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Best-selling author Cass R. Sunstein examines how to avoid worst-case scenarios The world is increasingly confronted with new challenges related to climate change, globalization, disease, and technology. Governments are faced with having to decide how much risk is worth taking, how much destruction and death can be tolerated, and how much money should be invested in the hopes of avoiding catastrophe. Lacking full information, should decision-makers focus on avoiding the most catastrophic outcomes? When should extreme measures be taken to prevent as much destruction as possible? Averting Catastrophe explores how governments ought to make decisions in times of imminent disaster. Cass R. Sunstein argues that using the “maximin rule,” which calls for choosing the approach that eliminates the worst of the worst-case scenarios, may be necessary when public officials lack important information, and when the worst-case scenario is too disastrous to contemplate. He underscores this argument by emphasizing the reality of “Knightian uncertainty,” found in circumstances in which it is not possible to assign probabilities to various outcomes. Sunstein brings foundational issues in decision theory in close contact with real problems in regulation, law, and daily life, and considers other potential future risks. At once an approachable introduction to decision-theory and a provocative argument for how governments ought to handle risk, Averting Catastrophe offers a definitive path forward in a world rife with uncertainty.
Humanity has so far failed to respect some essential compatibility limits to ensure sustainable development. Is it possible to change the course? This book revolves around this question, focusing on climate change. Averting Climate Catastrophe Together addresses the necessity of meeting the Paris Agreement temperature target and explores what framework could enable climate action in an effective, efficient and equitable manner that is consistent with that goal. It also looks at the contribution of technological change within the economic system, including the feasibility of a global energy transition. Whether humanity can avoid catastrophic climate change appears to depend not on the availability of technological solutions, but rather on international cooperation and coordination. Given the various sustainability issues, this book also discusses whether it is possible to derive a general approach to them. It argues that dealing with compatibility limits in complex systems requires a holistic change in the system structure. Therefore, systems science is discussed together with economics, technological change, and sustainable development. This book targets scientists and experts from different disciplines due to the interdisciplinary topic, but especially from environmental economics and energy technology; policy makers, as policy recommendations are provided to address climate change; as well as the general public due to the pressing common challenge of addressing climate change and comprehensive efforts for sustainable development. Provides evidence based on climate science research on the necessity of meeting the Paris Agreement temperature target Highlights the feasibility of the global energy transition as one major option to mitigate climate change, also going into detail about the process of technological change Brings together systems science with economics, technological change, and sustainable development Derives a framework to meet the Paris Agreement temperature target, enabling coordinated climate action in an effective and efficient manner while pursuing distributive justice
Selected by Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title The 1984 lethal gas leak at the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, may be the most extensively studied industrial disaster in history. In a departure from earlier studies that have focused primarily on the causes of the catastrophe, Sheila Jasanoff and the contributors to this volume critically examine the consequences of the accident.
Industrial Disasters, Toxic Waste, and Community Impact focuses on hazardous and toxic wastes releases, industrial disasters, the consequent contamination of communities and the environment, and the subsequent social impacts, including adverse health effects, deaths and property destruction, psychosocial problems, and community disruption. This book explains the emergence of a sociological study of risk and of natural, technological, and hybrid disasters, along with a review of the accumulated body of knowledge in the field. It is unique in its integration of sociological perspectives with perspectives from other disciplines when discussing the problems posed by technological hazards both in advanced industrialized societies and in the underdeveloped world. Francis O. Adeola extends the field through an innovative presentation of topics which up to now have had sparse treatment in sociology texts. This book starts by presenting the sociology of hazardous waste, risk, and disasters as a relatively new development, engendering both a growing passion and an increasing volume of empirical research among scholars. Next, it describes how hazardous and toxic wastes disposal, exposure, remediation, and proximate adverse health consequences have risen to the level of endemic social problem both in the United States and around the world. After discussing these cases in relation to contemporary theories of industrial and organizational disasters, Adeola delves into classifying of hazardous wastes, indicating the characteristics of each type of waste, and identifying what makes them especially dangerous to people and the environment. Other major topics addressed in the rest of the book include electronic waste (e-waste) as a new species of trouble in terms of the volume and toxicity of global e-waste generation and management, the environmental and health risks of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), case studies of contaminated communities within the United States and across the globe, the international flows of toxic waste, analysis of risk and environmental contamination by race and ethnicity in the United States, and the juxtaposition of the issues of environmental justice and human rights. With its many contributions to environmental sociology, Industrial Disasters, Toxic Waste, and Community Impact will be a valuable addition to the libraries of students, scholars, and practitioners interested in the intersection of toxic waste releases, human exposure to contaminants, and public health.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is the premier public resource on scientific and technological developments that impact global security. Founded by Manhattan Project Scientists, the Bulletin's iconic "Doomsday Clock" stimulates solutions for a safer world.
