Social Battles on Environmental Risks

Abstract

Like quantitative risk assessment a few years ago, risk communication now has become a favorite new tool for environmental management. The three methodologies—risk assessment, risk communication, and risk management—are often yoked together—or even confused with one another. This is not only because former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator William Ruckelshaus sponsored all three with his usual flair. In addition, risk communication is seen as the critical link between risk assessment and risk management—until 1986 or so, in fact, it was seen as the missing link, rescued in the nick of time from the backwaters of cognitive psychology and assigned the formidable task of engineering public consent. According to this analysis, risk assessment tells decision-makers how dangerous each hazard actually is, and thus guides their decisions about what ought to be done. But more often than not, unfortunately, the public prefers decision-makers to do something else entirely, and expresses its preference vi...