Blog
What NOT To Do Following A Disaster
In the aftermath of virtually any major disaster, the internet overflows with haunting images of what were, only days before, whole communities. Homes are gone; in their place, shattered debris sits strewn across the streets. Newsreels flash with the hunched profiles...
How To Minimize The Risk of Cyber Threats
To the generations raised in a digital era, exchanging personal information online might feel as natural as breathing. But no matter how consciously one acknowledges the intrusion of cyberspace into our lives, doing so involves accepting another fact: the internet is...
The Dangers of Cyber Threats
For good or ill, cyberspace has evolved into a prime medium for activity and interaction. Shopping, socializing, work, recreation--so many actions that once required physical travel can now be done with the touch on a keyboard or the swipe of a finger. But like any...
Deadliest Natural Disasters in the US
Winds that shred houses to splinters, floods that destroy a city, clouds of crop-choking dust that circulate for years, tremors that topple skyscrapers and split the earth miles deep: these events--and the thousands of lives torn apart in their wake—have been some of...
Walls and Fences
“Something there is that doesn’t love a wall” The ongoing political debate of the two or so years since the most recent presidential election campaign began regularly brings to mind one of the first poems I remember learning as a child: Robert Frost’s Mending Wall. As...
The Dangers of Impervious Surfaces (And How Poor City Planning Leads To Stronger Disasters)
Just last year, in late August of 2017, Hurricane Harvey tore through the Houston metropolitan area. Its winds ripped apart anything in its path not bolted to the ground, then drenched what was left in sheet after solid sheet of pouring rain. Roads overflowed and...
Don’t Always Believe The Media Hype About Natural Disasters
Most news media organizations exist to inform, but more than ever in this internet age, in order to survive, the traditional news media look to sell stories as best they can. There is a long-standing aphorism in reporters’ circles: “if it bleeds, it leads.” No doubt...
Spotlight: 3 Great Books To Read About Natural Disasters
In this era of infinite possibility, we are still not free from disaster. The raw force of nature can--and often does--overwhelm the unprepared at any given time. Crops destroyed, resources gone, whole cities disrupted, lives obliterated: these are the threats leveled...
The Correlation Between Climate Change and Natural Disasters
California is experiencing its deadliest fires in state history. The recent landfalls of hurricanes are the worst in recent memory. These events should serve as the catalyst for conversations about climate change and natural disasters. Let’s take a look at how...
Climate Change and Natural Disasters And How They Threaten National Security
With the recent landfalls of Harvey, Irma, Jose, and Maria this hurricane season, the conversation about our preparedness for disasters such these arises yet again. The new variant on the topic is how climate change can threatening our national security. If we take a...
How Accurate are Disaster Movies?
Some disaster movies, though fun to watch, are grossly hyperbolized. You know the type: massive tsunamis that swallow cities whole, supersized tornadoes, pandemics that sweep the globe and render humans into flesh-eating zombies. As hyped up as some of these films may...
Biological Weapons and the Threat of a Global Pandemic
Science has progressed at an incredible rate over the last several hundred years, and the practice of medicine moved into the modern age as the 20th century progressed. Many infectious diseases that would have almost certainly killed us less than a hundred years ago...