“Virtually all of the discussions on the consequences of global change for human well-being focus on the material and physical aspects of such change – provision of food and water, security of infrastructure, impacts on the economy, and so on. Virtually no analyses consider the psychological impacts or consequences of global change on individual humans and on their societies. Many in the scientific community may consider these aspects to be irrational and inconsequential. Yet, in the final analysis, it will be the human perceptions of global change and the risks associated with it that will determine societal responses. At the heart of these perceptions is the fundamental place of humanity in the natural world.”