The Mesopotamian cultures disappeared during the third millennium BC. To date
it is still unclear if the main reason was war, climate change, change of the
hydrological system, depletion of soils, salinization, or a combination of these
(Kuzucuoglu and Marro 2007; Diamond 2011).
The deadliest environmental disasters in history comprise, for example, volcanic
eruptions and tsunamis that eradicated the Minoan culture around 1500 BC, the
Antioch earthquake in 526 AD and the Aleppo earthquake in 1138 AD, but also
homemade disasters such as the heavily polluted air in London many decades and a
few centuries ago or the Bhopal disaster in 1984 (Fortun 2009). Tens of thousands or
even more than a hundred thousand people died because of the Lisbon earthquake in
1755 and flood catastrophes at the German North Sea coast in 1219, and 1362, for
example. During the great Chinese famine in the years (1958) 1959–61 (1962) up to
43 million people or more died. Today, this extreme disaster in history is interpreted
as a combination of political decisions and unfortunate weather conditions (Becker
1998; Demeny and McNicoll 2003).
In different parts of the world, and not long ago, sacrificial rituals were part of
different cultures to achieve harmonization with gods and to ensure survival and
profit from the nature. This might have been normal during the past, including
elimination of triebes (genocide), and can be called a long lasting disaster today.
Reports and legends about the reflection of nature and awareness of environmental disasters are going back to the ancient world (see Heidegger 1998). Recently, the
number of disaster narratives carried by the media are on the rise worldwide.
Therefore, it is not easy to detect whether the number of environmental disasters
over time is also on the rise. Furthermore, the feeling of ‘what a disaster is’ has
changed continuously along with technological developments and the changing
compositions of human activities.
Which environmental problems will increase in the future? This question is a
universal one, which was important everywhere in the past too. However, the flow
and amount of information is increasing immensely over time (e.g. Gleick 2012).
Environmental events like a wildfire in the landscape can only appear if certain
environmental conditions are realized—drought, flammable material, and so
on. However, the effect size does not only depend on environmental conditions
such as the amount of litter and wind speed combined with drought but also on the
way how humans observe, perceive, evaluate, organize the risk prevention and
manage the environmental disaster including effects afterwards (Fig. 1).
The fire itself might be the result of lightning (nature) or of a pyromaniac (crime).
In certain landscapes it is a normal and natural event caused by lightning and enables
a rich biodiversity to live there, e.g. in the Cerrado in Brazil or in Mediterranean
climate regions of S Africa, Europe, SW Australia or SW North America. Without
frequent fires in these regions the biodiversity would dramatically decline.
Supression of natural fire regimes can result in fires that get out of controle. This
is the concordant message of ecological science today. However, this finding is a
relative modern one.
In these and other landscapes a wildfire may destroy houses or kill people.
Furthermore, in many landscapes, e.g. in the Mediterranean or in California the
Nature-Culture Dichotomy and Environmental Consciousness: Do We Fear the Right. . .
21
it is still unclear if the main reason was war, climate change, change of the
hydrological system, depletion of soils, salinization, or a combination of these
(Kuzucuoglu and Marro 2007; Diamond 2011).
The deadliest environmental disasters in history comprise, for example, volcanic
eruptions and tsunamis that eradicated the Minoan culture around 1500 BC, the
Antioch earthquake in 526 AD and the Aleppo earthquake in 1138 AD, but also
homemade disasters such as the heavily polluted air in London many decades and a
few centuries ago or the Bhopal disaster in 1984 (Fortun 2009). Tens of thousands or
even more than a hundred thousand people died because of the Lisbon earthquake in
1755 and flood catastrophes at the German North Sea coast in 1219, and 1362, for
example. During the great Chinese famine in the years (1958) 1959–61 (1962) up to
43 million people or more died. Today, this extreme disaster in history is interpreted
as a combination of political decisions and unfortunate weather conditions (Becker
1998; Demeny and McNicoll 2003).
In different parts of the world, and not long ago, sacrificial rituals were part of
different cultures to achieve harmonization with gods and to ensure survival and
profit from the nature. This might have been normal during the past, including
elimination of triebes (genocide), and can be called a long lasting disaster today.
Reports and legends about the reflection of nature and awareness of environmental disasters are going back to the ancient world (see Heidegger 1998). Recently, the
number of disaster narratives carried by the media are on the rise worldwide.
Therefore, it is not easy to detect whether the number of environmental disasters
over time is also on the rise. Furthermore, the feeling of ‘what a disaster is’ has
changed continuously along with technological developments and the changing
compositions of human activities.
Which environmental problems will increase in the future? This question is a
universal one, which was important everywhere in the past too. However, the flow
and amount of information is increasing immensely over time (e.g. Gleick 2012).
Environmental events like a wildfire in the landscape can only appear if certain
environmental conditions are realized—drought, flammable material, and so
on. However, the effect size does not only depend on environmental conditions
such as the amount of litter and wind speed combined with drought but also on the
way how humans observe, perceive, evaluate, organize the risk prevention and
manage the environmental disaster including effects afterwards (Fig. 1).
The fire itself might be the result of lightning (nature) or of a pyromaniac (crime).
In certain landscapes it is a normal and natural event caused by lightning and enables
a rich biodiversity to live there, e.g. in the Cerrado in Brazil or in Mediterranean
climate regions of S Africa, Europe, SW Australia or SW North America. Without
frequent fires in these regions the biodiversity would dramatically decline.
Supression of natural fire regimes can result in fires that get out of controle. This
is the concordant message of ecological science today. However, this finding is a
relative modern one.
In these and other landscapes a wildfire may destroy houses or kill people.
Furthermore, in many landscapes, e.g. in the Mediterranean or in California the
Nature-Culture Dichotomy and Environmental Consciousness: Do We Fear the Right. . .
21