The Scope of Professional Engineering Obligations to the Environment
We can begin by considering some of the arguments of those who believe that professional engineering obligations to the environment should be extended beyond a concern for factors that endanger human health.
First, because engineers are usually the creators of technology that contributes to environmental degradation as well as environmental improvement, they should have a professional obligation to protect the environment. Let us say that people are morally responsible for something when they knowingly bring it about or cause it to exist or happen. If I turn out the lights while friends are walking up the stairs, knowing full well that they may fall, then I am responsible if they fall; that is, I can be blamed for their fall. If I did not know that anyone was on the stairs and had no reason to believe that they were, then I am not responsible; that is, I cannot be blamed.
According to this argument, engineers should share in the responsibility for environmental concerns because they are often causal agents in projects and activities that affect the environment for good or ill. Engineers design dams that flood farmlands and wild rivers. They design chemical plants that pollute the air and water. They also design solar energy systems that make hydroelectric projects unnecessary and pollution-control systems that eliminate the discharge of pollutants into the air and water. Furthermore, they usually are (or should be) aware of the effects of their work on the environment.
Many people believe that if engineers are morally responsible agents in issues that affect the environment, then they should also be required as professionals to promote environmental integrity even where human health is not at stake. If this is the case, this requirement should be a part of the codes.
Second, the engineering profession might well have a salutary impact on our attitudes and actions with respect to the environment. Engineers are, after all, major participants in virtually all of the projects that affect the environment. If even a small but substantial number of concerned engineers refused to contribute their professional skills to some of the most environmentally destructive projects, then the result might well be the cancellation of the projects or at least a modification of them so they would produce less environmental devastation.
There are also three main arguments that engineers should not be assigned professional obligations where human health is not at stake:
1. Many of the judgments that would have to be made in this area fall outside the area of
professional engineering expertise. When engineers make such judgments, critics might accuse them of violating their professional responsibility by speaking outside their area of expertise.
An engineer may object to a dam that will destroy a wild river or flood hundreds of acres of farmland. Or he may object to designing a sawmill that is to be built in the midst of an ancient forest. In all of these cases, the judgments involve values or knowledge outside most engineers' professional expertise. An engineer may well object to these projects, but the question is whether he should object as an engineer. To do so, the critic will argue, is to invite public disrespect for the engineering profession. So most engineers would have to rely on the judgment of others who do have expertise on such environmental issues.
2. Extending professional responsibility for the environment into areas not clearly related to
public health or safety might cause considerable problems for engineering societies. Engineers disagree among themselves over environmental issues, especially where human health is not directly involved. Forcing members of professional societies to take policy stands on such issues would introduce a new source of divisiveness into the societies.
3. Requiring engineers to protect the environment even where human health is not an issue
would produce problems of conscience for some engineers. Although there are probably few engineers who disagree with the provisions of engineering codes regarding such issues as conflict of interest, performing duties only in areas in which they are competent, and the necessity of avoiding deception, there are probably many engineers who would disagree with strong provisions requiring engineers to protect the environment where human health is not an issue.
Requiring them to take a position contrary to their personal beliefs could force them into a situation with no desirable options. They would have to either act contrary to their personal beliefs, withdraw from their engineering societies, or simply disobey their professional code. Engineering societies should avoid forcing their members to make such choices.
We believe there is considerable validity in arguments on both sides of this issue, but we will comment on the first of the three arguments. As a professional, one can call on the work of other professionals, but engineers should not, of course, imply that they have professional expertise when they do not. Engineers can avail themselves of the well-established conclusions of biologists and other environmental specialists in making judgments about the environment without violating their professional standards. Nevertheless, we believe a way should be found to accommodate as many of the conflicting arguments about engineers' responsibility for the environment as possible.
Two Modest Proposals
We believe that professional engineering obligations regarding non-health-related issues can best be handled in terms of two proposals:
1. Although engineers should be required to hold paramount human health in the
Performance of their engineering work (including health issues that are environmentally related), they should not be required as professionals (that is, required by the codes) to inject non-health-related environmental concerns into their engineering work.
2. Engineers should have the right to organizational disobedience with regard to
environmental issues, as this is required by their own personal beliefs or their own individual interpretations of what professional obligation requires.
The first proposal embodies the idea that a minimal conception of professional obligation to safeguarding the environment should be incorporated into professional codes. The second proposal assumes that it is possible for individual engineers to have a conception of what it is for them to act as professionals that is not a consensus view, or that they may have personal beliefs about the environment unconnected with their professional obligation. It further holds that these views should be respected.
With regard to the second proposal, an engineer could say ″I know that all engineers do not agree with me here, but I believe it is unprofessional to participate in a project involving draining a wetland.″ Here, the engineer would be holding a view about what professional obligation to the environment entails. An engineer could also say, “I know that all engineers do not agree with me here, but, as a matter of personal conscience, I find it unacceptable to drain wetlands.”
We considered three types of ″organizational disobedience.″ All three are relevant to our second proposal:
1. Engineers should have the right to disobedience by contrary action with regard to
environmental issues; that is, they should have the right to promote their personal beliefs or their own individual interpretations of what professional obligation requires, including their beliefs about the environment, outside the workplace.
2. Engineers should have the right to disobedience by nonparticipation with regard to
environmental issues; that is, they should have the right to refuse to carry out assignments they believe are wrong, including environmentally related assignments.
3. Engineers should have the right to disobedience by protest with regard to environmental
issues; that is, they should have the right to protest employer actions they believe to be wrong, including actions that they believe are harmful to human health or the environment.
To make these rights clear, we believe the following provision regarding the rights of engineers should be incorporated into engineering codes:
Where organizational constraints permit, engineers shall not be required to participate in projects that violate their professional obligations as determined by the codes, their professional obligations as determined by their individual interpretations of professional responsibility, or personal beliefs. Engineers shall also have the right to voice responsible objections to engineering projects that they believe are wrong, without fear of reprisal. Engineers shall have the right to support programs and causes of their own choosing outside the workplace.
We can offer the following arguments in support of this provision:
1. There are precedents for such provisions as this one, which asserts a right of engineers rather than imposes an obligation on them. The unusual nature of this provision deserves emphasis. Most engineering codes are composed of a set of obligations that engineers impose on themselves; however, this provision asserts a right of engineers against their employers. There are precedents for the assertion of rights of professionals.
2. The proposal recognizes the limitations of organizations to honor the right of an
engineer to refuse to participate in a project to which she has personal moral objections. Some organizations may have such limited resources that they cannot afford to reassign an engineer who objects to a project. This limitation is recognized in the opening phrase, “Where organizational constraints permit….” Even though an employer call abuse this qualification, we believe that it is necessary to accommodate the legitimate limitations of employers.