Concrete and the Environment

There is increasing concern now that the choice of construction materials

must also be governed by ecological considerations.

At the beginning of the 20th Century, the world
population was 1.5 billion; by the end of the 20th
Century it had risen to 6 billion.

Considering that it took 10,000 years after of the
last ice age for the population to rise to the 1.5
billion mark, the rate of growth from 1.5 to 6 billion
people is remarkable

At the beginning of the 20 th Century,
approximately ten percent of the people
lived in cities; in the year 2001 nearly
three of the six billion inhabitants live in
and around the cities.

Unfortunately, our technology choices have
turned out to be wasteful because decisions are
based on short term and narrow goals of the
enterprise rather than a holistic view of the full
range of consequences from the use of a
technology.