Aspects of Environment and Ecology in Technical Education

Out of 10 to 30 million life forms on earth, there is only one Species-Homo-Sapiens-the man, who can change the environment according to his needs. It is perhaps this ability of the man which has now posed a serious question as to how to plan his own future survival on the earth. During the hunter - gatherer stage of civilization, the total energy requirement of a person was 2000-4000 Kcal per day and this was obtainable entirely through the food chain and his own muscular energy for doing the work. Ever increasing population growth, coupled with energy intensive life style, have not only accelerated the consumption of limited exhaustable natural resources like water, crude oil, coal and minerals but have consistently been deteriorating the quality of all the three spheres of the earth i.e. soil, water and air. It is becoming increasingly evident that technological advancements have been largely made in pursuit of objectives which have created an adverse impact on the environment and to rectify the damage there is a felt need for change. A systems approach in which environmental considerations are integrated into the technical education process can bring about the much needed "change process" as the technicians, engineers and scientists are backbone of the industry who perform important functions right from management of shop floor and production to safety and quality control. Besides options of introducing components of environment in individual courses/subjects and introducing a special course in environment in various programmes, the paper suggests an approach consisting of combination of these two options. A separate degree or diploma programme in environment is not feasible due to limited scope of employment opportunities for such programmes. However, post-graduate or post - diploma with specialization in environment can be another feasible solution to tackle the problem. Technical institutions can act as "Change Agents" and by their own example become "Creditable Source of Information" and provide educational, consultancy, research and extension services to other organizations engaged in this endeavor of environmental/ecological protection. The paper also suggests guidelines for deciding contents of environmental awareness course and types of services technical institutes can provide to other government/non government organization to bring about desired challenge in attitudes of people and make them understand the role people can play in preserving harmony in environment and ecology.