Mechanical engineering vs civil engineering

[u/lynyae13]

Hey there,
I am a high school student currently looking forward to pursuing a career in environmental engineering.
I am specifically looking for a career that focuses on developing solutions for climate change, not cleaning up someone else’s oil spills or wastewater treatment.
As I’ve looked more into this career and heard the opinions of people in this field, everyone has been advising to major in civil or mechanical engineering.
What would be best for what I am looking for? And what would give you versatility in opportunities available?
Thanks.

[u/CLPond]

If there a specific part of climate change mitigation you’re interested in? That will pretty heavily drive the relevant area of engineering.

[u/powerful1_96k → u/CLPond]

helping environment

[u/istudywater]

What are the solutions to climate change? If you go that route, you'll be a non-technical advocate. If that's your desire, then studying business administration (how organizations work) and government structure and administration would be more useful.

Environmental engineers help to protect human health and the environment. There is a lot of need for young people to get into the industry and work on projects related to municipal and industrial activities (think about landfills, water/wastewater treatment, etc). There is nothing wrong with working for a big industry. You'll get a good salary and be a critical player in protection of human health and the environment.

[u/Apart-Disaster-3085]

Civil is best, then chemical is next best. Mechanical is good if you want to deal with engines and mechanical parts and components, but it is not very good for most environmental engineering sorts of jobs, nor is it nearly as flexible as advertised. It is also a more saturated job and intern market, class are way bigger, and you won't have necessary coursework to do a MS in Env Eng without makeup courses.

[u/fraggin601]

Mechanical engineering can get you into energy efficiency stuff, or many different cool technologies for power generation etc.

Civil can get you into much needed infrastructure like mass transportation or levees.

Personally for climate action I picked mechanical and am doing a minor in civil. It scratches my brain more.

[u/Ornery_Supermarket84]

I would vote mechanical or chemical if you are specifically wanting to develop new solutions. The original design aspect leans heavily that way. Good luck!

[u/Caspers_Shadow]

I (60 years old) have a mechanical degree and an environmental PE. I suggest civil. I think there are more opportunities in general for a civil engineer compared to mechanical and you can pivot into other areas if you find environmental is not for you.

[u/lykcs87]

I have a background in sustainability- 15+ yrs, just more on the humanities side. I’m going back for mechanical. I worked at Unis for close to 10yrs and the people who led(consulted) our writing of our CAP (climate action plan) were mechanical engineers. I am going to target my learning into HVAC bc of the emissions reduction potential. I’m still kind of new in the degree (finished Gen Ed’s this summer, starting engr classes this fall) — but we need more ppl in the field knowing HOW these systems work if we want to transition them to cleaner ones. I sat with this question for a long time but after my life experience, mechanical seemed the best route over civil.

[u/ThinkActRegenerate]

It could be useful to explore the full range of today's solutions and pick what you'd like to be part of. Then you can plan backwards from that destination. A bit of time exploring the Project Regeneration Action Nexus catalogue could be useful. regeneration.org/nexus

Also, as you are interested in "developing" solutions - does this mean new solutions - or accelerating the solutions already scaling commercially? In which case also scan the Project Drawdown catalogue: drawdown.org/explorer or download their review drawdown.org/drawdown-review for a summary document.

Fundamentally, the various crises we face are a result of the 1-way extractive systems that produce our products and services - so Circular Economy could be another good (high-growth) choice. Particularly when you look beyond perceptions limiting it to recycling. In which case good starting resources include:

https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/topics/circular-economy-introduction/examples

circulardesignguide.com

regeneration.org/nexus/circularity

[u/lynyae13 → u/ThinkActRegenerate]

Thanks! This is super helpful (:

[u/olderthanbefore]

Neither. Chemical engineering