by admin | Aug 20, 2018 | Disaster, Disaster policy, Economics, Floodplain management, Government, Infrastructure, Natural Hazards, Resilience, Wildfire
I should have written this blog post six months ago, but better late than never. Last December, the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS), Multihazard Mitigation Council, issued Natural Hazard Mitigation Saves: 2017 Interim Report, a welcome update of its...
by admin | Dec 13, 2017 | Activism, Books, Climate, Crime, Disaster, History, Infrastructure, Natural Hazards, Public safety, Resilience
Amid all the necessary attention to current disasters, small community conferences across the country are steadily training and educating local government staff, emergency volunteers, and local stakeholders in hazard-related issues to become more resilient. Because...
by admin | Sep 5, 2017 | Activism, Climate, Disaster, Disaster policy, Floodplain management, Floodplain management, Government, Infrastructure, Natural Hazards, Public policy, Public safety, Urban Planning
Justifiably, people and the news media have celebrated the heroes of emergency response in Texas during the week-long nightmare of Hurricane Harvey. Disasters often bring out the best in many people, a selfless commitment that inspires those capable to rescue...
by admin | Aug 30, 2017 | Climate, Disaster, Disaster policy, Government, Infrastructure, Natural Hazards, Political philosophy, Public health, Public policy, Public safety, Resilience, Social Science, Urban Planning
A few days ago, in my last post, I wrote that Hurricane Harvey would last a few days, but the recovery would last years. However agonizingly long Harvey appears to be taking to inflict its misery on the Texas Gulf Coast, and now parts of southern Louisiana, it will go...
by admin | Apr 18, 2017 | Climate, Drought, Floodplain management, Infrastructure, Natural Hazards, Parks, Science, Urban Planning, Water
For those who think only in terms of the politics of red and blue states, the conference I attended March 30-31 in Lincoln, Nebraska, may seem like a paradox, if not an oxymoron. It is neither. It is a matter of looking beyond labels to facts and common sense, and...
by admin | Mar 19, 2017 | Activism, Climate, Economic development, Environment, Government, Housing, Infrastructure, National security, Natural Hazards, Politics, Public policy, Resilience, Science, Urban Planning, Water
The American Planning Association (APA), the organization that employs me as the manager of its Hazards Planning Center, made me proud last week. It took a rare step: It announced its opposition to President Donald Trump’s 2018 budget proposal. It is not that APA has...
