by admin | Jul 8, 2017 | Activism, Books, Business, Climate, Disaster, Economic development, Economics, Environment, Government, Natural Hazards, Public health, Public policy, Renewable Energy, Resilience, Urban Planning
For some time, it has been my intent to address the question of how we communicate about and discuss climate change, with a focus on books that have tackled the issue of how to explain the issue. Several of these have crossed my desk in the last few years, and I have...
by admin | Jun 25, 2017 | Books, Disaster, Disaster policy, Natural Hazards, Public policy, Public safety, Urban Planning
As an urban planner, my entry into the world of disasters has been through the twin portals of public policy and planning practice—how we frame the priorities of government and how we carry out the tasks of community planning. One thing I have learned from years of...
by admin | May 7, 2017 | Agriculture, Business, Environment, Government, Politics, Public policy
The people of Iowa are about to get a new governor. Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds will be sworn in as soon as Terry Branstad wins confirmation to his new post of U.S. ambassador to China and he resigns his position as governor. President Trump nominated him because of the...
by admin | Mar 22, 2017 | Activism, Climate, Disaster policy, Environment, Floodplain management, Government, Public policy, Resilience, Urban Planning, Water
It is time to make America resilient. The trends have been moving us in the wrong direction for a long time, but we know how to reverse them. Planners — and elected officials — have to embrace the science that will inform us best on how to achieve that goal, and we...
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...
by admin | Jan 29, 2017 | Government, Healthcare, Public policy
Just two weeks ago, I posted a story on this blog about public rallies against repeal of the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, including one I attended and observed here in Chicago that day. That article discussed patients’ reactions to the prospect of ACA repeal...
