Poland, like other post-communist countries, is undergoing a transformation into a capitalist system. This transformation affects the country in many ways: economic, social, psychological and also ecological. Ecological problems are strongly connected with the political, economic and psychological inheritance of the past, as well as with changes in the post-communist society. In order to understand these problems, it is necessary to consider the following issues:
- the geographic situation of Poland
- the political transformations that occurred after World War II - forced development of heavy industry combined with neglect of its effects on the environment, and
- the economic problems
The three main goals of Environmental Engineering V are (I) to assess the state of scientific research in various areas of environmental engineering. (II) to evaluate organizational, technical and technological progress in contributing to ecological security, and (III) to determine the place of environmental engineering in sustainable development, taking into account political and economic conditions.
Environmental Engineering V is of interest for academics, engineers and professionals involved in environmental engineering, seeking solutions for environmental problems in emerging new democracies, especially those who plan to participate in numerous projects sponsored by the European Union.
About the Author: Malgorzata Pawlowska, Ph.D., Sc.D. was born in 1969 in Sanok, Poland. In 1993 she received M.Sc of the protection of the environment at the Catholic University of Lublin. Since that time she has been working in the Lublin University of Technology, Faculty of Environmental Engineering. In 1999 she defended Ph.D. in the Institute of Agrophysics of the Polish Academy of Science and in 2005 she defended D.Sc. thesis at the Technical University of Wroclaw and was appointed as associate professor and head of Engineering of Alternative Fuels Department at Faculty of Environmental Engineering Lublin University of Technology. She currently works on biomethanization processes and application of selected wastes for remediation of degraded land. Malgorzata has publishes 59 papers, 2 books and is coauthor of 7 polish patents, 1 european patent, 28 polish patent applications and 25 european patent applications.
Lucjan Pawlowski, was born In Poland, 1946. He is Dean of Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Director of the Institute of Environmental Protection Engineering of the Lublin University of Technology, Member of the European Academy of Science and Arts, and honorary professor of China Academy of Science. He got his Ph. D. in 1976, and D. Sc. in 1980, both at the Wroclaw University of Technology. He started research on the application of ion exchange for water and wastewater treatment. As a result he published a book Wastewater Treatment by Ion Exchange" together with B. Bolto from CSIRO Australia, in which they summarized their own results and experience of the ion exchange area. In total, he has published 19 books, over 128 papers, and authored 68 patents, and is a member of the editorial board of numerous international and national scientific and technical journals.
