At Risk


Book Description

The term 'natural disaster' is often used to refer to natural events such as earthquakes, hurricanes or floods. However, the phrase 'natural disaster' suggests an uncritical acceptance of a deeply engrained ideological and cultural myth. At Risk questions this myth and argues that extreme natural events are not disasters until a vulnerable group of people is exposed. The updated new edition confronts a further ten years of ever more expensive and deadly disasters and discusses disaster not as an aberration, but as a signal failure of mainstream 'development'. Two analytical models are provided as tools for understanding vulnerability. One links remote and distant 'root causes' to 'unsafe conditions' in a 'progression of vulnerability'. The other uses the concepts of 'access' and 'livelihood' to understand why some households are more vulnerable than others. Examining key natural events and incorporating strategies to create a safer world, this revised edition is an important resource for those involved in the fields of environment and development studies.




A Safer Future


Book Description

Initial priorities for U.S. participation in the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, declared by the United Nations, are contained in this volume. It focuses on seven issues: hazard and risk assessment; awareness and education; mitigation; preparedness for emergency response; recovery and reconstruction; prediction and warning; learning from disasters; and U.S. participation internationally. The committee presents its philosophy of calls for broad public and private participation to reduce the toll of disasters.




How to Avoid a Climate Disaster


Book Description

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical—and accessible—plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe. Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide to certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal. He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. Drawing on his understanding of innovation and what it takes to get new ideas into the market, he describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions, where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively, where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete, practical plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions—suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers, and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise. As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but if we follow the plan he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.







Designing to Avoid Disaster


Book Description

Author Thomas Fisher introduces the idea of fracture-critical design and provides many solutions for how we can design to avoid major disasters.







High Magnetic Fields: Science And Technology (In 3 Volumes) - Vol. 1


Book Description

This three-volume book provides a comprehensive review of experiments in very strong magnetic fields that can only be generated with very special magnets. The first volume is entirely devoted to the technology of laboratory magnets: permanent, superconducting, high-power water-cooled and hybrid; pulsed magnets, both nondestructive and destructive (megagauss fields). Volumes 2 and 3 contain reviews of the different areas of research where strong magnetic fields are an essential research tool. These volumes deal primarily with solid-state physics; other research areas covered are biological systems, chemistry, atomic and molecular physics, nuclear resonance, plasma physics and astrophysics (including QED).




Evaluating Water Quality to Prevent Future Disasters


Book Description

Evaluating Water Quality to Prevent Future Disasters, volume 11 in the Separation Science and Technology series, covers various separation methods that can be used to avoid water catastrophes arising from climate change, arsenic, lead, algal bloom, fracking, microplastics, flooding, glyphosphates, triazines, GenX, and oil contamination. This book provides a valuable resource that will help the reader solve their potential water contamination problems and help them develop their own new approaches to monitor water contamination. - Highlights reasons for potential water catastrophes - Provides separation methods for monitoring water contamination - Encourages development of new methods for monitoring water contamination