The Examiner recently had a good article about environmental disaster on their website titled, "Saftey plan for an environemntal crisis".
This was an interesting article to go through because it is a somewaht feeble attempt at an all encompassing set of directions for disaster prevention. The article suggests that "Almost everyone lives downwind of a highway, a train line, a pipeline or a manufacturing facility where toxic trouble could flare up fast." should heed these directions.
Here are the steps, summarized.
1. Know where danger lurks, be alert.
2.Create a family emergency kit and plan
3. Shut your windows if there is hazardous release.
4.Keep the indoors clean.
5. Drink bottled water.
6. Have a getaway strategy.
7. Eat smart.
Wait what? Eat smart? Keep the indoors clean? Some of these steps are logical, like, "Create an emergency kit" That makes sense. Otherwise the list is more fluff than it is going to be effective personal hazard prevention. However, this may be a valid tool in reaching "regular" americans who tend to be uneducated or naive to the subject of Natural hazards or disasters.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/safety-plan-for-an-environmental-crisis/article/2509321
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Saturday, September 29, 2012
2012: At least we won't get killed by a Tornado
USA today recently published an article about the difference in the number of Tornadoes between this year and last.
2011 produced approximately 1,700 tornadoes, which killed 553 people. This calendar year has only produced 750 so far (950 less than last year, and 750 less than average). Meteorologists think that we could set a all-time low this year if this trend keeps up for the remaining warm months.
Meteorologists suggest that the same driving effects behind the drought this summer are resulting in fewer tornadoes this year. (Trade one disaster for another?) The article states,
"The same weather pattern that created the devastating drought was a factor in the quiet tornado year, according to meteorologist Mike Smith of AccuWeather Enterprise Solutions in Wichita, Kan. He says that for much of the year, a large area of high pressure sat over the West Coast and the Rockies, which kept storms from moving into the central USA, the nation's tornado hotbed."
So far tornadoes have only claimed 68 American lives this year, mostly occuring in February and March.
It will be interesting to see how the fall months are for tornadoes and if this year winds up being the quietest ever recorded.
In a year where the entire world is supposed to (according to the ever trusty Mayans) go down the shitter, it's nice to at least have a quiet tornado season.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2012/09/29/tornadoes-record-quiet-year/1598117/
2011 produced approximately 1,700 tornadoes, which killed 553 people. This calendar year has only produced 750 so far (950 less than last year, and 750 less than average). Meteorologists think that we could set a all-time low this year if this trend keeps up for the remaining warm months.
Meteorologists suggest that the same driving effects behind the drought this summer are resulting in fewer tornadoes this year. (Trade one disaster for another?) The article states,
"The same weather pattern that created the devastating drought was a factor in the quiet tornado year, according to meteorologist Mike Smith of AccuWeather Enterprise Solutions in Wichita, Kan. He says that for much of the year, a large area of high pressure sat over the West Coast and the Rockies, which kept storms from moving into the central USA, the nation's tornado hotbed."
So far tornadoes have only claimed 68 American lives this year, mostly occuring in February and March.
It will be interesting to see how the fall months are for tornadoes and if this year winds up being the quietest ever recorded.
In a year where the entire world is supposed to (according to the ever trusty Mayans) go down the shitter, it's nice to at least have a quiet tornado season.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2012/09/29/tornadoes-record-quiet-year/1598117/
Friday, September 21, 2012
Watch for that Oil Slick!
An important part of examining natural hazards is looking at the human environment interaction in all stages; before, during and after the event. CNN recently published an article that does a good job explaining the clean-up efforts post BP oil spill. The article is interesting because it discusses new technology that is being put into place to best mitigate further negative effects of the oil spill.
We all know the story of the BP oil spill but after the hole was plugged not much was nationally broadcast of the cleanup efforts, nor is it probably finished. Obviously the spill was ecological nightmare that nobody wants to repeat. That is where Massachusetts Institute of Technology comes in. They saw this disaster and wanted to mitigate future ocurrances of such disasters. MIT thought of putting magnetic particles into our oil so that when an oil spill happens we could easily filter the oil out of the water using magnets, returning clean water to the sea and the oil could be used again for its original purposes.
This new tehnology would be useful in the cleanup process for future oil spills and would hopefully mitigate the hazards to the wildlife and physical environment in case of a spill.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/21/tech/oil-spill-magnets/index.html
We all know the story of the BP oil spill but after the hole was plugged not much was nationally broadcast of the cleanup efforts, nor is it probably finished. Obviously the spill was ecological nightmare that nobody wants to repeat. That is where Massachusetts Institute of Technology comes in. They saw this disaster and wanted to mitigate future ocurrances of such disasters. MIT thought of putting magnetic particles into our oil so that when an oil spill happens we could easily filter the oil out of the water using magnets, returning clean water to the sea and the oil could be used again for its original purposes.
This new tehnology would be useful in the cleanup process for future oil spills and would hopefully mitigate the hazards to the wildlife and physical environment in case of a spill.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/21/tech/oil-spill-magnets/index.html
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Larger Lakes
While the US faced major droughts this summer, Hatai and the Dominican Republic was drowning in rainfall, almost literally. Two major lakes that are along the border of Haiti and the D.R. have been consistantly rising for some time. The Idaho Statesman brings us a report of the slow moving event in their article, "Slow-Motion Disaster: Villages vanish as Large Carribean lakes grow even bigger."
