Clear and Present Dangers Not So Clear, or Present

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.climatecentral.org/blogs/the-major-character-flaw-of-society-will-be-our-climate-demise/

[font face=Times,Times New Roman,Serif][font size=5]Clear and Present Dangers Not So Clear, or Present[/font]

Published: February 3rd, 2012
COMMENTARY
By Andrew Freedman

[font size=3]Let’s face it, human beings are not very good at dealing with distant, relatively uncertain threats. Whether we’re talking about environmental risks, such as climate change, or systemic economic peril, such as the collapse of mortgage-backed securities that led to the 2008 financial crisis, our brains are hard-wired to focus on dangers that are front and center rather than the hard-to-see hazards that may lurk down the road.

But it turns out that even with a near-term, existential threat — such as a massive tornado barreling toward us — people still respond in complicated, often unpredictable ways that run counter to common sense.

That is what researchers have learned from the unusually deadly 2011 tornado season, in which 551 people lost their lives, mainly in southern states such as Alabama and Missouri. The findings have unsettling implications for how well we’re likely to deal with the more diffuse risk of global warming.

One post-mortem analysis, in particular, contains fascinating insights into how the residents of Joplin, Mo., which was devastated by an EF-5 tornado on May 22, responded to warnings of the approaching twister. Although this was a single tornado with, at best, tangential connections to global warming, it contains important lessons that are relevant to climate change communications and policy making.

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[Viking12]

1. Fairly good read and timely, too.

I'm doing a unit on Risk Analysis for one of my classes in a few weeks. I will add this to the suggested reading.