Engineering undergrad here. I'm just wondering if anybody here knows if I can work in conservation or environmental projects as a civil engineer. I'm asking because I've been reading a lot about my homestate's wildlife, mostly about the Florida panther, manatees, and Burmese pythons, and how the Everglades are dying and it makes me want to do something to try to solve these problems. I don't want to become a field biologist because I think that's very limiting but I do want to be able to work on something related to the environment. Is this possible as an engineer? If so, want kind of career path is likely?
>>8172116
>herp derp solve my problem even though I am supposed to be smart enough to solve it myself
>>8172116
At my school we got an Environmental Engineering program. Essentially they work on quantifying the resources in an area, how to effectively harvest them and how to prevent said harvesting from having a negative effect on the capability of the ecosystem to sustain itself. They also do a lot of work on trying to make sustainable energy and water sources.
>>8172121
Yep, same here, we have specializing programs for nearly every field of engineering.
Why didn't you take environmental engineering?
>>8172116
Yeah, it's possible. Though at my school, CivE and EnvE are combined (CEE)
>>8172116
I guess that you could.But mainly the work would be around uilding dams and the like,not preserving the environment per say
>>8173919
What can a civil engineer specializing in environmental engineering work as typically? Most of what I read online seems to be more focused on treating wastewater.
>>8173949
Building dams,waste treatment or building canals.I really dont think that you can do much outside of this
>>8173963
Have you considered zoning or environmental impact analyses?
>>8173963
Fuck. So basically engineering is quite limited when it comes to conservation?
>>8173964
I'm not sure what an engineer who wants to work in conservation has to do with zoning, but tell me more about environmental impact analysis.
>>8173973
Zoning would determine how a land is to be used, which depends on both land composition/structure/etc and local social needs. If a piece of land had high levels of lead or arsenic, you wouldn't want people living there, but it could be used for industry. In many places, "environmental impact assessments" are standard operating procedure.
A lot of things require permits, and it should be the responsibility of a competent engineer to see if something is permissible. You don't want someone drilling a well into poisonous rock, even if the upper soil is good. You also don't want them digging a well if the water table isn't reachable or if it interferes with something else (tunnels? idk)
For environmental impact analyses, that's like the same situation, but reversed. If we do something to the land, how does it affect the environment. Unrestricted mining is extremely hazardous, unrestricted logging, etc. Building a concrete foundation on the side of a dirty mountain could cause a landslide, but a rocky, metamorphic mountain could be suitable.
I'm not a civil engineer, nor have I studied it, but those would seem like the most obvious things. Even something like adding new plumbing for a piece of land for residential use should have an engineer making sure proper depths and material are being used.
>>8172116
sauce plz
research purposes
