Emerging Technological Innovations as Prospective Pathways to Sustainable Future

There is growing debate over scientific evidence for long-term and potentially irreversible changes in the Earth's life support system resulting from anthropogenic activities. These changes threaten our sustainability and could bring forth a new global reality in terms of economies, health, and environment. The debate has been a challenging theme for researchers and policy-makers. Notwithstanding the debate, a perpetual increase in population and consumption of fossil fuels to meet the urban needs has led to increased pollution worldwide. Pollution in large cities has reached an alarming level and is commonly perceived to be a leading contributor to chronic and deadly health disorders affecting millions of people. Reports from the World Energy Congress suggest that continued fuel usage at its current rate will result in pollution creating irreversible environmental damage by 2025. Increased urbanization and use of fossil fuels contribute to pollution and emission of green-house gases, widely believed to be responsible for global warming. The pollution extends beyond atmospheric contents, as is evident from water stress levels globally. With mega cities evolving into mega regions, most water-stressed and lower per capita income regions suffer additional socio-political issues, such as gender-inequity, regional conflicts, and agricultural system sustainability. It is estimated that 30% of the world’s irrigated land will be lost by 2025 and unless a different water usage trajectory is adopted, projections estimate that 50% of irrigable land will be lost by 2050, causing severe food shortages. With so much at stake, it is evident that a nexus of technological innovations, in conjunction with risk assessment and paradigm-shift in use, reuse, and recycle as effective management tools must be employed to address this grand challenge. The presentation illustrates how a nexus of technological innovations in support of “smart” sustainability science and engineering solutions, paradigm-shift in natural resources management, and applications in industry from system perspective is likely to provide desired solutions. An overview of some of programs for technology for water sustainability and management, viz. the EU/FP7 programs such as TRUST and UWCS are presented. Paradigm-shift in water usage such as concepts of water harvesting, effective filtration at point of use, efficient waste water management systems will be discussed. Life-cycle assessment and quantitative risk assessment approaches to assess human health impact from a safety and sustainability standpoint will be discussed.