Nuclear-weapons dread turned the planet’s finite life span into urgent policy concern
Evidence
By the 1960s, however, increased public awareness of the potentially catastrophic environmental consequences of certain new technologies and industrial processes had rendered the finiteness of life on Earth a matter of ongoing concern. Nuclear weapons made the catastrophic destruction of human life a real, substantial threat. — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 296
Categorization
- XREF: Builds on the earlier chapter’s claim that by the 1990s humans had transformed two-fifths of the land surface and the Doomsday Clock thread connects to soundscape/environmental-regulation framing in the polyad courses. — connects to: Fear of humanity’s own extinction drove the Endangered Species Act’s stringency — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 314; Signed January 1 1970, NEPA created the Council on Environmental Quality — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 324; Proliferating nuclear weapons increase the risk of accidental world-ending war — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 610 (+2 more)
Broader Connections
- Proliferating nuclear weapons increase the risk of accidental world-ending war
#expands(0.85) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 610 - Dread of future environmental risk itself causes physical and economic harm
#expands(0.80) — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 309 - Earth’s life-support systems are degrading past carrying capacity
#complicates(0.75)