Professional and Career Topics

Put me down as a skeptic of the Global Warming pop culture.  I don't think that the Earth is as fragile as alarmist portray.  The planet has survived a global flood and an Ice Age.  The Ice Age ended naturally.  Global Warming/Climate Change Advocates seem to assume "steady state" conditions and only consider "man-made" influence on the climate.  The temperature of the sun and the magma core are also significant factors in Earth's temperature.   As engineers and in particular as Environmental Engineers we are responsible stewards of the Earth and limit the negative effects that mankind can cause in the way of pollution from our waste.  We design landfills and wastewater treatment plants, etc.  Scientists and engineers continue to look for more efficient ways to generate electricity; fuel our automobiles and limit our pollution. 
I am optimistic that we as problem solvers can find solutions to many perceived or actual problems now and in the future.  For example, the population in the U.S. has doubled since 1950, but through advancements in agriculture we can not only feed ourselves, but are able to export food.  Alarmists predicted mass starvation.
For any issue or cause, the advocate feels the need to portray the topic as a crisis to draw attention to the subject.  Concerns over air pollution killed the Supersonic Transport Program in the U.S., but France still developed the Concord.  Killer bees were headed toward us from south of the border to wreak havoc.  Acid rain was a big concern, but it faded away.  DDT was banned as toxic, but is making a comeback.  The risk of malaria turned out to be a much greater problem to humanity than perceived damage to the food supply. 
Lastly, scientists predicted a Nuclear Winter when Sadam Hussein set fire to oil fields in Iraq.
I am not advocating putting our heads in the sand, but that the crisis has been overblown.  There is evidence of fraud in the data and almost all predictions are based on computer models.
I am not ready to buy into the doom and gloom that if we don't do something now, we won't survive.  In engineering, I think we are to weigh the cost of what we do against the benefit.  It is a huge cost to pay for utility bills to more than double to ban fossil fuels or a nuclear power plant to address small predicted rises in temperature that may take a century to occur.