Updates from the Union of Concerned Scientists
Can the US Survive California’s Drought?
Smaller water supplies combined with increasingly unpredictable weather patterns and other effects of climate change pose an enormous threat by creating a feedback loop that exacerbates drought conditions and increases wildfire risk across the United States.
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We’re in a Climate Crisis. Congress Must Go Big on Climate Action Now.
The climate crisis is here and Congress needs to act now by cleaning up the power sector, electrifying the transportation sector, preparing and protecting communities dealing with climate change, and building a resilient and equitable food and farm system.
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Environmental Defense Fund: Blog: Hurricane season is here. We need a national plan to protect our coastal communities.
The Biden Administration can take bold climate action by developing and implementing a national coastal resilience plan to establish shared goals and guide investments for solutions that protect our nation’s coastal regions. Here are four ways a national coastal resilience plan can protect coastal communities.
New Website Announcement: Homeland Security and Emergency Management Textbook Companion Website
This new website, which is affiliated with Shoreline Risk and author Damon Coppola, is focused on academic texts and special topics in homeland security and emergency management.
Damon Coppola is an accomplished emergency management systems engineer who has bridged the gap between practice and academia through his ever-expanding catalog of emergency management textbooks.
Natural Hazards Center: CONVERGE Training Modules Now Offer Continuing Education Credits
The CONVERGE facility, which is headquartered at the Natural Hazards Center, has partnered with the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) to establish continuing education credits for the CONVERGE Training Modules.
The CONVERGE Training Modules are free and available online. They are designed to accelerate the education of hazards and disaster researchers and practitioners. The modules cover a wide range of topics including social vulnerability, disaster mental health, cultural competence, Institutional Review Board procedures, emotionally challenging research, gender-based violence in fieldwork, and broader ethical considerations.
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Peer-Reviewed Article: Disasters, community vulnerability, and poverty: The intersection between economics and emergency management
Working with the Georgetown EDM Department, Erik Wood's latest peer-reviewed article addresses if climate change will create more intense and frequent disasters, and if the vulnerability research that follows major disasters, like Hurricane Katrina, has resulted in increased resiliency of those who were the most vulnerable during that disaster.
Peer-Reviewed Article: The practical use of social vulnerability indicators in disaster management
Working with the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (IJDRR), Erik Wood's peer-reviewed article addresses how as climate change focuses more frequent and intense disasters on vulnerable communities across the globe, mitigation and response resources need to be allocated more efficiently and equitably.
RISE Challenge Youth Finalists Build Resilient Communities
Young people created positive change in their communities around natural hazards in Colorado, Montana, and Illinois through this year's RISE Challenge. The top projects won prize money and supplies to implement their change! Thanks to Earth Force, FEMA, Resilience Action Partners, and the ASFPM Foundation for supporting this year's Challenge.
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Updates for ARISE-US
Pilot Town and City Users Sought Free Critical Asset Management Tool
ARISE-US, the U.S. chapter of ARISE, the UN DRR's forum for public-private collaboration in disaster risk reduction, is developing a free tool to enable towns and cities to inventory their critical assets and identify the links between them, so that the risk of cascading failures can be identified and managed in advance. We need towns and cities to pilot test the GIS-based software, which we are currently developing. If you would like your town or city to participate in this project, please contact rpwilliams1958@gmail.com.
Insurance Industry/State and Local Government Symposium on Wildfire Risk
ARISE-US, the U.S. chapter of ARISE, the UN DRR's forum for public-private collaboration in disaster risk reduction, is planning to create a web-based symposium to run this fall on better ways to identify, quantify and manage wildfire risk. We are aiming for high quality participation from the insurance, government and risk management sectors. If you would like to be an organizer or a speaker for this event, please contact rpwilliams1958@gmal.com.
Cities Must Plan for Heat Resilience Now
Summer has started in the Northern Hemisphere, but cities everywhere have already been impacted by unprecedented extreme heat and must plan for heat resilience now.
Authors Ladd Keith, University of Arizona, and Sara Meerow, Arizona State University, both work on urban planning and climate change issues.
The American Institute of Architects: Architect’s Guide to Business Continuity
Floods. Cyber-attacks. The unexpected loss of a team member. This new guide from the AIA provides free guidance to design professionals and other service providers; helping firms become more resilient with a step-by-step process and accompanying worksheets for assessing and reducing risks associated with disruption.
The American Institute of Architects: Adapting to Climate Change: Small Cities, Big Challenges
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The American Institute of Architect’s Center for Communities by Design recently hosted a webinar, which we have posted online to watch on demand.
Northampton, Massachusetts, and Dubuque, Iowa, have frequently outperformed larger jurisdictions in issues of climate adaptation and equitable communities; in this webinar, they shared their insights for building the civic infrastructure and implementing strategies that communities need to succeed.
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Earthquake Brace + Bolt: FEMA Grants $24 million for EBB Residential Seismic Retrofits
Earthquake Brace + Bolt (EBB) provides eligible California homeowners up to $3,000 toward a residential seismic retrofit to lessen the potential for earthquake damage. With FEMA’s help, EBB is creating more resilient communities, one house at a time.
ERA Endorses Biden Increase of BRIC Funding Administration Action That Doubles Mitigation Support to $1 Billion
In a letter to the White House, the EPDM Roofing Association (ERA) is indicating strong support for the Administration’s plan to immediately increase funding for FEMA mitigation initiatives. The proposed funding, to be distributed to state and local governments through the pre-disaster assistance Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, will double from $500 million to $1 billion.
National Wildlife Federation: Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change: An Assessment for the Texas Mid-Coast
The Texas Mid-Coast is an ecological treasure with its prized and productive wetlands, bays, and estuaries. This report provides a first-ever detailed analysis of what the latest climate projections mean for this region and how we can build its resilience moving forward.
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AGU: US-WIDE, NON-WHITE NEIGHBORHOODS ARE HOTTER THAN WHITE ONES
The new study published in Earth’s Future, AGU’s journal, finds that neighborhoods across the U.S. with more Black, Hispanic, and Asian residents experience hotter temperatures during summer heatwaves than nearby neighborhoods with more white residents. It is the first to show that the trend is widespread, even in small towns, nationwide.
The Rutgers Coastal Climate Risk and Resilience (C2R2) Initiative: Building A Climate Resilience Corps for New Jersey
Coastal communities are increasingly threatened by severe weather. The Coastal Climate Risk and Resilience initiative trains Rutgers graduate students to collaborate with local decision-makers and help vulnerable communities prepare for the impact of climate change.
The Climate Resilience Corps is developing and applying protocols linked to data within Rutgers decision support tools to help municipalities with hazard mitigation planning. Participating students include those in graduate programs in natural sciences, engineering, community planning, and public policy, including fellows in the Rutgers Coastal Climate Risk and Resilience (C2R2) program.
To learn more, visit these sites:
Shoring Up the Jersey Shore
Climate Resilience Corps
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