Hear the Roar

             Industrial ecology has been referred to as “the science of sustainability”. Although this might be too broad of a definition, industrial ecology is the understanding of the complex interactions between industrial activities and environmental systems.

            One very important principle in industrial ecology is life cycle thinking. It implies that all environmental impacts caused by a product, system, or project during its life cycle are taken into account. In The book Industrial Ecology they argue that “materials and products that are obsolete should be termed residues rather than wastes, and it should be recognized that wastes are merely residues that our economy has not yet learned to use efficiently.” Adopting a life cycle approach is essential to avoid shifting environmental impacts from one life cycle stage to another.

            One concept to avoid waste consumption is for companies to implement a “buy back policy” or issue a discount to consumers for recycling their products. As an example Pepsi has machines on Oklahoma States campus issuing rewards points for people who recycling their products into their machines. The main idea is for companies to provide incentives to the consumers to promote the concept of reuse, remanufacture and recycle. 

            In the book Biomimicry: Innovation inspired by nature, Ecologist Paul Ehrlich say’s “that we are not hardwired genetically to respond to long term dangers- it takes a saber-toothed tiger roaring at the cave mouth for us to jump out of our skins.” Changes need to be made to prevent the amount of waste consumption, creating more efficient ways to recycle so that the environment will improve instead of continuing to get worse.