As the physical impacts of the Anthropocene begin to make themselves felt around the globe, maintaining current levels of economic prosperity, in many communities, will consume an increasing portion of public finances. This is because existing investments in property and capital will require new forms of protection if they are to continue generating stable streams of public revenue. Since Anthropocene impacts are unevenly distributed, some territories will be under more pressure than others to shift limited public spending to cope with growing levels of exposure. The sinking of Louisiana’s coastal wetlands provides a clear example of this trend of accelerating local vulnerability due to human-induced environmental change. With the bulk of state revenue tied to activities concentrated along Louisiana’s coasts, the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority has launched an ambitious plan of government-backed expenditures that seek to defend the economic viability of these zones. Yet, many actions aimed at preventing immediate loss also work to secure incumbent extractive industries, such as offshore oil and gas drilling, which themselves contribute to the very vulnerabilities requiring state intervention in the first place. This paper, borrowing from the environmental sociology of Allan Schnaiberg, considers the social consequences of this dynamic, dubbed the “treadmill of protection.”

随着人类世的物理影响开始在全球范围内显现出来，在许多社区保持当前的经济繁荣水平将消耗越来越多的公共财政。这是因为现有的财产和资本投资如果要继续产生稳定的公共收入流，就需要新的保护形式。由于人类世的影响分布不均，一些地区将比其他地区承受更大的压力，需要转移有限的公共支出以应对日益增长的暴露水平。路易斯安那州沿海湿地的沉没提供了这种由于人为引起的环境变化而加速当地脆弱性的趋势的明显例子。由于大部分州收入与路易斯安那州沿海地区的活动有关，该州的海岸保护和恢复局启动了一项由政府支持的雄心勃勃的支出计划，旨在保护这些地区的经济可行性。然而，许多旨在防止直接损失的行动也有助于保护现有的采掘业，例如海上石油和天然气钻探，它们本身就导致了需要国家干预的脆弱性。这篇论文借鉴了艾伦施奈伯格的环境社会学，考虑了这种动态的社会后果，被称为“保护跑步机”。例如海上石油和天然气钻探，这本身就导致了需要国家干预的脆弱性。这篇论文借鉴了艾伦施奈伯格的环境社会学，考虑了这种动态的社会后果，被称为“保护跑步机”。例如海上石油和天然气钻探，这本身就导致了需要国家干预的脆弱性。这篇论文借鉴了艾伦施奈伯格的环境社会学，考虑了这种动态的社会后果，被称为“保护跑步机”。