Why are we so bad at dealing with risk?

1. This
section paper covers all course themes and materials for the course section: “Big
Question 1: Why are we so bad at dealing with risk?”

2. Please
react to the prompt below by writing an essay of approximately 8-10
pages Please cite any sources properly. (I don’t have a citation style
preference. Just pick one and be consistent.)

Please
read the following two articles:

Schulz
(2015) “The Really Big One” The New Yorker 20 July.

Schulz
(2019) “Oregon’s Tsunami Risk: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” The
New Yorker 1 July.

In 2015, Kathryn Schulz details the seismic
threat facing the coastal Northwest. For years later, she revisits the issue,
and the update doesn’t exactly paint a positive picture. Why are we so bad at
this? What explains the lack of mitigation relative to the size of the risk? Do
the politics render this situation (and others like it) hopeless?

In your analysis, feel free to take
issue with the prompt in its entirety or with specific segments. Remember to think
through the relevant course readings as you develop your essay. While you’re
under no obligation to bring in outside readings, each of the assigned
articles/chapters has a good bibliography that will point you in the direction
of other readings you could consider, particularly if you find the assigned
readings too limiting for the argument you want to make. And don’t feel like
you must reference or address every single reading from this section. Focus on
the ones that are relevant for your argument.

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