“The best disaster response and recovery policy is advance planning, land use, and building codes to prevent a disaster from happening in the first place. Society has the experience and tools at its disposal to prevent many of the devastating impacts disasters have on humans.” In this month’s Natural Hazards Observer (PDF), Edward A. Thomas […]
Tag Archives | adaptation & mitigation
FLOAT House Suggests New Approach to Floodplain Living
Posted on October 14, 2009
No matter what you’re trying to do, it rarely hurts to have Brad Pitt on your team. When Make It Right, a group founded by Pitt after he saw the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans’s Lower Ninth Ward, revealed its new FLOAT House last week, the announcement received a fair amount of media […]
Corps of Engineers Mandates Consideration of Sea Level Rise
Posted on October 13, 2009
In a new public document, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) has announced that it will immediately require all COE Civil Works projects in coastal and estuarine areas to consider sea level rise in all phases of its projects. The short document continues with specific explanations of which rates of sea level rise must […]
Town Offers Builders Permit Credit for Freeboard
Posted on October 12, 2009
The town of Hull, Massachusetts has just passed an innovative incentive program to encourage builders to elevate new and renovated structures above predicted floodwaters. The program offers applicants a $500 credit to be used towards building department permit fees if the builder elevates the structure at least two feet above the highest federal or state […]
The Costs of Not Preparing for Climate Change
Posted on September 30, 2009
Even the most conservative project puts sea level rise at 0.5 meter (1.6 feet) higher than current levels. The HRI Socio-Economics Group was asked by the Environmental Defense Fund, with support from the British Consulate General in Houston, to assess what the socio-economic impact might be for the Galveston Bay region of Texas. HRI Endowed […]
Smart Growth Guide for Coastal and Waterfront Communities Released
Posted on September 9, 2009
Today the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the International City/County Management Association, and Rhode Island Sea Grant released Smart Growth for Coastal and Waterfront Communities. Developed in consultation with the national Smart Growth Network, the interagency guide builds on the network’s ten smart growth principles to create coastal and waterfront-specific strategies […]
Hurricane Resistant "Louisiana Lift House" Launched
Posted on August 11, 2009
In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina & Rita in November 2005 a unique partnership formed with the Terrebonne Readiness and Assistance Coalition (TRAC) to design sustainable affordable housing for the rural coastal bayou regions of Louisiana. A true collaborative effort, the Lift House has been designed in partnership with Oxfam America, Sigus-MIT, and TRAC and […]
Television Programs Promote Storm Resilience
Posted on August 6, 2009
Gambling against Mother Nature is a three-part television series produced in partnership by NOAA’s Coastal Storms Program, the Mississippi/Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, WKRG-TV, the City of Orange Beach, Alabama, and grassroots, inc. to encourage wiser development along the Gulf Coast. Wind and Water: Beaches, Barrier Islands, and Storm Surge, the first of the three 30-minute […]
"Planning for Climate Change" Workshop Materials Released
Posted on August 6, 2009
Developed as a national project for NOAA’s National Estuarine Research Reserve System, the “Planning for Climate Change” workshop is geared primarily toward shoreline planners and was developed so that Coastal Training Programs (and other programs/agencies) can customize the workshop and use it as part of their climate change educational efforts. While it lays a foundation […]
Wall of Wind to Blow Houses Down
Posted on July 28, 2009
In a quest to develop a novel residential connection device, researchers from the four Gulf of Mexico Sea Grant college programs have constructed a full-scale testing facility capable of producing winds of up to 140 miles per hour. While most previous testing relied on miniature models, researchers home that the full-scale destructive testing of houses […]