Lake Enriquillo and Lake Azuei both of which are fed by the same rivers and streams have been slowly swelling in size. These lakes are not just eveloping beaches or 'unimportant' recreation areas, but they are flooding out farms and peoples homes.
The article states,
"The spread of Enriquillo has flooded 16 communities in two provinces, more than 46,500 acres of agriculture land and 1,000 properties, according to a July study authored by the Technological Institute of Santo Domingo and the NOAA CREST Center of the City College of New York. In all, some 10,000 families have lost cattle, farmland or their homes."
The rivers and streams filling these lakes are bringing in record levels with the heavy rains that the region has recieved in the past months (and years). However the lakes and rivers should be adequate at draining them normally. Some hypothesize that there is a buildup of debris and trash clogging some outlets that would keep the lakes at normal levels. I find it hard to belive that a build up of trash and debris could hold back that much water though.
I decided to look at some historical images on Google earth and the contrast between the Lakes in 2003, 2006 and current images was pretty interesting to see, definitely worth a gander.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/09/18/2275882/slow-motion-disaster.html
Lake Enriquillo and Lake Azuei both of which are fed by the same rivers and streams have been slowly swelling in size. These lakes are not just eveloping beaches or 'unimportant' recreation areas, but they are flooding out farms and peoples homes.
The article states,
"The spread of Enriquillo has flooded 16 communities in two provinces, more than 46,500 acres of agriculture land and 1,000 properties, according to a July study authored by the Technological Institute of Santo Domingo and the NOAA CREST Center of the City College of New York. In all, some 10,000 families have lost cattle, farmland or their homes."
The rivers and streams filling these lakes are bringing in record levels with the heavy rains that the region has recieved in the past months (and years). However the lakes and rivers should be adequate at draining them normally. Some hypothesize that there is a buildup of debris and trash clogging some outlets that would keep the lakes at normal levels. I find it hard to belive that a build up of trash and debris could hold back that much water though.
I decided to look at some historical images on Google earth and the contrast between the Lakes in 2003, 2006 and current images was pretty interesting to see, definitely worth a gander.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/09/18/2275882/slow-motion-disaster.html
Friday, September 14, 2012
Hold the ice please...
In a recent article published by the Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA news source) we can read about how the melting of the poles will come to effect our country in the coming winters. The article entitled, "Extreme weather likely as ice loss accelerates" goes on to discuss that the ice is melting in the poles much faster than scientists expected,
"Record ice melts this year and in 2007 have alarmed many scientists, mostly because they thought it would take many more years to reach this state... “These are really surprises to most scientists,” Overland said. “In looking at climate models that are used to look forward, they’ve tended to say the Arctic may be ice-free by 2040 or 2050."
The article also discusses how this will affect our weather patterns here in the US. They suggest that it will exaggerate all of the weather that we experience. The melting of the poles reduces the amount of sunlight reflected back into space, meaning more is absorbed by the water. This then heats up the planet even further and will slow down our jet-stream quite a bit. This jet-stream slowing will cause weather to linger in one place for longer periods of time,
"If you’re in a nice dry pattern with sunny skies, it’s great if it lasts for a few days. But if it lasts for a few weeks, well then you’re starting to talk about a drought,” Francis said. “If you have a rainy pattern and it hangs around for a long time, then that becomes a situation that could lead to flooding... (The weather) gets stuck."
It definitely was an interesting article and raised a lot of questions for me. I was wondering why climatologists were so off in predicting the melting of the ice. Also, if it results in more summers like the one I experienced in Madison, with the drought it would be something that was truly invasive to the way we're used to living life.
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/sep/14/extreme-weather-likely-as-ice-loss-accelerates/
"Record ice melts this year and in 2007 have alarmed many scientists, mostly because they thought it would take many more years to reach this state... “These are really surprises to most scientists,” Overland said. “In looking at climate models that are used to look forward, they’ve tended to say the Arctic may be ice-free by 2040 or 2050."
The article also discusses how this will affect our weather patterns here in the US. They suggest that it will exaggerate all of the weather that we experience. The melting of the poles reduces the amount of sunlight reflected back into space, meaning more is absorbed by the water. This then heats up the planet even further and will slow down our jet-stream quite a bit. This jet-stream slowing will cause weather to linger in one place for longer periods of time,
"If you’re in a nice dry pattern with sunny skies, it’s great if it lasts for a few days. But if it lasts for a few weeks, well then you’re starting to talk about a drought,” Francis said. “If you have a rainy pattern and it hangs around for a long time, then that becomes a situation that could lead to flooding... (The weather) gets stuck."
It definitely was an interesting article and raised a lot of questions for me. I was wondering why climatologists were so off in predicting the melting of the ice. Also, if it results in more summers like the one I experienced in Madison, with the drought it would be something that was truly invasive to the way we're used to living life.
