Speaker: Darshan Karwat
Abstract
It is so commonly accepted that it is almost a mundane claim now: Inequality and injustice are hardwired into current models of technological design and technical work in the US, one of the most technologically advanced and resource-rich nations on Earth. The onus for addressing this problem, however, rests not only on those who officially make social policy—politicians, lawyers, and business people—but also those who build social policy and create possibilities—engineers. For example, if engineers didn’t design and build bombs, there would be no bombs (or way fewer of them) to drop; engineers can not create the possibilities of mass destruction. If engineers strategically withdraw themselves from the expansion of the oil and gas industry, what effect might that have on addressing climate change? I believe that engineers can create possibilities for deep good by aligning their work with those traditionally marginalized and exploited in and by technical work. Fortunately, there is a rich legacy of activism in engineering and science that we can build on to put environmental protection, justice, and peace at the heart of engineering. I will describe different ways in which engineers across the US are centering these ideals, and I will pose questions I think are important for engineers to consider and building a movement of activist engineering.
About the Speaker...
An unexpected academic, Darshan is an aerospace engineer by training, with a background in combustion chemistry and sustainability ethics from the University of Michigan. Before joining Arizona State University, he, as a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow, worked at the US Environmental Protection Agency on climate change resilience and community-based air pollution monitoring.