My Comment
to Solutions Journal Article:
"The Perfect Spill: Solutions for Averting the Next Deepwater
Horizon."
by Robert Costanza, David Batker, John Day, Rusty Feagin, M. Luisa
Martinez, Joe Roman
online:
www.thesolutionsjournal.com/node/629
Preventing a Ton of Cure:
Disaster Preparedness.
Disasters, be they natural or human made, do occur--they have
been occurring all throughout human history, they occur nowadays;
they are nothing new to us. They do not surprise us.
Sadly though, whenever a disaster causing human and material
damages happens, we act very shocked and surprised, time after time
again. I say "act", because we should not, really, act surprised
each time a disaster causes life loss and damage, wherever this
might happen in the world, because we know of the possibility of
disasters happening just about at any place on Earth, and we can
envision what damages might occur at those places at such
times.
Common sense dictates that it would be much wiser to prevent and to
mitigate any possible effects of any disaster before it
happens! I am sure that the state of the art of our science is such
that we already are aware of the inadequacy of our disaster
preparedness--why don't we use our capabilities, our knowledge to
be ready (better than we are now) in case of disasters, and more
importantly--why don't we do everything humanly possible to
prevent the terrible damages and life loss that happen every so
often, before a disaster does happen?
All this that I write is very trite, but it is true--time
after time again. We know that disasters do happen; we know very
well what the aftermath of any potential disaster anywhere in the
world could be, and yet--anytime a disaster strikes, we play the
same game over and over again. We feel very sorry for the victims,
we feed the huge relief industry with our money, and we are ready
for the next round, without ever trying to address the problem at
where it might be stemming from well enough to make a
difference.
Wouldn't it be much more humane to become concerned before
disasters happen, and feel compassion for our neighbors
before something preventable happens and causes grief to
them?
Here is what I would like to suggest:
Let us have a look all over the globe, and let us try to imagine
what damages could happen should a disaster, natural or otherwise,
happen there.
Let us do get prepared for any relief that might be necessary in
the future for after any disaster might happen, but--let us also
start suggesting what the optimal conditions at each potential
disaster site would have to be to make damage and loss of life
minimal, should a disaster happen there.
May all these suggestions be made "visible" in models that would be
accessible to anyone on the Internet, or by using what-so-ever
media available, and may all this be open to critique and input by
anyone who might feel that they may have some ideas pertinent to
the subject to offer.
It would not be realistic to expect that all of these suggestions
of how the ideal situations in which as little damage and life loss
would happen in case of disasters would be immediately followed up
upon, but, all of these suggestions would be there to be
implemented when possible. The models would be there for anyone to
see where to put their efforts into before anything bad
happens, rather than be ever so concerned after a disaster
strikes.
The news that we hear on the radio on the TV, etc., after each
disaster strikes are the wrong kind of news. What the news
should be about every day, should be about how we are
preventing the next disaster from happening! About what the
potential dangers are where, and about what should be done so that
the next disaster, should it happen, would cause as little damage
as possible.
Thank you, Mr. Jan Hearthstone - ModelEarth.Org
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