Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
As storms intensify in our warming world, recovery no longer feels permanent in places at risk of disasters. Instead, it’s too often a temporary reprieve before the next disaster hits. Recognizing community disaster fatigue is an important step toward building resilient recovery systems.
While the U.S. celebrates its 250th anniversary, political attention is drifting away from climate change just as warming accelerates and Earth’s life-support systems approach collapse. From disappearing federal climate data to record-breaking heat, denial is giving way to something more dangerous: collective delusion.
Daniel Aldrich is a leading expert on how social ties shape disaster recovery, his perspective shaped by his family’s flight from Katrina and his work at USAID. In this interview, he explains why social capital is vital to strengthening communities in the face of crises.
A recent study published in Nature Sustainability concluded that New Orleans residents should plan now to move away from the city. For the hundreds of thousands who live in New Orleans, and the millions of others who love the Crescent City, this is an incredibly sad conclusion. And it’s a conclusion that many other cities rich in culture and history around the world will face as sea levels rise.
What makes Vermont so resilient? Undoubtedly, the most important thing is the people. This is a state of small towns and strong bonds.
