| An integrative and adaptive
approach to Responsible Governance is put forward for addressing climate change
based on a System of Systems (SoS) Engineering framework that reflects the
values of stakeholders using a participatory approach and achieves desirable
systems goals such as resilience, sustainability and fairness. Currently, the
world is suffering from an “Atmospheric Tragedy of the Commons” in which every
nation is knowingly releasing deadly greenhouse gases in order to selfishly
maximize its own economic benefits at the expense of destroying the “Atmospheric Commons” and
thereby causing severe climate change which will adversely affect all countries
around the globe. To overcome this strategically unwise type of individual
behavior, a cooperative approach to good governance is suggested which will
benefit every nation economically in the long term and, more importantly,
satisfy ethical systems objectives. More specifically, the “Fee and Dividend”
concept devised by James Hansen and others is suggested as a truly insightful,
yet simple, method for solving the tough
strategic decision-making aspects of climate change via: (1) Taxing carbon at
its source or point of first sale (Fee). (2) Distributing 100% of this tax
uniformly to all citizens (Dividend). (3) Negotiating a level of tax for each
nation (Liability). (4) Increasing the tax over time in combination with
stricter regulations to bring atmospheric carbon accumulation to a stipulated
level (Survival). When compared to other alternatives, such as Cap and Trade,
the “Fee and Dividend” idea may form the basis of a feasible and sensible
method for handling climate change in the same way that the 1987 “Montreal
Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer”, and its extended versions
thereof, constitute exceptional international agreements for cooperatively
controlling the size of the ozone hole before it reached the point of no
return. Indeed, the citizens of the world are most grateful to the truly
remarkable scientists, consisting of Mario Molina, Paul Crutzen and Frank
Rowland, who received the 1995 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for explaining how
CFCs created the ozone hole. In fact, responsible governance is not only needed
in proactively combating climate change and the ozone hole but in many other
highly interconnected complex SoS problems such as the failed American
financial system, growing gap between the rich and poor, unfair medical
systems, irresponsible energy production and usage, widespread pollution of
both natural and societal systems, and unreliable aging infrastructure.
Accordingly, extensive research is urgently needed for developing a
comprehensive theoretical structure for System of Systems Science and
Engineering for suitably solving current and emerging complex systems problems. Keith Hipel uses the valuable experience that he has gained during a long and exciting career as an academic in Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo to explain how to have contentment and impact in research and mentoring students. Of fundamental importance is to carry out research with your students and colleagues in the area of your heart’s desire and to have fun passing on your knowledge to others and solving pressing problems using your ideas. By focusing on how you can help others in your academic work and not worrying about the impact of your research and teaching in terms of personal recognition, you will automatically be travelling down the road of success. When an entrepreneur develops novel products to benefit society, monetary gain usually follows after years of hard work and many setbacks along the way. Likewise, as you gain maturity in your academic career while pursuing your scholarly goals, you will eventually receive prestigious awards, have your theoretical concepts utilized by industry and government for tackling practical problems, be awarded patents and see your research highly cited by others. The Hirsch Index, popularly referred to as the H-Index, constitutes a useful means for gauging the long-term impact of your research. An H-Index of 30, for example, means that you have written 30 papers each of which has been cited by authors in the literature at least 30 times. As you travel down your academic path keep in mind a number of “rules of thumb” to keep you on the highway of success. Firstly, it is difficult to predict which of your papers will be highly referenced. However, publishing your research in high quality, well-known journals is a necessary condition for your contributions to gain widespread acceptance. It is a waste of your time to publish your better research in journals that are not well known and of lower quality. Also, keep in mind that creative papers published in good journals may not become popular straight away, but could be highly referenced years later ? do not expect instant recognition, although this may sometimes happen. Even though the monetary payback may be small, it is certainly worthwhile to every so often bring your many ideas together in a systematic, logical, comprehensive and insightful manner within a well-written book that puts your findings into proper perspective ? the fact is that a good book is highly cited. Take advantage of opportunities to carry out high-level consulting in order for you to show leadership to industry and discover where useful research is needed. Remember that design, which constitutes the heart of engineering, is creative problem solving or informed decision making for effectively solving a challenging problem in the face of conflicting value systems of stakeholders and high uncertainty. Overall, enjoy what you do as you design solutions to tough theoretical and practical problems and you will achieve genuine contentment in your career. |
