Wildfire Risks to Communities – Problems and Solutions
The occurrence and severity of wildfires is increasing, however, the lessons we have learned can help reverse this: wildfires are inevitable and necessary in many ecosystems.
Student Blogs
The Role of NOAA in Natural Hazards Resilience
As a master’s student nearing the halfway mark of my program, I often wonder about what it means to have a career in natural hazards resiliency.
Meteorologists and Climatologists in Building Coastal Resiliency
Dr. Christopher Zarzar is a meteorologist teaching at North Carolina Central University. In a talk with the University of North Carolina’s Natural Hazards Resilience Speaker Series on February 22, 2022, Dr. Zarzar gave an overview of how his work as a meteorologist—or, more specifically, a hydrometeorologist specializing in water quantity and quality issues—intersects with the ongoing climate crisis.
Proactive vs. Reactive Mindset and Climate Change
Dr. William H. Hooke, Associate Executive Director and Senior Policy Fellow at the American Meteorological Society, was the inaugural speaker for the spring 2022 Natural Hazards Resiliency Speaker Series.
Dr. William Hooke: Resilience in the Era of Climate Change
The Spring 2022 Natural Hazards Resilience Speaker Series began with a lecture by Dr. William Hooke, who emphasized the precariousness of humanity’s current position given that the instances of natural hazards will only increase, and likely in unpredictable ways – but his lecture also exuded optimism.
Bridging Past and Future: The Role of Planners in Enhancing Community Resilience to Natural Hazards
One of the great resiliency challenges faced by communities in this era of rapid climate change is that the past is no longer such a useful guide to the future.
Engineering With Nature: Pursuing a New Arrangement with Nature
On February 15, 2022, the Natural Hazards Speaker Series class, hosted by the Department of City and Regional Planning, had the delight of hearing from Dr. Todd Bridges, the U.S. Army’s Senior Research Scientist for Environmental Science.
Increasing Natural Hazards Resilience in Marginalized Communities
What are the disaster resilience needs of different types of disadvantaged groups?
This was a key question posed within Dr. Cassandra Davis’s recent report from the Coastal Resilience Center at UNC Chapel Hill, titled “Support Strategies for Socially Marginalized Neighborhoods Likely Impacted by Natural Hazards”.
The State Climate Office: Connecting Data to Decisions
As the varied geography of North Carolina continually influences complex climatic conditions, the North Carolina State Climate Office is there, ever on the case. Officially designated as a North Carolina Public Service Center, the NC Climate Office collects and distills climate data into readily available information for decision-makers and citizens.
Institutionalized equity combats hazard uncertainty
Dr. Ashley Ross-Wootton, an associate professor, author and proud Aggie, posed this question to our Natural Hazards Resilience class in February. Dr. Ross began by laying out the consequences of the 2010 Deep Horizon explosion and oil spill off the Louisiana coast: the event directly spurring her research to answer the very question she posed to us.