Malevolent and Malignant Threats
October 31, 2012
Malevolent threats to national security are the product of human choice, such as terrorists choosing to attack our electricity grid or oil production facilities in the Middle East. Malignant threats are associated with the collapse of a complex system — the electric grid, a human body, the Earth’s climate — when it is unintentionally disturbed in some way. Sensible, economically beneficial energy policies have the potential to address both types of problems, enhancing national security and reducing America’s contribution to climate change.
This is a chapter from The ENERGY Reader: Overdevelopment and the Delusion of Endless Growth (2012).