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/sep/14/extreme-weather-likely-as-ice-loss-accelerates/
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Where have all the Fish gone?
Watch out for that Fish tornado!!!! Said nobody ever. When we think of natural disasters we think of a hurricane or tornado destroying someones home but some of the less 'sexy' disasters are the ones that have the greatest impact. In a recent article from R&D magazine we can see one of many effects natural disasters can have.
The article titled "Feds declared fishery disaster in New England" compares a lack of fish in the sea to a drought that farmers face,
"They're just as dependent on the vagaries of the ecosystem as farmers are, and just as deserving of assistance when things go bad through no fault of their own, like when farmers face a drought."
The author goes on to discuss how much money we have put into the farming industry and relieving farmers who have had low crop yields or compesation for droughts and then makes a point that fishermen should recieve similar relief efforts if the fishing year is particularily bad.
While the lack of fish is not technically considered a Hazard to the Environemnt I think it is worth looking at because this lack of fish in the northeast could be caused by a Hazardous event or possibly could lead to famine (if a society is especially dependant on fishing). If studied further we could examine the cause and effect of the Fishing industry to hopefully mitigate any future losses.
http://www.rdmag.com/news/2012/09/feds-declare-fishery-disaster-new-england
The article titled "Feds declared fishery disaster in New England" compares a lack of fish in the sea to a drought that farmers face,
"They're just as dependent on the vagaries of the ecosystem as farmers are, and just as deserving of assistance when things go bad through no fault of their own, like when farmers face a drought."
The author goes on to discuss how much money we have put into the farming industry and relieving farmers who have had low crop yields or compesation for droughts and then makes a point that fishermen should recieve similar relief efforts if the fishing year is particularily bad.
While the lack of fish is not technically considered a Hazard to the Environemnt I think it is worth looking at because this lack of fish in the northeast could be caused by a Hazardous event or possibly could lead to famine (if a society is especially dependant on fishing). If studied further we could examine the cause and effect of the Fishing industry to hopefully mitigate any future losses.
http://www.rdmag.com/news/2012/09/feds-declare-fishery-disaster-new-england
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Costly Decisions
9/6/2012
For the first post of the semester I would like to focus on a recent NPR article that can be found at... While it does not directly discuss a recent event, it talks about the trend in climate change and how that might effect our food prices, domestically and internationally.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/09/05/160622571/extreme-weather-means-extreme-food-prices-worldwide-aid-agency-warns
The article does a good job of showing another aspect of the climate change our planet is experiencing: Hunger. "Our planet is boiling and if we don't act now, hunger will increase for millions of people on our planet," Says, Heather Coleman, climate change policy adviser for Oxfam America. She goes on to state that the "Freak of Nature" events like droughts, floods or heat waves will become more common as our climate changes. Each of these events are major causes for food prices rising.
The topic hits home here in Wisconsin as the southern part of the state experienced a major drought in the months of June, July, and August. This drought of the area as well as region, is expected to cause food prices to rise in the state.
Our article goes on to explain that while we may be experiencing high grain or fruit prices now, the real cost may come later when meat prices are driven up by high feed costs. Meat is expensive as is, and a rise in price may take meat off the menu for some households.
So maybe we wont be able to barbecue twice a month or have that extra burger to make a cold sandwich out of, but at least we generally have enough food. The story is not the same in developing nations. The food shortage will hit hardest in homes and counties that can't afford even the most basic food supplies.
A solution you ask? Siwa Msangi states, "Investments in water storage and irrigation systems can help countries get through droughts. Paving roads and improving ports can help prevent floods from disrupting food supplies. Better feeding programs can also help poor people keep their families fed despite price spikes."
For the first post of the semester I would like to focus on a recent NPR article that can be found at... While it does not directly discuss a recent event, it talks about the trend in climate change and how that might effect our food prices, domestically and internationally.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/09/05/160622571/extreme-weather-means-extreme-food-prices-worldwide-aid-agency-warns
The article does a good job of showing another aspect of the climate change our planet is experiencing: Hunger. "Our planet is boiling and if we don't act now, hunger will increase for millions of people on our planet," Says, Heather Coleman, climate change policy adviser for Oxfam America. She goes on to state that the "Freak of Nature" events like droughts, floods or heat waves will become more common as our climate changes. Each of these events are major causes for food prices rising.
The topic hits home here in Wisconsin as the southern part of the state experienced a major drought in the months of June, July, and August. This drought of the area as well as region, is expected to cause food prices to rise in the state.
Our article goes on to explain that while we may be experiencing high grain or fruit prices now, the real cost may come later when meat prices are driven up by high feed costs. Meat is expensive as is, and a rise in price may take meat off the menu for some households.
So maybe we wont be able to barbecue twice a month or have that extra burger to make a cold sandwich out of, but at least we generally have enough food. The story is not the same in developing nations. The food shortage will hit hardest in homes and counties that can't afford even the most basic food supplies.
A solution you ask? Siwa Msangi states, "Investments in water storage and irrigation systems can help countries get through droughts. Paving roads and improving ports can help prevent floods from disrupting food supplies. Better feeding programs can also help poor people keep their families fed despite price spikes."
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