Japan Quake: Why Do Humans Live in Dangerous Places? - Softcover

Saint, Simon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1907962344 ISBN 13: 9781907962349

Publisher: Revive Publications, 2011

Synopsis

The natural workings of the Earth often lead to immense human suffering. Is this suffering inevitable? In this book Simon Saint makes the case that it isn't. He considers two events which are typically thought of as 'natural disasters' - the 2008 Boxing Day Tsunami and the current events in Japan (March 2011) - and explains why these events, whilst having natural causes, are actually 'human-made' disasters. The acceptance that these disasters are the results of human actions is useful because it means that humans can act so as to prevent such disasters reoccurring in the future.

About this title

From the Publisher

The boundary between disasters that are 'natural' and those that are 'human-made' is sometimes a blurry one. In 'Japan Quake' the author makes the case for a radical change in the position of this boundary which means that the vast majority of disasters that affect the human species are 'human-made'. Firstly, Saint explains what a 'disaster' is and why human actions caused the Boxing Day Tsunami to be a disaster of such great magnitude; this is widely accepted to be the case. He then takes the position of an 'alien observer' who has been observing the Earth from the moment it was created. What would the alien observer make of the disaster caused by the Boxing Day Tsunami and the disaster caused by the Japan Quake of March 2011? Saint explains why the alien observer would consider these disasters to be wholly human-made disasters. Saint then outlines the range of natural dangers that humans face from the workings of the planet and the wider universe - these include asteroid strikes, lightning strikes and attack by non-human animals - he names this range of dangers the 'hierarchy of danger'. We cannot escape low-level dangers but we can avoid high-level dangers. Finally, Saint takes a historical approach to the emergence of the human species and its spreading out over the planet to explore why it is that humans expose themselves to high-level risks. Why do humans live in dangerous places? When we understand why this is so changes can be made so that 'human-made' disasters do not occur in the future.

Edition details

• Publisher: Revive Publications
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1907962344
• ISBN 13: 9781907962349
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 54