

Problem: Greenhouse Effect
CFCs and carbon dioxide have contributed to global warming - which may result in increased temperatures and rising sea levels. Australians contribute to carbon dioxide mainly by our extensive use of transport. However significant global effort is needed if the greenhouse effect is to be slowed and gradually reversed.

Action: Efforts can be made to improve energy efficiency including improved motors, improved transportation networks and the use of more sustainable sources of energy.

Problem: Deforestation
Loss of tropical forest is an environmental and resource problem; half of the Earth's species lives in the forests, which cover just 2% of the globe. The pace of soil erosion increases as forests disappear. "While both young trees and hydro power are invaluable in their place, old forests and wild rivers also have a vital role to play in the development of an ecologically sustainable society." (Elkington, 1989, p 27)

Action: Minimise use of wood products, minimise waste of wood products, recycle whenever possible; support action groups to stop the destruction of rainforests both in Australia and overseas.

Problem: Energy
Investigating and using sustainable energy sources is a challenge that must be met. "The options include: fossil fuels, such as oil, gas and coal; nuclear power, using today's fission reactors or (possibly) tomorrow's fast breeder or fusion reactors; renewable energy, harnessing the sun, wind, waves, tides, geothermal heat or plants and animals; and energy efficiency, which cuts across all of these." (Elkington, 1989, p 29)

Action: No matter what the future holds for energy alternatives, the most effective choice is to go for energy efficiency - no matter what the product or the source of energy being used. Our current rate of energy use is not something that we can sustain. It is also unlikely that we will find an ideal solution and move from one steady energy state to another. A more likely scenario is that we move through an evolutionary process, trialing new technologies, assessing their capabilities and assessing their potential effect on the environment.

Problem: Waste
Waste, a by product of our consumer oriented society.

Action: The individual can do much by careful selection of products - minimal packaging; and recycling their garbage (compost, glass, metals, paper, some plastics). The key is the waste hierarchy – reduce, reuse, recycle.

Problem: River and sea pollution
This is an increasing problem, particularly around populated areas, for example Sydney's sewage outfalls. Also waste products from industry. A major problem in rural Australia is the salinization of soil and waterways.

Action: 1) Industry needs to make provision for their waste products in a sound ecological way. 2) Alternatives to the current sewage systems need to be considered. 3) Littering, in general, needs to be improved across the community - much of what is dropped in the street ends up in storm water and on our beaches.

The following strategies can be applied by designers, educators and students.

Reduce use of natural resources (source reduction)
Some products can be produced from recycled materials but there is still a need to make some things from new raw materials. To reduce the use of these raw materials, extracting and harvesting techniques and production methods will need to be efficient. "If new products and services are to use reduced amounts of non renewable materials and energy, reliable information on recycled materials and an improved understanding of the sources and potentials of waste energy and alternative forms of energy must be available to the designer. Designers rarely have available to them information on the comparative cleanliness, the relative efficiency, the life cycle performance and the service, disposal and recycling requirements of alternative sources and forms of energy." (Burnette, 1990, p3)

Use ecologically appropriate resources
"The designer needs general, comparable information summarising the environmental impacts associated with the preparation of a stock material for manufacturing. Such information would help the designer choose the least harmful material that meets the requirements of a design. A rating which displays the levels of energy, resources used, and environmental impacts associated with the preparation of a material for manufacturing should be a part of the data provided by its supplier or part of the formulation used to engineer a new material." (Burnette, 1990, p3)
Reusing and recycling resources where possible is important. Minimising the variety of materials in a product makes it easier to recycle. Designing for disassembly (DFD) makes recovery of parts for recycling easier.

Use clean production methods using environmentally safe procedures
To make effective design decisions the designer needs reliable information on which to base the selection of suitable yet clean manufacturing processes. The information should include the cost effectiveness of a process and a comparison including by-products, energy used, hazards encountered during operation and the maintenance requirements.

"No material should be used unless a specific way to recycle, reconstitute or manage its disposal in an ecologically sound way is available and unless actual facilities for such recycling exist." (Burnette, 1990, p5)

Design for the life of the product
Products should not be designed for obsolescence. So why do products become obsolete? There are many reasons – the product is unsuitable to the task for which it was designed; the product is designed so that it is more cost effective to dispose of the item than repair it. Products also become obsolete if they are affected by the fashion factor. As fashions change some goods lose popularity and consumers will buy what looks good even though it may not be very serviceable. Therefore the consumer bears a large responsibility when selecting products.
There is also a move toward product takeback. Manufacturers assume responsibility for the item they produced and take products back for recycling at the end of their useful life.

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