Dread of future environmental risk itself causes physical and economic harm

Evidence

The sense of dread that pervades the affected population may cause considerable immediate harm, wholly apart from whether the risk is itself ever realized in the future. The harm may be both physical and mental. Severe anxiety can destroy mental stability and peace of mind, but it can also lead to a series of debilitating physical ailments, including gastrointestinal problems, high blood pressure, and increased susceptibility to infectious diseases. … Substantial economic harm may also result. Economic opportunities, including employment, may be forgone or precluded by looming fears. Property values are also highly vulnerable to public fear of future environmental harm. Such perceived environmental threats, whether or not realized or even whether or not reasonable, can destroy property values. — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 309

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the concept of stigmatic/informational harm in environmental-contamination litigation (e.g. property-value loss from Superfund sites) and to risk-perception scholarship. — connects to: Delayed environmental harms create regulatory cost-asymmetry and uncertainty — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 306; Environmental despair proves human interests are essentially connected to nature’s flourishing. — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 573; Pollution control costs can be reframed as immediate health harms clashing with future benefits — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 143 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Knowledge of environmental harm breeds despair, not action #complicates (0.75) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 1202