THE ENVIRONMENT AS VIEWED IN THE 1950S BY PROFESSOR EDWARD J. KILCAWLEY A Colloquium to Celebrate Fi

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• BACK TO THE FUTURE!!
• VISUALIZE AMERICA IN THE EARLY 1940S

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• World War II activities in the
  neighborhood 1527 N. Wieland St.
• Chicago, Ill. (Old Town)
• VICTORY GARDENS
• RECYCLING
• grease
• tin foil (Al?) from wrappers
• metal objects (pots, pans)
• others

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• RATIONING (OR SCARCE)
• gasoline
• sugar
• meat
• milk
• nylon stockings
• others (bubble gum)
• Manufacturing capacity was devoted to war
  materiel

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• WORLD WAR II ENDS
• Consumers have money, but no where to spend it
• Manufacturing turns to making cars, appliances,
  new devices (not previously available)
• Where was Ed Kilcawley in his thinking about
  this, just after the end of the war.?

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THE ENVIRONMENT
AS VIEWED in the 50s BY PROFESSOR
EDWARD J. KILCAWLEYA Colloquium to Celebrate
Fifty Years of Environmental EngineeringNicholas
L. ClesceriProfessor of Environmental
EngineeringRensselaer Polytechnic
InstituteCenter for Biotechnology and
Interdisciplinary StudiesMarch 29, 2005
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THE COMPLEX ENVIRONMENTE.J. Kilcawley (1963),
The Environmental Engineering Programme at
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Environmental
Health, Vol. 5, No. 2

• Mans environment includes both physical and
  cultural aspects.
• Physical or Natural Environment
• climate, air, water, land, mineral resources
• native vegetation and animal life
• services (food, shelter, heat, and light)
• Culture and Degree of Development
• man continuously strives to improve the
  conditions of his surroundings to create higher
  standards of living

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THE COMPLEX ENVIRONMENTE.J. Kilcawley (1963),
The Environmental Engineering Programme at
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Environmental
Health, Vol. 5, No. 2

• In these efforts he has, in general, neglected
  to consider the important relationships between
  the factors which constitute the total
  environment.

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• Problems Consequences
• Problems
• Lack of knowledge of environmental impact
• Desire to satisfy immediate demand
• Concentrated effort toward control without regard
  to the environment
• Consequences
• Depleted natural resources raised pollution
• Generated excessive noise and vibrations
• Created radioactive waste problems with nuclear
  power
• Necessitated control of outer space to protect
  from nuclear weapons annihilation

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Water is H20, hydrogen two parts, oxygen one,
but there is also a third thing that makes water
and nobody knows what that is. D. H.
Lawrence (1885-1930), Pansies, 1929
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The confusion starts early.

• What kids say about water
• In looking at a drop of water under a
  microscope, we find there are twice as many H's
  as O's.
• Water freezes at 32º and boils at 212º. There
  are 180º between freezing and boiling because
  there are 180º between north and south.
• Water is composed of two gins, Oxygin and
  Hydrogin. Oxygin is pure gin. Hydrogin is gin and
  water.H20 is hot water, and CO2 is cold
  water.

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Kilcawleys CHALLENGE

• Post- World War II, shift in manufacturing to the
  production of consumer goods for public
  consumption
• Application of scientific and engineering
  knowledge to
• develop new products to reduce sickness and
  disease
• satisfy mans needs provide him with comfort
  and convenience
• But, these same benefits would impose severe and
  ever increasing stresses on mans environment.

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Kilcawleys CHALLENGE (cont.)

• Stressors that Caused Environmental Problems
• Mechanization of the home environment,
  concentrated populations and development of new
  communications systems
• Economic Development
• Measured by domestic progress and national
  security
• Depends on
• the prosperity of its industries
• the health and well being of its people
• utilization and conservation of its natural
  resources

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• One of mans inherent characteristics is the
  desire to control and to improve his environment
  as a whole.
• The index of public health is associated with the
  effective control of the environment.
• Society strives for a high level of well-being,
  freedom from fear and poverty, a maximum of
  convenience, comfort, and freedom from disease
• Early beginnings of environmental engineering

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• Worldwide Problems of Environmental Control
• Enhancing Environmental health in developed
  nations
• control of air and stream pollution, water
  conservation
• control of radiation
• providing adequate housing and safe food supplies
• Upgrading living standards in the developing
  countries
• integration of problems in the social, economic,
  health, and educational fields
• need for leaders qualified in the broad aspects
  of every phase of development now exists and will
  increase
• At that time, environmental control in the face
  of a growing population and expanded industrial
  economy, presented one of the most challenging
  problems ever faced in the development of U.S.
  society.

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Kilcawleys SOLUTION

• The engineer must
• have a clear concept of the many facets of
  modern environmental control in order to
  conceive, plan, design, construct, and operate
  the essential facilities associated with
  community and rural health.
• aid in the establishment and operation of the
  educational and research facilities and the
  training programs required for each particular
  case.

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Kilcawleys SOLUTION (Cont.)

• The fundamental problem toward effective control
  of the environment is the relationship between
  organisms, man, and his environment.
• This is inherently ecological in nature.

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The Early Role of Rensselaer

• Sanitary engineering was the forerunner of
  environmental engineering
• Dr. William Pitt Mason, former Head of the Dept.
  of Chemistry
• Long-recognized authority on water and wastewater
  treatment
• Authored first text of water supply from the
  sanitary point of view
• First edition published by John Wiley and Sons,
  Inc in 1896.
• Early instruction emphasized the chemical aspects
  of water supply and wastewater treatment
• Graduates became our first water chemists and
  plant operators
• Instruction in water supply was required of all
  engineering students
• Rensselaer graduates have been prominent in water
  supply and pollution control since that time

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• The Engineering Profession Public Health
• Need broad understanding of sciences and
  engineering
• require a broad educational experience and,
• a greater proficiency in phases of the problem
• Need a special rather than a specialized
  education
• Interdisciplinary curricula in environmental
  engineering
• that portion of the science of environmental
  control in which engineering is used to conserve
  and develop the worlds resources for the
  well-being of man, as indicated by comfort,
  convenience, and the absence of disease.

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• Rensselaer the Environmental Engineering
  Profession
• Post World War II
• Rensselaer met these times in two progressive
  steps
• In the mid 1940s an expanded option in sanitary
  engineering in its Civil Engineering curriculum
  was established
• Recognized early on, the emerging complexity of
  environmental problems and the inadequacy of
  traditional curricula

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• In 1955, Rensselaer embarked on the
  establishment of a new interdisciplinary program
  in environmental engineering, under the direction
  of Professor Edward J. Kilcawley.

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          Edward J. Kilcawley Professor of
Environmental Engineering