Experiences and gains from the EMS project exercise

    Apart from the obvious practical experience that this exercise gave to us (i am pretty sure most of us where new to the subject), it was really interesting on a personal level due to the team i was assigned. We were 'in charge' of the environmental department of the company and from the discussion that followed our project it looked as if we had fallen into a well-known 'trap'. The one where as an environmental department, we try to centralize all responsibilities of the system around us and thus even making the work of other systems redundant. We were shown that this strategy is very effective as it makes the work load inexorably big. We were even confronted with the fact that most companies don't have environmental departments, but choose to use these environmental systems and allocate the responsibilities through the company. That was a bit of surprising but educating at the same time. Overall it was a fun experience as almost all the group assignments we do in this master. I think apart from practical experience they help in coordination and cooperation, two important pillars of the SSPM course (in my opinion at least).

First impressions with the social perspective in Industrial Ecology

My first impressions of the social sciences, in the field of Industrial Ecology, are closely related to my first impressions of the course itself. Getting to know your professor is always a typical situation of saying a couple words about yourself. In the Social Sciences course we chose a different route, some kind of a 'Rorschach' test for young Industrial Ecologists! We were all assigned of a photograph and were all asked to relate the photograph with an area of Industrial Ecology that we find interesting.
At some point Dr. Boons asked a question, "what do you think the postcard game bring to the course?". That question was of a rhetorical nature but still got me thinking and led me to some interesting conclusions. It showed me how critical thinking can lead people to connections they never thought of beforehand. Connections that, once visible, may help us to understand the systematic view of industrial ecology systems.
I had never seen the temple in my postcard and i feel that most of us had not seen their postcard either, but that did not stop us from relating them to different aspects of social problems and how those reflected upon the environment.
I think what the postcard game brought to the course was the opportunity for us to take a peek at this interdisciplinary field and realize the connections between social constructions and Industrial Ecology. Or even move a step forward and realize IE as a social construction by itself. Realize that the material and energy flows, that are the main subject of research of Industrial Ecology, are shaped by the social context in which they occur.
Unfortunately, my earlier impressions of social sciences were very limited due to the nature of my studies.  Mainly mechanical knowledge was passed on, in the nowadays social science deprived course schedules. Whatever experience, if you can call it that, i have is from discussions with my fellow students and reflections on social problems of our society.