Аннотация: The social scenario of a major environmental incident. (From the series "Social tricks of our time").
The social scenario of a major environmental incident. (From the series "Social tricks of our time").
1.The fact of the incident, itself, is not a reason for a noticeable reaction to it. There is always a hope that the situation will normalize itself.
2. Large-scale public concern arises after messages on social networks and, especially, after a posting of photos.
Sometimes the initial source is a research, analytical institution (including those engaged in space monitoring and analysis of satellite images).
3. Non-governmental environmental organizations try to intervene in the situation. But they are aside due to the lack of sufficient rights, funding and special equipment.
International investigations cannot be put on the agenda, even when the problem of possible contamination of the Arctic, Pacific Oceans or the Black Sea arises.
4. An option that has shown its ambiguous effectiveness: the introduction of an emergency mode of a significant level and consideration of the situation at the highest managerial level. The total damage (to reputation) may exceed the reputational gain, especially in the case of a relatively frequent repetition of major environmental incidents.
An admiration for the speed and determination of the response is neutralized because of a bewilderment at the frequency of incidents.
5. The connection of control organizations with special equipment to the situation tends to have a calming public effect. Specialists cannot miss important details.
6. The composition of the persons conducting the investigation and the investigation program are not open information, are not discussed. Information (except for the most general) about the progress of the investigation is not made available to the public on a daily basis.
If the same question is solved with approximately equal efficiency in ten minutes (by multiplying X by Y) and in three weeks (by wide examinations, multiple analyzes, etc.), preference is given to the longest option in the interests of objectivity.
7. The longer the investigation is carried out, the more public attention moves to other topics, and the more difficult it is to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice.
8. Unknown entities, foreign - that have left the sovereignty - (or have sunk long ago) ships, natural factors (confluence of circumstances, climate change, etc.) often turn out to be the causes of the incident.
9. Determining the amount of environmental damage, the guilty subject and the degree of his guilt, as well as receiving money from him for performing environmental work are very difficult tasks. The burden of work and financing to neutralize environmental damage falls on state structures.
In some cases, the causes of an environmental incident are hidden in economic projects approved at the highest level, which were dragged through and pushed through, bypassing environmental expertise and broad public discussion.
10. For the right social atmosphere, for balancing the previously expressed ("in a fever") the highest concern, a meeting may by useful - the meeting at the highest level with the leadership of the organization responsible (or presumably guilty) for the incident. A calm and businesslike discussion of promising economic projects is published for everyone.
11. Summary reports on environmental incidents are either not compiled or are not made available to the public. They are replaced by the sum (heap) of scattered and diverse publications on the Internet, in social networks, in the media. Individuals of the middle and lower levels are punished (sometimes).
12. Getting information about an incident, especially if it is about hard-to-reach and remote territories, is a difficult and not an easy task. Gradually, the public has less and less disturbing information at its disposal, anxiety decreases, the public calms down.
August 12, 2021 02: 52
Translation from Russian into English: August 12, 2021 04:37.
Владимир Владимирович Залесский "Социальный сценарий крупного экологического инцидента. (Из серии "Социальные трюки нашего времени")".