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By the Numbers: Ranking the Problem

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The World's Worst Problems

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Abstract

A general equation is introduced to allow comparison of environmental problems. The equation takes into account current and future potential for human deaths as well as current and future suffering. It deliberates over the unknowns in predicting the number of deaths and amount of suffering for major causes and how to compare death to suffering for each of the major potential causes. Then all the causes are compared to each other.

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Change history

  • 05 March 2020

    The original version of this chapter was inadvertently published with incorrect version of Figure 8.2. The correct figure has been updated in the chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA

    Walter Dodds

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  1. Walter Dodds
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Dodds, W. (2019). By the Numbers: Ranking the Problem. In: The World's Worst Problems . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30410-2_8

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