Hardly a day goes by without news of the latest natural disaster. Tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, droughts, wind storms, hail storms, thunder storms and earthquakes abound.
Nature seems to be rebelling against the incursion of human settlement.
Or, perhaps, the land extensive type of human settlement that has occurred in this century has put people and what we construct in harm's way. There is a great deal of risk associated with where and what we build. If the average temperature of the earth warms by only a few degrees over the next few decades, we are told to expect increasingly destructive storms striking our coastal cities. Even worse is the possibility that low-lying cities will be subject to regular flooding. Taxpayers are resisting the annual expenditure of money to pump sand back onto beaches that are virtually assured of being eroded by the next severe storm.