Infrastructure, Climate Change and the Economy: Part 1 - Infrastructure Investment
JIC | 02.11.2011 | 08:20:39 |
February 11, 2011: Investment in infrastructure to meet the challenges posed by global climate change may spur economic growth and promote stability, a group of British engineering firms said recently. According to the BBC a new report found that communities will need "an infrastructure system that is more resilient to climate change. This will require Government, the public and private sectors and professional sectors such as engineers to come together and proactively meet the challenge of creating a climate resilient infrastructure system for the country."

Infrastructure, Climate Change and the Economy: Part 2 - The Cost of Climate Change
JIC | 02.11.2011 | 08:19:13 |
February 11, 2011: With the global climate shifting, national, state and local governments and communities are beginning to feel the effects of catastrophic weather (Australia's flooding and the rise of global food prices). In 2009, the University of Oregon released a study looking at the cost of environmental change to the communities in state of Washington. The report found that "If nothing is done to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Washington is likely to experience some $3.8 billion in associated annual costs -- including $1.3 billion in health related costs alone."

Infrastructure, Climate Change and the Economy: Part 3 - Measuring GDP vs GPI
JIC | 02.11.2011 | 08:17:15 |
February 11, 2011: Early last year, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley announced new plans for a state-run program which helps policy makers and citizens accurately measure Maryland's standard of living. The Genuine Progress Indicator, an online tool, uses the health of the environment and society as indicators with traditional economic calculations to find an overall grade. "Just as the elements of our natural world must be balanced to ensure a healthy ecosystem," O'Mally said, "so too must be the elements of how we judge our success as a State. A strong economy, a clean environment and a healthy citizenry go hand in hand; none can be a true measure of success without supporting the other two."

Crowdsourcing emergency response Pt. 3 - Crowdsourcing in Action
JIC | 01.13.2011 | 13:57:59 |
January 2011: This is the last post in a three-part series focusing on crowdsourcing in relation to emergency response during a crisis. The idea of accruing large amounts of data from the public during an emergency, or sending data out to be crunched by the masses, is at the heart of this actionable information and situational awareness relationship: from crisis mapping to handling the incredible amount of data during an emergency.

Crowdsourcing emergency response Pt. 2 - Crisis Mapping and Crowdsource Response Organzations
JIC | 01.12.2011 | 12:44:24 |
January 2011; In the previous post, crowdsourcing was shown as a way of collecting, analyzing and disseminating information. The challenge of crunching huge amounts data in real time from various media has always presented a problem for emergency response personnel, but with crowdsourcing, information processing has become much easier, actionable and faster. Taking that information and overlaying it onto real-time mapping is the purview of crisis mapping, an emerging emergency response discipline. And there are organizations who use crisis mapping as their primary focus for humanitarian aid.

Crowdsourcing emergency response Pt. 1
JIC | 01.12.2011 | 10:57:53 |
January 2011: One of the largest hurdles facing emergency responders is how to handle the amount of real-time information during a crisis. In order to get a clear picture of what is happening right after an earthquake, during a hurricane, in the aftermath of a terrorist attack, or before a flood hits, emergency response personnel and officials are increasingly turning to crowdsourcing as a way to digest large amounts of data and turn that data into actionable intelligence. Through social networking, text messaging and video crowdsourcing allows for multimedia information to be amalgamated and synthesized.

Response to historic flooding in Australia
JIC | 01.12.2011 | 09:01:44 |
January 2011: Australian government authorities are working overtime to try and help the communities of Queensland in the midst of epic flooding, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. More than 9,000 homes in Brisbane, the country's third largest city, are expected to be impacted by flood waters, while the city's downtown central business center cut it's electricity, the BBC reported.

