By Emma Scotty, April 25, 2018
The idea of “business as usual” began as a civil defense premise after World War II and the introduction of the atomic bomb. Today, business as usual means something very different: an official baseline for climate change predictions.
While these two uses of the phrase may seem unconnected, climate change has in many ways replaced nuclear fallout in the public mind as a real, yet unfathomable threat. Along the way, business as usual has morphed from a protective ideal into the very thing that is threatening Earth’s future.
A nuclear mindset. After the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II, the American public began to grapple with the threat of nuclear attack. This fear created the need to think about civil defense and how it would affect society. The prevailing mindset throughout most of the nuclear age was business as usual, which ensured that society continued to function at a high level despite seemingly impending danger.
The Cold War saw little defense mobilization; instead the US government invested in psychological operations and media to foster preparedness, or at least a sense of preparedness. The 1951 government video Survival Under Atomic Attack, for example, posits itself as a preparation for surviving the atomic bombing of an American city. It emphasizes that centers of production, offices, and homes should not be abandoned due to the possibility of nuclear attack, because they are essential elements to winning a war. The film encourages viewers to find shelter opportunities within their homes and suggests simple preparation techniques. If viewers followed the instructions, preparation for nuclear war would not interrupt the business as usual of the nation—the thriving production and consumerism of the postwar era.
This priority in fact compromised civilian safety. Truly meaningful preparation for a nuclear attack would have greatly disrupted life, since the effects of nuclear detonations are nearly inescapable.
The climate context. While business as usual during the Cold War was a way to keep America going in the face of nuclear war, today it is used as a way of speaking about the impacts of human activities on the planet’s future. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defines the “business-as-usual baseline case” as the projection that “assumes that future development trends follow those of the past and no changes in policies will take place.”
Continuing to emit greenhouse gases at the business-as-usual rate would result in a global average surface temperature rise of 4 degrees Celsius, according to the most recent IPCC assessment. Business as usual for the climate, like its civil defense counterpart, still prioritizes the economy over the future well-being of citizens. If humans continue with business as usual, the planet will experience irreversible damage. Both uses of the phrase refer to the preservation of the pattern of daily life in the face of large-scale danger, which reflects the similarity between the threat of nuclear warfare and the threat of climate change.
Self-destructive priorities. During the Cold War, nuclear conflict was perceived as a threat that could end the world as we knew it. Today, a similar mindset and fear exists about climate change. University of Chicago anthropology professor Joseph Masco, in an article titled “Bad Weather: On Planetary Crisis,” compares climate change to nuclear armament in terms of its ability to alter geopolitical power structures, which calls for “a new focus on national defense” for the United States. The potential outcome of both climate change and nuclear warfare is the destruction of human habitat and a possible reorganization of civil society.
The similarity between nuclear warfare and climate change as national fears is further evidenced by the treatment of scientists in both fields. Attempts by the George W. Bush administration to censor climate scientist James Hansen, for example, were similar to the silencing of nuclear scientists who attempted to speak about the disadvantage of using nuclear weapons.
Business as usual, then, has become a self-destructive practice of humanity, and especially Americans, and represents a refusal to change the status quo in order to prevent future disasters, even on a global scale. Because climate change functions like a modern-day nuclear fear, the business-as-usual ideal has the same purpose now as during the Cold War: It has always protected everyday life, and especially the economy—while not protecting, or even directly endangering, the civilians involved.
The Bulletin elevates expert voices above the noise. But as an independent, nonprofit media organization, our operations depend on the support of readers like you. Help us continue to deliver quality journalism that holds leaders accountable. Your support of our work at any level is important. In return, we promise our coverage will be understandable, influential, vigilant, solution-oriented, and fair-minded. Together we can make a difference.
View Comments
The article by Ms. Emma Scotty entitled, ""Business as usual": From Nuclear Defense to Climate Change" was a very insightful and enlightening expose of critical reason. I especially liked how the author weaved the "business as usual" terms of the cold war and the ever present threat of nuclear war, to the disastrous affects of climate change and how it can and will act as a catalyst for total nuclear annihilation. If we are to have any chance of survival here, we must work together to build a completely modern world. We will need the help of all of academia to achieve long term human survival in the face of total annihilation from a rapidly deteriorating climate situation. We must design, layout, and construct a massive public works project to store massive amounts of freshwater in reservoirs strategically located around the US. These massive reservoirs will be constructed to provide hydro electric power for the entirety of North America. They will be interconnected with pipelines, so massive amounts of freshwater may be distributed around North America and may be constructed and maintained with the further construction of bullet trains. Of course, a modern electrical grid will need to be designed and constructed to deliver this immense power to the masses. We may also use the electric trains to deliver topsoil and trees to the arid southwest, so that new forests may be planted and watered. And of course everyone can be billed according to their usage which will be to simply maintain and operate this immense modern system. We don't have any time to lose because according to Ms. Scotty: "Business as usual, then, has become a self-destructive practice of humanity," and if we are going to weather the upcoming storm we must unite to build a completely modern world.