ABSTRACT
Risk is the likelihood that something bad will happen. In contemporary society, environmental risks are acts of people, not acts of nature or deities. Risk is socially constructed which explains why some risks are tolerable and others not, and why some risks become overly politicized even in the face of countervailing scientific facts. Risk management is a social process that determines which risks are to be mitigated and how. Public concern about risks and our collective ability to manage existing let alone new and emergent ones has produced a loss of trust and confidence in many risk management institutions.
