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The Promise and Peril of ISO 14000 and the Role of Engineering Educators

Abstract

With increased pressures to make our curriculum relevant there are a number of crucial issues that need to be considered for inclusion in our courses. In an already overcrowded curriculum there is relentless tension about those student learning objectives that are desirable against those that are less relevant. The conceptual framework inherent in ISO 14000 is particularly relevant as the relentless pressures of pollution, climate change, and depletion of finite resource become more apparent with each passing day. These problems will require geopolitical, sociological, technological, and engineering solutions. Therefore, there is a pressing need to pursue inclusion of ISO 14000 concepts into our courses. Ideas such as the development of environmental management systems, environmentally benign manufacturing, life cycle assessment, and product take back should be included wherever appropriate. In this paper we will explore the educational opportunities that naturally emerge when addressing underlying concepts that are implicit in ISO 14000. Toward this end we will examine the positive aspects and limitations of this standard. Finally we will review some of the existing and emerging resources that can help faculty members either locate or create curriculum materials that are pertinent to ISO 14000.

Introduction

The ISO 14000 standard was created to influence corporate policy with the ultimate goal of promoting environmental stewardship. Essentially ISO 14000 encourages the development of environmental management systems (EMS) with the central aim of pollution prevention.1 Many stakeholders within a corporation are involved with ISO 14000 certification and performance assessment. As our collective consciousness is raised regarding ecological issues it is becoming apparent that many of these problems will require engineering and technological solutions. Corporate managers, policy makers, and society will turn increasingly to the engineers and technologist to solve an array of problems. Due to the service learning nature of these problems it may enable us to stem the tide of decreasing enrollments and also help with student retention. In addition, this standard supports a pedagogical model that encourages curriculum development efforts that are interdisciplinary and experiential. The development of suitable curricula around this standard will enable us to not only maintain relevancy but should enable us to strengthen our individual courses and programs.

The creation of modules appears to be the most realistic approach for curriculum development given the fact that faculty have limited time and resources as well as an already overcrowded curriculum. Given this situation we need to create easily integrated materials for our courses that can be shared with our colleagues. Fortunately there are public and private web-based resources to help faculty members develop and disseminate curriculum such as MERLOT and Rice

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Simoneau, R. (2007, June), The Promise And Peril Of Iso 14000 And The Role Of Engineering Educators Paper presented at 2007 Annual Conference & Exposition, Honolulu, Hawaii. 10.18260/1-2--2053