The disruptions of climate change, autonomous systems and a changing geopolitical landscape will impact almost all areas of society, says UWindsor professor Beth-Anne Schuelke-Leech.
Getting to sustainability will require disruptions to our social-technical-economic-political system, says UWindsor professor Beth-Anne Schuelke-Leech.
“We cannot achieve sustainability using the existing paradigms, technologies, and production methods,” she writes in a guest column published in the current edition of WE, the Faculty of Engineering’s annual magazine.
“We are going to need to revolutionize our production systems, consumption choices, energy systems, and technologies if we are to achieve environmental stability and economic prosperity.”
That is the reason she created the STEP disruptive technologies lab.
“One of my overriding concerns is the gap between the knowledge and values of the technical developers and those involved in governance and safeguarding society more broadly,” writes Dr. Schuelke-Leech, an associate professor of engineering management, innovation, and entrepreneurship in the Department of Mechanical, Automotive, and Materials Engineering.
“While there are attempts to bridge these two worlds, the attempts are generally superficial and often limited to academic discourse. I want to try to affect meaningful change before we can no longer do it.”