By There’s a fascinating article in today’s online issue of The Atlantic Cities: “We’re In This Together: What the Dutch Know About Flooding That We Don’t. The short article explores why residents of The Netherlands can pull together to put in place flood-control measures, even if they cost a lot of
2012 Temperatures – One For the Record Books
For those who have made a habit of following temperature records over the past few decades, what’s most surprising with today’s news isn’t that 2012 set a record for U.S. temperatures (that had been expected for months), but rather the extent of that record. If you go back to the
Vulnerabilities to Climate Change and the Need For Resilience in the Western U.S.
The January, 2013 issue of Land Lines, a publication of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, has an excellent article on climate change impacts in the Intermountain West and the need for resilience. “Uncertainty and Risk: Building a Resilient West” addresses drought, growing incidence of wildfire, population growth, and factors
Biomimicry and Resilience
There was a great online article in the New York Times yesterday (1/4/13), “Will Biomimicry Offer a Way Forward, Post-Sandy?” about the relationship between resilience and biomimicry. This is an issue I’ve thought about quite a bit recently: the idea that nature can provide models of how to incorporate resilience
Maryland taking sea level rise seriously
On December 28, 2012, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley signed an executive order that will boost Maryland’s resilience. The executive order, “Climate Change and Coast Smart Construction,” requires sea level rise, flooding, and extreme weather to be taken into account in the construction or reconstruction of all state buildings and facilities.
It’s Raining in California
California residents love to complain about the weather. When my daughter went to college in Santa Cruz, she found that the least bit of drizzle would inspire a chorus of whining about the weather. Growing up in New England, she just didn’t get it. Northern California residents may be more
Gas Lines Point to a Need for Resilience
Gas line in Summit, New Jersey following Superstorm Sandy. At this gas station, only doctors and nurses were allowed to get gas, with supervision by local police. Photo: Tom Sulcer, Create Commons license By now we’ve all seen the photos of houses buried in sand along the Jersey Shore, burned-out
Hurricane Sandy and the Case for Resilient Design
Flooding of FDR Drive in Lower Manhattan on October 30. 2012. Photo: Beth Carey, Wikimedia Commons While most of us in the Northeast were making last-minute preparations for the massive storm on Monday, I was sitting in Hartford’s Bradley Airport, about to catch one of the last flights out before
By Resilient design trend? Modern floodgates appear in vulnerable areas.
Walking along Flat Street in Brattleboro, Vermont this morning before businesses opened, I saw a sign that an important lesson about resilience had been learned over the past year. The floodgates were up in numerous doorways. Flat Street, as some readers may recall, lies in the floodplain of the
Sea-level Rise, Storm Surges, and Delaware’s Resilience Challenge (with a Sandy update)
Update Note, October 30, 2012 With Post-tropical Cyclone Sandy still whirling around somewhere to my west, the article below feels prescient. It wasn’t of course – there was no advance knowledge of this particular storm – but what just happened with Sandy is well in line with climate change trends.
Gasoline Shortages in Southern California
Gasoline prices in San Diego. Photo: Glenn Batuyong, Creative Commons license A series of disruptions in petroleum refineries in Southern California has resulted in surging gasoline prices in recent days and spot shortages. A New York Times article Saturday morning (10/6/12) described makeshift signs at gas stations that had run
By Changing the Climate Change Conversation
If I go to one more meeting about climate change where the audience is lectured about how urgent, enormous and unprecedented the challenge before us is, I am going to scream. That’s because these meetings are largely attended by people who already understand that the climate is changing, are
Fundamentals of Resilient Design #8: Water in a Drought-Prone Era
Periodic drought is something that a significant portion of the U.S. will have to get used to in the coming decades. Climate scientists tell us that while precipitation will increase overall with climate change, certain regions, including the American West, will see increased frequency of drought. I certainly saw that
New York City’s (Lack of) Resilience
There’s a great article in today’s New York Times, “New York is Lagging as Seas and Risks Rise.” In a nutshell, with 520 miles of shoreline, New York City is highly vulnerable to rising sea level and storm surges, and the City isn’t doing enough to address its vulnerabilities. The
Fundamentals of Resilient Design #7: Renewable Energy Systems for Emergency Use
House location and design are the starting points in achieving resilience—with such considerations as where the house located, how well it can weather storms and flooding, and how effectively it retains heat and utilizes passive solar for heating and daylighting. Beyond that, we should look to renewable energy systems for
