The natural disasters of 2017-19 have exposed weaknesses in our preparation for disaster and climate change. What if we had paid attention — before disaster ensued — to how environmental protection and planning can prevent and minimize the harm that disasters cause to people, their housing,...

This chapter examines climate disaster planning conceptually and in practice. It proposes a set of principles and a flexible framework for such planning, derived from lessons gleaned from experiences in the United States and elsewhere. Then, because, most implementation is local, it examines two...

Chairman Enzi, Ranking Member Sanders, and Members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me here today to share with you my concerns about regulatory budgeting and to explain why I think this strategy could hurt everyday Americans while producing no benefit to the overall economy. As a former...

In this draft book chapter, the authors – one a former political appointee at EPA in the Obama administration, the other a senior climate change adaption adviser at EPA – discuss the law and policy of adapting to climate change in coastal areas of the United States. The most dramatic effects...

This essay examines the relationship between international adaptation efforts with regard to climate change and disaster management policy. Reviewing the respective United Nations frameworks for both climate and natural disasters, we find many shared interests and opportunities for...

Commentators argue, with good reason, that flood risk polices are soft on retreat. We Americans are more interested in fortifying our castles or building them higher than in moving out of harm’s way. And that is despite warnings of rising seas and stronger storms associated with climate...

The scope of climate change impacts is expected to be extraordinary, touching every ecosystem on the planet and affecting human interactions with the natural and built environment. From increased surface and water temperatures to sea level rise and more frequent extreme weather events, climate...

This article examines risk and distributional fairness as they relate the Hurricane Katrina disaster and climate change. To be sure, these catastrophes are different. Katrina was regional, not global, and was fast-acting. Climate change is global, slow-moving and will come in multiple stages in...

We are attempting to assess the progress the federal government has made toward integrating environmental justice into its policies, programs, and activities, as well as whether federal agencies have made a substantial effort to direct and deliver environmental services to environmental justice...

In the decades since Congress and state legislatures passed most of the nation's most significant environmental laws, our knowledge about ecosystems has increased dramatically. As ecologists learn more about the complex and dynamic interactions that produce valuable ecosystem services,...