Is the death and destruction caused by natural disasters an inevitable and unpreventable byproduct of human life on this planet, or the result of a series of decisions and policies intended to protect one element of society at the detriment of another? Ted Steinberg’s Act of God: The Unnatural History of Natural Disaster in America attempts to answer this question by examining how the naturalization of such events effected both the prevention and the recovery efforts of local and federal leaders. Steinberg argues that the destruction from natural disasters contains a significant human element and that business and political leaders “have tended to view these events as purely natural in an effort to justify a set of responses that has proved…show more content… This is clearly a major factor in the book as time and again local leaders choose business interests and development over safety and prudence. Placed in this context, the population densities and planned development in places like Miami and San Francisco appear more like psychotic death wishes than random decisions. To this day, community planners of many areas continue to ignore the environmental risks associated with advancing their economic…show more content… In those decisions there will be winners and losers; a dam here, a wall there, stringent building codes in one city, an early weather warning system in another. Protecting a historic site or business district will likely continue to win support over downtrodden areas in a society that shows no sign of breaking its pattern of blissful apathy, a process Steinberg refers to as “the politics of forgetfulness.” (Steinberg, 201) However, it is important to remember that although natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes are not preventable, the level of destruction and our response in the wake of such events are largely within human
