Unnatural Disasters offers a new perspective on our most pressing environmental and social
challenges revealing the gaps between abstract concepts like sustainability resilience and
innovation and the real-world experiences of the people living at risk. Gonzalo Lizarralde
explains how the causes of disasters are not natural but all too human: inequality segregation
marginalization colonialism neoliberalism racism and unrestrained capitalism. He tells the
stories of Latin American migrants Haitian earthquake survivors Canadian climate activists
African slum dwellers and other people resisting social and environmental injustices around
the world. Lizarralde shows that most reconstruction and risk-reduction efforts exacerbate
social inequalities. Some responses do produce meaningful changes but they are rarely the ones
powerful leaders have in mind.
