Planning The Unthinkable: Three Factors Raise Stakes

In the aftermath of 9-11 and Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. has to face the realities of today. But three factors prevent us from planning for the unthinkable.

1 minute read

September 12, 2005, 8:00 AM PDT

By Abhijeet Chavan @http://twitter.com/legalaidtech

"...both the magnitude of the damage caused by the catastrophe and the extent to which it came as a surprise are entirely predictable. The real failure is that we still have not learned first to think the unthinkable and then believe it...

The nation's infrastructure has reached the breaking point...Historically, Americans are much better at creating infrastructure than maintaining it...

Nature is extraordinarily powerful and volatile, and despite our technological advances, is still largely unpredictable...We also know that natural disasters will most likely grow worse because of humans' impact on the Earth's environment and climate...

We know that the dangers are increasing, simply because of where the world's growing population is settling, but still we fail to believe the unthinkable about the consequences of our choices."

FULL STORY: U.S. must learn to think the unthinkable

Sunday, September 11, 2005 in The San Francisco Chronicle

Environment Infrastructure Social / Demographics United States

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