Despite the critical importance of ecological systems, engineering, like most other disciplines, takes nature for granted. For over a century, processes have been designed without considering the role of nature in supporting them by providing a large diversity of essential goods and services. These benefits from nature, called ecosystem services, include goods such as fossil resources, minerals, water, air and biodiesel; and services such as cycling of materials, photosynthesis, regulation of air and water quality, and soil formation. Such ignorance about nature results in atleast two major shortcomings: 1) Processes designed by engineers may demand more from ecosystems than can be provided without ecological degradation, and 2) Engineering misses opportunities of working with nature to address many industrial needs in an economically and environmentally superior manner. The first reason is a root cause for the inherent unsustainability of many engineering activities, while the second reason reflects the engineering attitude of dominating nature. Recent methods for Sustainable Engineering and life cycle considerations in process design also fail to address these shortcomings. [1]
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