Living in the Anthropocene: towards a risk-taking society

Abstract

Social debates about nature are changing. Understandings of nature as largely independent of human activity and available for exploitation have given way to concerns about its protection, and have further shifted towards strategies focused on actively managing and producing nature. This article aims to make sense of this shift using a risk framework. Originating from the modern notion of risk that amalgamates risk minimisation and risk-taking, it suggests that environmental decision-making is shifting from an emphasis on the prevention and minimisation of risk towards a focus on risk management and risk-taking. The article revisits debates about the Anthropocene as well as trends in environm..