Risk

Many people will mix up a hazard with risk. A hazard is “any source of potential damage, harm or adverse health effects on something or someone under certain conditions at work.” Whereas a risk is the “chance or probability that a person will be harmed or experience an adverse health effect if exposed to a hazard.”

Although there is a definition for risk, there is a difference between how much risk we think we are exposed to and how much risk we are actually in. This is called the risk perception gap. This also expresses that in risk situations our body takes over with the “flight or fight response.” The Amygdala, part of the brain, is in charge of this response in the body. The flight or fight response is the activation of two systems: the sympathetic nervous system and the adrenal-cortical system.

Heuristic like the flight or fight response is a judgment taken very quickly.  They are different because heuristic is “a mental shortcut that allows people to solve problems and make judgments quickly and efficiently.” It is a form of strategies to shorten decision making time and allow people to make these decisions without having to stop for long periods of time to think about their next action. Although this system sounds amazing, it can also lead to errors because it makes it difficult to see new ideas or alternative solutions.

We use these strategies numerous times in our everyday lives, examples of these are: whether or not to trust someone or how to respond to someone if they start to yell at you. Another example would be, you are driving down the road and you look in the road ahead and there is a bunch of glass in your lane. Without a second thought you quickly put your turn signal on and change lanes as to avoid the glass up ahead. Your intuition would tell you that staying in your lane and driving on the glass could be potentially dangerous, so you decided to change lanes and avoid the danger. During this moment you do not stop to assess the situation or calculate the probability of the glass popping your tires. You use a heuristic move to make the decision quickly.

There are three types of heuristics: availability, representativeness, and base-rate heuristic. The availability heuristic “is a mental shortcut that helps us make a decision based on how easy it is to bring something to mind.” Representativeness heuristic “is a mental shortcut that helps us make a decision by comparing information to our mental prototypes.” Finally, base-rate heuristic is “a mental shortcut that helps us make a decision based on probability.”

Risk perception for the body of population shows some general trends. Such as, perceiving a higher threat of risk towards human made risks versus natural risks. An example of this would be some industrialized chemicals, against a snowstorm even though the effects of the storm could cause more risk to human health because of exposure.  Another common trend is that people have a diluted risk perception when it comes to imposed risks versus voluntary risks. When a risk is imposed it makes the person feel trapped which escalates the perception of the risk.

http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/hsprograms/hazard_risk.html

http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/emotions/fear2.htm

http://psychology.about.com/od/hindex/g/heuristic.htm

Love Canal

Love Canal was an environmental tragedy that occurred on the eastern edge of Niagara Falls, New York. The Love Canal was created by William T. Love. Love began by digging a short canal between the upper and lower Niagara Rivers, as to produce power for a low price to fuel industry and homes. This process came to a halt in 1910, the only thing Love accomplished was a partial ditch where construction of the canal had begun.

                There the ditch sat for 10 years until in the 1920s the canal was turned into a municipal and industrial chemical dumpsite. Although landfills can be an appropriate method of hazardous waste disposal, the Love Canal is a perfect example of how not to run a landfill.

                In 1953, the Hooker Chemical Company covered the canal with soil and then proceeded to sell it to the city for one dollar. The city decided to build about 100 homes and a school on top of the site. It became a working-class community neighborhood.

                An article was written in 1978 by the EPA Journal about how “even though some of these landfills have been closed down, they may stand like ticking time bombs.” Months after this article was written the Love Canal exploded. The explosion was triggered by a record amount of rainfall where the leaching started. Just 25 years after the Hooker Chemical Company stopped using the Love Canal here as an industrial dump, 82 different compounds, 11 of them suspected carcinogens, have been percolating upward through the soil, their drum containers rotting and leaching their contents into the backyards and basements of 100 homes and a public school built on the banks of the canal.

                Trees and gardens were turning black and dying, one entire swimming pool had been popped up from its foundation, afloat now on a small sea of chemicals. There were puddles of noxious substances in various places, such as home owners basements, yards, and school grounds. Even the air had become infected having a faint, choking smell. Children returned from playing outside with burns on their hands and faces. This small 3 block town had five cases of birth defects which is a very high number for such a small physical area. The people of Love Canal are also being closely observed because of detected high white-blood-cell counts, a possible precursor of leukemia.

                Citizens of Love Canal were evacuated from their homes and their neighborhood, and among the first to be evacuated were pregnant women and children. The citizens were aware that their homes were built above the canal filled with chemicals but they had no idea that the chemicals would invade our homes. This caused them to worry about the future of their people, two of this woman’s four grandchildren have birth defects. Such defects are, deaf, cleft palate, an extra row of teeth, slight retardation, and an eye defect. Of the many chemicals in the soil below, one of the most prevalent is benzene- a known human carcinogen, and one detected in high concentrations.

                The New York Governor Hugh Carey announced to the residents that the state government would purchase the homes affected by chemicals. President Carter approved emergency financial aid for the Love Canal area. A plan is being set in motion now to implement technical procedures designed to meet the seemingly impossible job of detoxifying the Canal area. The plan calls for a trench system to drain chemicals from the Canal. It is a difficult procedure, and we are keeping our fingers crossed that it will yield some degree of success.

http://www2.epa.gov/aboutepa/love-canal-tragedy

http://www.damninteresting.com/the-tragedy-of-the-love-canal/

https://www.opendemocracy.net/alice-mah/lessons-from-love-canal-toxic-expertise-and-environmental-justice