Robert Lilienfeld and William Rathje

Robert Lilienfeld is president of Cygnus Group, a consulting firm working for sustainable development, and editor of the ULS Report, a newsletter about conservation and waste reduction. William Rathje is a professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona and coauthor with Cullen Murphy of Rubbish! In the following viewpoint, Lilienfeld and Rathje argue that recycling does not solve the world’s most serious environmental problems. For example, they claim that recycling does not reduce global warming because it involves processes such as transportation and manufacture that emit greenhouse gases. The authors argue that environmental problems are caused by overconsumption and contend that recycling does nothing to prevent such behavior.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. According to the authors, what is risk analysis?
2. What is “Parkinson’s Law of Garbage...