- The environment shapes humans, and humans shape the environment
- Quotes:
- Nothing ever goes away (Commoner)
- Everything is related to everything else
- Sooner or later, wittingly or unwittingly, we must pay for every intrusion on the natural environment.
- There is no free lunch.
- If humans don't take care of the planet, the planet will take care of humans. (Loveock)
- Mother Nature bats last
- Humans, nature, and Big Change (roles of energy surplus, depletion/scarcity, natural climate change)
- Survival strategies: Risk minimizing and Income maximizing
- Traditional and 'modern' risks:
- Natural disasters (hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfire, drought, flood, earthquake, drought and famine, disease, etc.)
- Human-made risks (e.g., fire, death-by-automobile)
- Public health, immunizations, medical research
- The food chain. Humans weren't always at the top, you know. Nature was dangerous, civilization was safe.
- Modern risks:
- Nuclear weapons
- Chemical spills
- Pesticide exposure
- Occupational hazards
- Transportation-automobiles in general
- Industrial processes and toxic by-products
- Contaminated food
- Asbestos? Mercury?
- Cllimate change?
- Wealth generation vs risk distribution--the Industrial Revolution certainly generated great wealth (though not evenly across the globe, or within a society). But how has it affected the distribution of risk, across the globe, or from one generation to the next (intergenerationally)? Maybe those 'backwards' societies, though they suffer(ed) low material living standards, were on to something .... some principles fundamental to sustainability?
- In the end (no pun intended), whose risk?
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