Looking Back - Report: taking advantage of the private sector to safeguard the public
JIC | 01.12.2011 | 08:52:56 |
January 2011: Since the attacks of September 11, 2001 the public and private sectors have been working together to find new ways of securing the country's critical infrastructure through federal action like the Homeland Security Act and the Homeland Security Presidential Directive 7 (HSPD-7). There have been other - private sector-driven steps taken as well, but it is with the cooperation of the federal government that industry can improve optimally on its preparedness, resiliency and response operations.

In Memoriam: John Solomon 1963 - 2010
JIC | 01.11.2011 | 09:49:53 |
We were very saddened by the passing of our friend John Solomon last November. John was a friend and a great resource for inspiration through his blog In Case of Emergency, Read Blog. Throughout the years, his work provided the germination of many of the stories that I have used to work on community preparedness and resilience in the face of natural and man-made disasters. I also will remember warmly our wonderful and productive email exchanges. His stories and blog posts proved insightful and I will remember him fondly. Below are a few examples of the helpful work of John's we used to write about how our country is working toward sustainability, resiliency and preparedness during an emergency or crisis. John's obituary can be read here. Thanks John, we'll miss you.

Arizona citizens quick to respond in Tucson shooting
JIC | 01.11.2011 | 08:43:08 |
January 2011: When Jared Lee Loughner opened fire killing six people during a Congressional meet and greet in Tucson on January 8 , citizens present at the gathering were instrumental in tackling and disarming the gunman thus preventing any more casualties. According to the Arizona Republic, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik identified the three men and one woman as Patricia Maisch, Roger Salzgeber, Bill Badger and Joseph Zamudio. The official timeline of the response said the first 911 call was received at 10:11:56 a.m. "Within one minute of the first deputy's arrival, the suspect was in custody and medical personnel began treating the injured," the Pima County Sheriff's Department said in a press release.

US and African Nations Partner for Military Response to Pandemic
JIC | 07.08.2010 | 12:01:05 |
July 2010: Public and private officials gathered in Cotonou, Benin in late June for a table top exercise designed "to collaborate in the assessment and development of national and regional disaster response plans," should a pandemic hit African countries, an Africom press release read. Africom, or the United States African Command is "responsible to the Secretary of Defense for U.S. military relations with 53 African countries." Officials from Africom and other African nations were hosted by the Armed Forces of Benin and supported by the Center for Disaster and Humanitarian Assistance Medicine (CDHAM).

Life Village Puts Solar-powered energy into Developing Nation Communities
JIC | 07.08.2010 | 09:53:19 |
July 2010: Solar Energy company Envision Solar's CEO Robert Noble, told Greentech Media his vision for a line of pre-fab buildings built in places where the infrastructure and services are lacking. Noble said his Life Village project would help that goal. "Just as mobile phones have leapfrogged land line phones in developing nations, this model can leapfrog centralized power production."

Spotlight on The Katine Project: A Collaboration
JIC | 07.08.2010 | 09:13:52 |
July 2010: Over the last three years, the Guardian and Observer has been working with the African Medical and Research Foundation and its sister organization Farm Africa through a program called Katine, named after a rural sub-county in northeast Uganda. The £2.5 million project was launched by Guardian Editor Alan Rusbridger and is jointly funded through donations from Guardian readers and Barclays' community outreach and investment arm.

East Coast Heat Wave Tests Grid Resilience
JIC | 07.08.2010 | 08:26:54 |
July 2010: As NPR has reported, a high-pressure system which settled over the East Coast over the week has brought triple-digit temperatures to the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states testing the region's electrical grid resiliency. The heat wave has prompted local government officials to take responsive measures to help keep power and water usage down while making sure sensitive groups like the very young and very old, stay cool.

See Something Say Something Campaign Launched
JIC | 07.06.2010 | 09:58:56 |
July 2010: The Department of Homeland Security has announced the first phase of a national program called "See Something Say Something" in a partnership with Amtrak through the nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting initiative. DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said in the press release, "Implementing a national suspicious activity reporting partnership with Amtrak and expanding the 'See Something Say Something' campaign strengthens our ability to guard against terrorism and crime."