O'Brien's book is filled with provocative ideas. The rationale is that we don't have enough money to solve all our problems, so we should spend our scarce dollars on the most important. It would be just as logical to rank which behaviors are causing the greatest environmental problems, or who is causing the greatest environmental problems, or which social arrangements allow or encourage people to cause environmental problems. O'Brien suggests that, in a democracy, all businesses and government agencies should be required to explore, on paper, and in understandable language, their options for causing the least possible environmental damage. The public deserves to know that those who pollute, extract, consume, emit, incinerate, or abandon are aware of their technological options for minimizing disturbance of the environment.
Alternatives assessment threatens the status quo.
Alternatives assessment can make social change seem both desirable and possible. In a thorough analysis of a full range of alternatives, risk assessment might play a role. It is risk assessment of only one or a few options that O'Brien wants to eliminate. U.S.C. Section 107 this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. We would like to continue to provide this service free.