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Scientists are constructing knowledge about global warming by adapting evidence-based disciplines to reflect the Precautionary Principle. It is equally important to communicate the complexities and uncertainties underpinning global warming because inappropriate vehicles for giving accounts could result in defensive decisions that perpetuate the business-as-usual mindset: the method of communication affects how the risk associated with global warming is socialised. Appropriately constructed accounts should facilitate reflective communicative action. Here Beck's theorisation of risk society, Luhmann's sociological theory of risk and Gandhi's vehicle of communicative action (or satyagraha) are used to construct a risk-based accountability mechanism, whilst providing insight into Schumacher's concept of total accountability. These accountability constructs will be illustrated through the lived experiences of South Australian citrus horticulturists in the context of a richly layered narrative of competing discourses about global warming. The reiterative process of theory informing practice is used to construct a couple of dialogical vehicles of accountability.

In 1992 and 1993, I published several articles on the “Total Force” armies of Canada and the US in an attempt to evaluate the worthiness of the concept (see Thompson, 1993). Ideally, a Total Force Army is one in which both regular and reserve units are supposed to be equals, well-integrated, harmonious, synergistic, functional, and interdependent. To achieve this, the two components must work together, train together, respect each other, and function seamlessly with identical equipment, training, and procedure. Since most reserve units in the US, Canada, and the UK, for example, train mostly on weekends, and typically have older equipment, this would necessarily involve the improvement and maintenance of reserve force training, retention, and equipment. It also really means that reserve forces will need time to reach these standards, but for some reason, some governments do not think about this basic fact. This is true not only for the US, but for the Canadian, UK, and other allied forces, as well.