Resilience News

Lefty Gomez was famous for saying he’d rather be lucky than good (How many of you know who Lefty Gomez was?). And when it comes to disasters, there are a lot of communities that have thrived due to dumb luck. After Katrina, Baldwin county in Alabama gained lots of new residents who had well-paying jobs in Mobile – jobs with companies who had relocated from New Orleans. Older workers were almost unaffected by the Great Recession; if we had a job, we kept it. No action was required – just being in the right place at the right time was enough.

Experiencing trauma, abuse or neglect in childhood may lead to health complications later on, including a higher risk of developing dementia, new research finds. Researchers in Japan published a study this week that examined the connection between adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, and dementia risk. The team found that the more ACEs someone experiences early in life, the higher their chance of developing dementia in older age.

We live in a more connected world than ever before. The availability of rapid intercontinental travel means that a disease in one region can easily become a global concern, as the novel coronavirus outbreak has demonstrated in recent weeks.

On January 29th, Dr. Liz Allen, GRI's Postdoctoral Research Associate, spoke at the Myra Kraft Open Classroom – Climate Change: A Course For Everyone. The weekly course takes place at Northeastern University's Boston campus and is open to the public, and streamed globally, with the intent to promote climate change education, resilience, and action for all. Previously this semester, GRI’s Founding Director Stephen Flynn spoke at the course on Climate Resilience, along with GRI’s Distinguished Senior Fellow Dr. Atyia Martin and GRI’s faculty affiliate Brian Helmuth. Dr. Allen was invited to speak about the impacts of climate change on agriculture and food systems, as her research has specifically focused on this issue in the Northwestern regions of the U.S.

Back in 2016, the City of Boston released an action plan to combat climate change as part of Imagine Boston 2030, a document outlining the government’s plan for the future of Boston. Known as Climate Ready Boston, this initiative includes updated climate projections, vulnerability assessments and climate resilience strategies, as well as establishes eight focus areas for investment where risks, particularly coastal and riverine flooding, are spatially concentrated. The report highlighted three major threats to the city in the coming decades: sea level rise, extreme heat and extreme precipitation.

The novel coronavirus outbreak has infected more than 30,000 people in China and more than 800 have died, which is more than the number of fatalities from the SARS epidemic in the early 2000s.

On Wednesday, January 22nd, GRI’s Founding Director, Stephen Flynn spoke at the Myra Kraft Open Classroom - Climate Change: A Course For Everyone to help promote climate change education, resilience, and action for all.

Historic rainfall in southeastern Brazil has created deadly floods and widespread destruction in a region that was experimenting with “more progressive” planning and zoning policies than most, says Northeastern political science professor Thomas Vicino, who studies metropolitan development and housing in Brazil.

Communities in Australia and California share connected experiences as they face climate-related threats, especially fire. Different continents, connected climates, same challenges. Here are view from two people who had close contact with recent fires in California and Australia.

Last week, I mentioned lack of social capital as one of the culprits in the Haiti earthquake disaster. Social capital is a measure of community connectedness and many studies show that it can reduce impacts and improve recovery in disaster. For me, enhancing social capital is a no-brainer. Much of how to build it is relatively easy and has the added benefit of making a our society more livable even between disasters.

A study conducted after the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami concluded that social networks were more important than emergency supplies in reducing losses and accelerating recovery.

A review of the Democratic presidential candidate’s reported assets calls into question his claims that he no longer has investments in oil, gas and coal.