Summary:  Industry in Concert With the Environment:  Technological Change and Industrial Ecology
 
Abstract   
This module stresses the key principles, concepts, and problems in the newly emerging field of industrial ecology. The focus is on three broad themes:  the linkages among technological change, industrial change, and global environmental change;  the utility of a systems approach to analyzing industrial activity;  and the opportunities and constraints involved in making industries more closely resemble ecosystems in their productive and consumptive processes.  The activities are designed to address these themes through more specific scenarios, such as product life cycle analyses and the examination of local businesses. 
 

Module Objectives 
The module has four major objectives: 

  • to demonstrate the linkages between industrial processes and the environmental and human aspects of global change at a variety of scales.
  • to involve students in using a systems approach to understand industrial processes and draw analogies to ecological processes.
  • to enable students to make generalizations about technological innovations and change.
  • to demonstrate the opportunities, constraints, and values involved in the industrial ecology approach to building industrial systems in tune with the environment.
Skills 
  • data gathering (field work), presentation, analysis, and interpretation 
  • interviewing
  • map reading and interpretation
  • critical reading and writing
  • role playing 
  • creative writing
  • library/Internet research
  • debating
  • oral presentation
  • team collaboration
  • issue analysis and position formation
 
Activities 
Activities are designed for individuals, small groups, and/or the entire class: 
  • group discussions
  • map/collage presentation
  • quantitative data gathering and interpretation
  • film review and interpretation
  • debate
  • field work (local industry and the home)

    • critical reading and writing 
     
 Material Requirements 
  • Student Worksheets
  • Suggested readings
  • World map
  • Colored markers or thumb-tacks
  • Access to World Wide Web (optional, but very helpful)
  • Film Koyaanisqatsi (optional) 
Human Dimensions of Global Change Concepts  
  • technological change
  • systems, feedbacks, inputs, and outputs
  • thermodynamics, entropy
  • Type I, II, and III ecologies
  • industrial ecology
  • industrial metabolism
  • driving forces
  • impacts
 Geography Concepts 
  • scale (local-global)
  • core-periphery relationships
  • nature-society relations
Time Requirements 
2-3 weeks (i.e., 2 sessions per unit) 
 

Difficulty 
Intermediate to challenging. Students learn to apply system, ecology, and thermodynamics terminology to industrial systems at the local (firm) to global (North-South) scales through critical readings, field research, and discussions. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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