Somebody on Quora.com asked “What does it feel like to have your home flooded?” The most popular response came in from a survivor from two floods in Queensland, Australia. The whole thing is worth reading, but following are a couple of sections that jumped out. The first is about how expectations affect behavior: Prior to […]
Tag Archives | editorial
Sea Level Rise and Beaches: Not a Pretty Combination
Posted on March 7, 2011
Orrin Pilkey, always a lightening-rod for coastal climate change issues, has written a gloomy forecast for the world’s beaches, and has the photos to justify his positions. He acknowledges that predicting the effects of sea level rise on beaches is complex, and that results will vary greatly depending on many factors. But overall, the picture […]
Do Sea Walls Cause more Harm than Good? More Evidence Suggests Yes
Posted on January 10, 2011
A new article reiterates that seawalls may increase erosion rates of beaches, so while they (temporarily) protect what’s behind them, it’s at the expense of the beach in front of them. “We thought we could engineer and control nature by these techniques, but you’re fighting a losing battle,” [Rick Murray of Scituate, MA] said. “And […]
An Argument for Not Returning to Normal [Editorial]
Posted on September 20, 2010
An interesting editorial by Global Ethics professor Tom Sorell on why our natural post-disaster instinct to return things to normal is so often exactly the wrong response, and why we instead ought to work to “usher in discontinuity.” The problem with returning to “normal” is obvious: we’re often returning to the same conditions that put […]
Ideas on How to Engage Your Businesses in Emergency Preparedness
Posted on August 20, 2010
John Solomon, author of “In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog” has written an interesting and compelling editorial arguing that governments at all levels need to work harder to engage the business community in disaster preparedness. He says: Government citizen preparedness campaigns over the past few years have raised awareness but not significantly enough to change […]
Editorial Advises Better Planning and Building, NOT the Ike Dike
Posted on May 28, 2010
A new Houston Chronicle article argues that building the so-called “Ike Dike” will put more, not less people and property at great risk, and that the best way to protect property from hazards is to keep them out of hazardous areas. In “Forget the Ike Dike, let’s improve building methods” Texas A&M professor John Jacob […]