What is The Intersection of Emergency Management and Climate Adaptation?
As Earth (Day) Week comes to a close, I am left with the question, how do we see the intersection of emergency management and climate adaptation? Holly ManieOskoii’s piece Climate Resilience Can Elevate The Emergency Management Field explores the idea that the knowledge of basic climate science is a critical area of study for emergency management. I have to agree with that assessment as well.
Photo by Louis Maniquet on Unsplash
One of the areas that I studied in graduate school was land use and the environment. The link between land use, climate, and disasters are complex. A great example of land use and the impacts on disaster response is Houston and Hurricane Harvey.
When Harvey stalled over Houston, the rain caused extreme flooding. Fifteen Counties in the region reported over 25” of rainfall (the depth of an average toddler pool). The flooding was characterized by extreme precipitation events, low topographic relief, and clay-dominated soils. It is naturally flood-prone. However, Houston is also one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the United States. This rapid growth has contributed to increased runoff volumes and rates in areas where climate changes have also been shown to be contributing to extreme precipitation.
Why Should Emergency Managers Care?
That is always the question, what is the threat matrix for the climate-caused emergencies. In the SouthWest United States, we are experiencing a year-round fire season. Fulled by dry winds and ample fule. With increasing global surface temperatures, the possibility of more droughts and increased intensity of storms will likely occur. As more water vapor is evaporated into the atmosphere, more powerful storms develop. More heat in the atmosphere and warmer ocean surface temperatures can increase wind speeds in tropical storms.
I hope you all had a great Earth Day (Week), and please join us on May 19th, 2022 | at 11 AM PT for a great discussion on climate-induced relocation and why emergency management needs to be involved.
Podcasts
The Todd De Voe Show
Leaning Forward Human-Centered Crisis Management
Alicia Johnson's approach to getting your organization ready for a crisis is different from others; she takes a human approach to planning. Using a human-centered design to support those decisions may prove beneficial as you decide how your company will respond to an emergency. Leaders must consider how a crisis can affect their employees, their employee's families, and the community.
So how can a leader hope to strike a balance between saving their business and mitigating a crisis? A human-centered design approach to that question is a positive place to begin.
Alicia Johnson
Twitter handle https://twitter.com/UrbanAreaAlicia
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliciadjohnson/
Website https://twolynchpinroad.com/prepare respond recover
Business Continuity Today
Building High-Quality Teams and Culture
A NASCAR PIT CREW COMES TO MIND when I think of a high-performing team. Each team member has a critical role to play, and they are specialized, hyper-focuses, and ready to achieve outstanding results under pressure. How can you achieve the outcomes your team can give you? Quality performance management empowers collaborative workspaces and develops result-orientated teams.
Links
Web: https://titanhst.com/
LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3KgRvv6
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/titanhst/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TitanHST
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TitanHST/
Youtube: https://bit.ly/3mePJyG
prepare respond recover
The Cooling Solutions Challenge DHS's Fight Against Climate Change
Join Prepare. Respond. Recover. as we explore the Department of Homeland Security’s prize competitions on strengthening the nation’s resilience to climate change. The “Cooling Solutions Challenge” is part of DHS’s effort to implement a proactive approach to climate change resilience. DHS is looking for novel ways to protect those at risk of heat-related illness or death, including first responders, households, or group quarters without access to conventional cooling systems or are experiencing sustained power outages, plus displaced or homeless populations. Relative to current cooling solutions, these new designs will be more eco-friendly and energy-efficient while being cost-effective, scalable, durable, and allowing for alternate power sources.
If you would like to learn more about the Natural Disaster & Emergency Management (NDEM) Expo, please visit us on the web - https://www.ndemevent.com
What to Read
Climate Resilience Can Elevate The Emergency Management Field
By Holly ManieOskoii
Across the country, communities are creating plans, positions, and funding to address climate adaptation and resilience. FEMA’s strategic plan leads the emergency management field towards “Goal 2: Lead the whole community in climate resilience.”
This is a pivotal time for emergency management and adjacent fields to actively participate in climate resilience conversations and action. Active engagement in local climate resilience shifts away from the “response” only perception of emergency management. Contribution and participation in climate change action is the chance to further define the field and advocate for an understanding of the true scope and depth of emergency management and adjacent fields.
Historically, the controversy over whether climate change is man-made has distracted efforts in planning for its effects. Historically, climate adaptation has existed in the outer spheres of emergency management. Many of us have been hearing about climate change for years and have developed a desensitized apathy. The topic can be bleak or daunting; it’s easier to postpone action and attention.
BUT…
The Baker’s Dozen Book Review
By Marc C. Baker
Wow! What a scary realistic possibility and perspective on the nation's readiness for an Electrical Magnetic Pulse (EMP) attack. I certainly hope that society will not devolve so rapidly, but it might not be that far off given our current social climate. What would you do without power or electronic devices for a year? How many local emergency plans account for this kind of attack? Are we prepared for it? How do we prepare for an event of this nature? What do we do when we pick up the phone and can not get anyone on the other end?
This book takes place in Black Mountain, North Carolina (which I plan to visit soon) and is centered on an EMP attack on the U.S., which disables the electrical grid across the nation. The cascading effects collapse the national infrastructure plummeting America back not the dark ages. Although this story is fictional and possibly slightly exaggerated, I agree that this cautionary tale should be seriously considered. With all that is happening in Ukraine and the posturing involved with the U.S. support and Russia's vow of consequences if the U.S. crosses “the line” and the fact that they (and other nuclear adversaries) possess the nuclear capability for such an attack, I would say now is a pretty good time to start having this discussion at the local level. As we saw in the book, it was an EMP attack on the nation, but the action taken at the local level determined the outcome for communities, and it all started with leadership.
The Crisis Response Journal
A boost for farmers to safeguard EU food security
Growth in the EU’s agricultural sector has come at the expense of environmental health, with soil degradation costing nearly €100 billion due to lost productivity, which threatens future crop supply. Additionally, agriculture represents ten percent of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions and is critical for a net-zero future.
The report, Transforming Food Systems with Farmers: A Pathway for the EU, was launched as part of the ongoing efforts of the EU Carbon+ Farming Coalition, making recommendations on how to work with farmers to strengthen the EU’s food systems. Written in collaboration with Deloitte and NTT Data, it is based on insights from farmers from seven countries that make up a majority of the farmer based in the EU. The farmer survey was designed and implemented by the EU Coalition to shed light on the main barriers to scaling climate-smart agricultural solutions, including challenging farm economics, lack of awareness, uneven technology adoption among farmers of different generations and farm sizes, as well as fragmentation of policies at the national level.
Except for Egypt, all country scores are below 70 out of 100. Only 13 countries reached a modest level of water security in recent years, and over a third are deemed to have levels of water security below the threshold of 45.
Together, the 19 countries below the threshold are home to half a billion people.
Egypt, Botswana, Gabon, Mauritius, and Tunisia are Africa’s top five most water-secure countries in Africa, yet with only modest absolute levels of water, security achieved.
Somalia, Chad, and Niger appear to be the least water-secure countries on the continent.
The report finds that there has been little progress in the national water security of most African states over the past three to five years. The number of countries that made some progress (29) is close to the number of those that made none.
Supporters
https://www.disastertech.com/
https://www.ndemevent.com/en-us/show-info.html
https://titanhst.com/
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