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After reading both articles, the idea of creating a more sustainable, safe and healthy place besides mainly focusing on the technological development has caught my attention (National Academy of Engineering, par. 28, Feb 2008). This is the grand challenge in which engineering faces today. Engineering has always been one of the sectors that have contributed the most in civilization and globalization. However, sadly, ethics and moral values or- in short, engineering professionalism- has often being neglected.

One of the significance of engineering professionalism is to ensure that all benefits and gifts from the sectors are evenly distributed and contributed to all classes of community. Despite living in a globalised world, millions and billions of people are still suffering from food and water scarcity, basic medical care and communication accessibility. Ironically, the richer countries are given more attention into higher level of technology development. As engineers, they should look at a bigger picture that the world cannot be a sustainable place if the world is divided. Civilization is not complete without meeting the needs and goals of the world’s community. In this matter, it is where engineering professionalism comes in, playing an important role in producing ethical engineers.

The abandonment of engineering ethics would also result in environmental hazard, which is closely related to human health as well. The current state of our environment is partly due to the irresponsibility and unprofessional conduct of some engineers. Despite with all the environmental regulations, cheaper polluting technologies are preferable over the more costly and most importantly “greener” technologies (National Academy of Engineering, par. 21, Feb 2008). Some may debate that this matter can be solved by medication, but this is not the main concern. Instead, it is all about sensing the urgency and the need to care for the environment. If this norm is to continue on without any action taken, our earth is no longer in a healthy state to live in.

Regardless of how advance and complex are the technologies produced by engineering, without moral and ethical values, the contribution from this field is less desirable, for creating a safer , healthier and more sustainable place still remains the main concerns for all of us.

National Academy of Engineering. (2008, February). Introduction to the grand challenges of engineering. Retrieved June 3, 2008, from http://engineeringchallenges.org/cms/8996/9221/.aspx