SUSTAINABILITY SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING: DEFINING PRINCIPLES, VOLUME 1 By Martin A. Abraham Elsevier B.V. Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2006). 536 pages ISBN No.: 0-444-51712-X U.S. List Price: $165.00 This book presents an overview of principles of sustainability that has been the focus of numerous initiatives and activities throughout the globe in recent times. In this regard, a book, based on the prin- ciples developed at the San Destin green engineering conference, reviewing and presenting the cur- rent state of the topic is appropri- ate. The book deals with science and engineering perspectives on sustainability. The origin of sus- tainability ideas originates from the growing concern over the continu- ous degradation of the earth’s eco- system. It is apparent that the human species is depleting natural capital faster than it can be replen- ished [1]. Hence, it is unlikely that under the present state of affairs, the human species will be able to maintain its current way of living in the developed world. It is equally unlikely that full development will occur in the less developed parts of the world under present condi- tions. The concept of sustainability which addresses the maintenance of human existence over the long term is, therefore, useful in framing these complex issues. While there are various definitions of the con- cept, one widely accepted state- ment by the Bruntland Commission [2] defines sustainability as ‘‘devel- opment that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.’’ [3] The book rec- ognizes the complex multidiscipli- nary nature of sustainability en- compassing environment, econ- omy, and society. The book aims to cover all these aspects through con- tributions by authors from different fields. The book has been divided into three sections: presentation of principles of sustainability, devel- opment of these principles, and finally application of those princi- ples. The first section gives a very good introduction to the concept of sustainability. The first couple of chapters discuss various aspects through principles of sustainability and principles of green engineer- ing. Each principle is explained with examples ranging from chem- ical engineering, material science to natural systems such as com- puter microchips made up of natu- ral products. Green engineering, consisting of product and process design, is proposed as a tool to engineers to achieve the goal of sustainability. At the same time, difference between sustainability and green engineering is high- lighted in terms two caveats, namely, multi-scale applications and life cycle considerations. These chapters provide a good introduction to the topic for a new reader of this subject. In chapter 3, ethics of green engineering as dis- cussed where three driving forces, legal, financial, and ethical, behind taking sustainability initiatives are analyzed. The first two are termed as amoral while ethical decisions are based on moral values. Con- structive thinking, which is the ba- sis of moral actions, is a function of age and education as proposed by Kohlberg’s model. The authors develop an interesting green engi- neering parallel to this model where legal consideration is equiv- alent to pre-conventional level, fi- nancial consideration is similar to conventional level, and ethical level is at the top as post-conven- tional level. The important mes- sage is that not only the actions, but also the driving force is impor- tant. Chapter 4 highlights the impor- tance of educating youth about green engineering. Hesketh et al. present the driving forces such as ABET criteria in the U.S., attractive- ness to employers, and role of pro- fessional organizations in promot- ing green engineering education. Focusing on chemical engineering, the authors review material and courses available for teaching (websites, textbooks, etc.). The view point of various instructors and universities throughout the world undertaking such an effort at both the graduate and under- graduate level is also presented. Several case studies provide the basis for such curriculum develop- ment. They then present the elec- tive courses, followed by general education courses, and green chemistry courses. In summary, this is comprehensive chapter on green engineering education and can be a useful reference for such initiatives. The next section of the book develops the principles that are mentioned and summarized in the first section. The thrust of this sec- tion is to cover all principles and tools that help in practicing sus- tainability. Chapter 5 emphasizes the importance of systems thinking in achieving sustainability and gives a very basic idea of how sys- tems thinking can be implemented by a practitioner. This includes sys- tem representation using formal and informal approaches, and use of graphics to represent systems knowledge. This is followed by analysis involving definition, infor- mation gathering, a reduction, and a solution stage. This is nicely fol- lowed by chapter 6 presenting a system centric view of the ecology. The ecosystem is classified as being simple and complex. The first one is associated with indus- trial ecology and deals with mate- rial and energy flows around the system. The second one is related to biocomplexity where the inter- actions between human and natu- ral systems are accounted for. To bridge the gap between biology, ecology, and engineering, a com- mon language is derived. This common language is the focus of this chapter. Chapter 7 deals with life cycle analysis and its relation to sustain- BOOK REVIEWS Ó 2007 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Published online 16 March 2007 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI 10.1002/ep.10197 Environmental Progress (Vol.26, No.1) April 2007 11