Presents seventeen articles that were originally published in "Scientific American" dating from 1998 to 2005.
In the post cold war era of nuclear proliferation and terrorism, when the threat of nuclear annihilation is closer than it has ever been, conspiracies abound. This is a tale of one of them. In an atmosphere permeated by sex and violence, lovers try to navigate dangerous rapids in their search for fulfillment. Unfortunately for them, the time is out of joint. So, watch the deceptions, watch the betrayals and wonder whether love can endure when tested by circumstance. The story opens with Stanley Pollard, a writer for a small magazine, coming to understand the peril posed by nuclear weapons in the modern world. Apparently by chance, he becomes involved in what he imagines is a conspiracy against America. Still a vital and virile man, he loves not only his chosen career but also his brilliant and sexy girlfriend, Catherine Buis. They travel and indulge their desires as lovers do. However, all is not as it should be. Stanley is hounded by menacing signs. Violent assassinations seem to follow him and he falls upon a code indicating that an attack is about to take place. Is it all real? What should he do? The plot takes us to New York, Paris, Mont Tremblant and a bunker in New Mexico, evolving toward the inevitable end fate has prepared.
Through the centuries, the Virgin Mary has appeared to ordinary people of every race and culture, bringing forth her messages of love, peace, and comfort. In these trying times, Mary's protection is needed more than ever. In The Secrets of Mary, Janice T. Connell chronicles messages Mary has brought from God, drawn from scripture, experts, and eyewitness accounts. Mary's voice provides a guiding light for modern times, as she explains how to solve problems that are surfacing throughout the world. Janice T. Connell's newest collection of stories includes: • Saint Augustine's discovery of Mary's power • Insight from the world-famous children of Medjugorje in Bosnia • A famous Washington, D.C. media anchor's touching encounter with the Blessed Mother • The author's own awe-inspiring experience with Mary in Japan • And much more. Filled with beauty, wonder, and joy, The Secrets of Mary provides comfort and inspiration to all those who desire Mary's gifts.
Why we should not accept “networked individualism” as the inevitable future of community. If social interaction by social media has become “the modern front porch” (as one sociologist argues), offering richer and more various contexts for community and personal connection, why do we often feel lonelier after checking Facebook? For one thing, as Taylor Dotson writes in Technically Together, “Try getting a Facebook status update to help move a couch or stay for dinner.” Dotson argues that the experts who assure us that “networked individualism” will only bring us closer together seem to be urging citizens to adapt their social expectations to the current limits of technology and discouraging them from considering how technologies could be refashioned to enable other ways of relating and belonging. Dotson characterizes different instantiations of community as “thick” or “thin,” depending on the facets and manifestations of togetherness that they encompass. Individuating social networks are a form of community, he explains, but relatively thin in regard to several dimensions of communality. Dotson points out that current technological practices are not foreordained but supported by policies, economic arrangements, and entrenched patterns of thought. He examines a range of systems, organizations, and infrastructures—from suburban sprawl and smartphones to energy grids and “cry-it-out” sleep training for infants—and considers whether they contribute to the atomization of social life or to togetherness and community vibrancy. Dotson argues that technology could support multifaceted communities if citizens stopped accepting the technological status quo and instead demanded more from their ever-present devices.