Dr. Button– Japan in Disaster Lecture

The basis of Dr. Buttons’ lecture last Thursday was primarily about the effects of natural disasters on a society, primarily in Japan. While our class has not ever discussed Japan, many of the ideas and themes Dr. Button spoke on were applicable to many themes discussed in our Living Dangerously seminar.  The wave of uncertainty in the wake of a natural disaster, described by Dr.Button, is adversely correlated to Frank Furedi’s idea that “risk has become a big business”. Because there are constant threats of natural disasters, and other catastrophic events, our society has constructed many avenues to “analyze risk” in an effort to avoid this “wave of uncertainty” and have answers to these situations. Another connection I made from Dr. Buttons speech to our classes curriculum was how the environment is usually a victim of corporate decisions. For instance, when describing the recent BP Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Dr. Button explained how although he and many others who were distinguished in disaster research were readily available to survey the scene, BP wouldn’t let anyone other than their selected researchers into the site. While this could’ve been simply a regulatory action BP must follow, this type of action eerily reminded me of how during the DDT crisis in America, a select group of scientist were chosen, and faulty information about the safeness of DDT was reported. Could this same type of corporate scientific cover-up be going on currently in the Gulf of Mexico?