Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Beck's theory has profound consequences for the practice of science, its public
understanding, and its political use and application. Scientific research often fails to
allay fears, because certainty is so elusive. Acceptable risks become accepted risks,
and new knowledge can turn normality into hazards overnight, as we have seen
with nuclear power, holes in the ozone layer, GM contamination and, most recently,
fracking. The search for secure energy supplies and extensive profits has led to a
new growth industry - the hydraulic fracturing of underground rocks with a mixture
of chemicals, sand and water to extract the shale gas locked within them. Although
the burning of this gas will produce fewer carbon emissions than either oil or coal,
there have been vigorous public protests in the United States, Canada and Europe
against the fracking industry. The extractive process can lead to groundwater
pollution, earth tremours, risks to health from carcinogenic chemicals, the release
of radioactivity and the formation of ozone 'smogs'. The documentary films
Gasland
and
Drill Baby Drill
graphically convey both the drive for corporate profit and the
very serious human and environmental risks entailed. Additionally, the production
and burning of shale gas contributes nothing to the necessary transition away
from the use of fossil fuels and may actually make climate change worse as the most
powerful global warming pollutant, methane, is released during several stages of the
fracking process (Ridlington and Rumpler, 2013; Hughes, 2013). The incredible
commercial gains that are likely to accrue from the development and exploitation
of synthetic biology - that is, the artificial construction of entirely new organisms
from 'biobricks' (individual DNA elements) - are matched only by the potential risk.
New, artificially produced bacteria may be able to break down cellulose to produce
ethanol or sequestrate carbon dioxide, thereby ameliorating global warming, as the
J. Craig Ventor Institute in the US has suggested (
www.jcvi.org/research)
; but what
else could they conceivably do? Bacteria are notoriously difficult to destroy, and
promises of salvation could become devastating threats to many life-forms (Bunting,
2007). Science and engineering have always operated on the basis of probable safety,
but when society itself becomes a scientific laboratory, testing out new technologies
or theories, this type of cutting-edge activity becomes politically and ethically question-
able. Given that scientific knowledge can always only be partial, always 'work in
progress', complex risks need to be carefully assessed and evaluated. Political decisions
will ultimately have to be made.
Unlike Lomborg, Beck believes further industrialization and wealth creation will
increase global disparities in wealth and welfare, and increase human misery and
ecological risk. It often seems contrary to the business logic of the financial bottom
line to ignore commercial opportunities even if they may cause ecological problems:
If it is suddenly revealed and publicized in the mass media that certain products
contain certain 'toxins' (information policy is receiving a key importance
considering the fact that hazards are generally imperceptible in everyday life),
then entire markets may collapse and invested capital and effort are instantly
devalued.
(Beck, 1992b: 111-12)
Risks are therefore not simply diagnosed, predicted and ameliorated on the basis of
'sound science'; there are other factors at work. Science becomes one element of the
public discourse that socially constructs the meaning and acceptability of risk -
whether meat is safe to eat, the sun safe to be exposed to, nuclear power safe to
