The Boomerang Effect
Contained within the globalization and yet clearly differentiated from it is a distribution pattern of risks which contains a considerable amount of political explosive. Sooner or later the risks also catch up with those who produce or profit from them. Risks display a social boomerang effect in their diffusion: even the rich and powerful are not safe them. The formerly ‘latent side effects’ strike back even at the centers of their production. The agents of modernization themselves are emphatically caught in the maelstrom of hazards that they unleash and profit from. This can happen in a multitude of ways.
Take the example of agriculture once again. In Germany, the consumption of artificial fertilizer grew from 143 to 378 kilograms per hectare over the period 1951 to 1983, and the use of agricultural chemicals rose from 25,000 to 35,000 tonnes between 1975 and 1983. The yields per hectare also rose, but not nearly as fast as the expense for fertilizer and pesticides. Yields doubled for grain and were 20 percent higher for potatoes. A disproportionately small increase of yields in relation to the use of fertilizer and chemicals contrasts with a disproportionately large increase in the natural destruction that is visible and painful to the farmer.
An outstanding index of this alarming development is the strong decrease in many wild plant and animal species. The ‘red lists’ that serve as official ‘death certificates’ to record these threats to existence are growing longer and longer.