Industrial Ecology

The basic idea behind industrial ecology is actually quite simple. If industries consider themselves a part of the world around them, and look at the ways in which they can interact with those around them, they can become more efficient. There is a blog devoted to industrial ecology which contains some interesting links. The evolution of industrial ecology would, in my mind anyway, include integrating local ecologies and communities to create systems of people and economics that co-exist with the natural world in intentional ways, rather than in the rather divorced and thoughtless ways we currently interact with the world around us. This paper was forwarded to me by a friend from work. It delves into the modelling through GIS of the waste water interactions between companies. Through an increase in knowledge and complexity we interact with our world in a different way. The modelling of interactions between industries using spatial software such as GIS is quite fascinating, and it is one of the things that gives me hope in the world today.