Extreme Weather, Health, and Communities

Extreme Weather, Health, and Communities
Author: Sheila Lakshmi Steinberg
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 404
Release: 2016-04-20
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 331930626X

This volume presents a unique interdisciplinary approach, drawing on expertise in both the natural and social sciences. A primary goal is to present a scientific and socially integrated perspective on place-based community engagement, extreme weather, and health. Each year extreme weather is leading to natural disasters around the world and exerting huge social and health costs. The International Monetary Fund (2012) estimates that since 2010, 700 worldwide natural disasters have affected more than 450 million people around the globe. The best coping strategy for extreme weather and environmental change is a strong offense. Communities armed with a spatial understanding of their resources, risks, strengths, weaknesses, community capabilities, and social networks will have the best chance of reducing losses and achieving a better outcome when extreme weather and disaster strikes.

Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation

Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation
Author: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 593
Release: 2012-05-28
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1107025060

Extreme weather and climate events, interacting with exposed and vulnerable human and natural systems, can lead to disasters. This Special Report explores the social as well as physical dimensions of weather- and climate-related disasters, considering opportunities for managing risks at local to international scales. SREX was approved and accepted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on 18 November 2011 in Kampala, Uganda.

Attribution of Extreme Weather Events in the Context of Climate Change

Attribution of Extreme Weather Events in the Context of Climate Change
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 187
Release: 2016-07-28
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309380979

As climate has warmed over recent years, a new pattern of more frequent and more intense weather events has unfolded across the globe. Climate models simulate such changes in extreme events, and some of the reasons for the changes are well understood. Warming increases the likelihood of extremely hot days and nights, favors increased atmospheric moisture that may result in more frequent heavy rainfall and snowfall, and leads to evaporation that can exacerbate droughts. Even with evidence of these broad trends, scientists cautioned in the past that individual weather events couldn't be attributed to climate change. Now, with advances in understanding the climate science behind extreme events and the science of extreme event attribution, such blanket statements may not be accurate. The relatively young science of extreme event attribution seeks to tease out the influence of human-cause climate change from other factors, such as natural sources of variability like El Niño, as contributors to individual extreme events. Event attribution can answer questions about how much climate change influenced the probability or intensity of a specific type of weather event. As event attribution capabilities improve, they could help inform choices about assessing and managing risk, and in guiding climate adaptation strategies. This report examines the current state of science of extreme weather attribution, and identifies ways to move the science forward to improve attribution capabilities.

Extreme Weather and Global Media

Extreme Weather and Global Media
Author: Julia Leyda
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2015-06-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1317630300

In the two decades bracketing the turn of the millennium, large-scale weather disasters have been inevitably constructed as media events. As such, they challenge the meaning of concepts such as identity and citizenship for both locally affected populations and widespread spectator communities. This timely collection pinpoints the features of an often overlooked yet rapidly expanding category of global media and analyzes both its forms and functions. Specifically, contributors argue that the intense promotion and consumption of 'extreme weather' events takes up the slack for the public conversations society is not having about the environment, and the feeling of powerlessness that accompanies the realization that anthropogenic climate change has now reached a point of no return. Incorporating a range of case studies of extreme weather mediation in India, the UK, Germany, Sweden, the US, and Japan, and exploring recent and ongoing disasters such as Superstorm Sandy, the Fukushima nuclear crisis, flooding in Germany, and heat waves in the UK, Extreme Weather and Global Media generates valuable inquiry into the representational and social characteristics of the new culture of extreme weather.

Deluge

Deluge
Author: K. R. Hickey
Publisher: Open Air Press
Total Pages: 128
Release: 2010
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781846822711

In 2009-2010 Ireland experienced a remarkable sequence of weather disasters & freak natural occurences. This text explains these events & their dramatic impacts. It also looks at the planning process, management of waterways, role of local authorities, response of central government & legal situation regarding clean-up procedures.

Extreme Weather Events and Human Health

Extreme Weather Events and Human Health
Author: Rais Akhtar
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 382
Release: 2019-11-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 3030237737

This edited book assesses the impacts of various extreme weather events on human health and development from a global perspective, and includes several case studies in various geographical regions around the globe. Covering all continents, it describes the impact of extreme weather conditions such as flash floods, heatwaves, cold waves, droughts, forest fires, strong winds and storms in both developing and developed countries. The contributing authors also investigate the spread of diseases and the risk to food security caused by drought and flooding. Further, the book discusses the economic damage resulting from natural disasters including hurricanes. It has been estimated that in 2017 natural disasters and climate change resulted in economic losses of 309 billion US dollars. Scientists also predict that if nothing is done to curb the effects of climate change, in Europe the death toll due to weather disasters could rise 50-fold by the end of the 21st century, with extreme heat alone causing more than 150,000 deaths a year, as the report on global warming of 1.5°C warns that China, Russia and Canada’s current climate policies would steer the world above a catastrophic 5°C of warming by the end of 2100. As such, the book highlights how the wellbeing of different populations is threatened by extreme events now and in the foreseeable future.

Responding to Extreme Weather Events

Responding to Extreme Weather Events
Author: Daniel Sempere-Torres
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 421
Release: 2024-04-29
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1119741580

An up-to-date discussion of the latest in weather-related event forecasting and management In Responding to Extreme Weather Events, a team of distinguished researchers delivers a timely and authoritative exploration of three international extreme weather projects: ANYWHERE, I-REACT, and BeAWARE. The key contributions from policymaking, science, and industry in each project are discussed, as are the resulting improved measures and technologies for forecasting and managing weather-related extreme events. The authors cover the entire crisis management cycle, from awareness and early warning to effective responses to extreme weather events. Readers will also find: A thorough introduction to the science and policy background of managing extreme weather events Comprehensive explorations of impact forecasting for extreme weather events, including discussions of the ANYWHERE project Practical discussions of how to improve resilience to weather-related emergencies with advanced cyber technologies A novel framework for crisis management during extreme weather events, including discussions of the BeAWARE project Essential for disaster management professionals, Responding to Extreme Weather Events will also benefit academic staff and researchers with an interest in extreme weather events and their consequences.

Shock Waves

Shock Waves
Author: Stephane Hallegatte
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 227
Release: 2015-11-23
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1464806748

Ending poverty and stabilizing climate change will be two unprecedented global achievements and two major steps toward sustainable development. But the two objectives cannot be considered in isolation: they need to be jointly tackled through an integrated strategy. This report brings together those two objectives and explores how they can more easily be achieved if considered together. It examines the potential impact of climate change and climate policies on poverty reduction. It also provides guidance on how to create a “win-win†? situation so that climate change policies contribute to poverty reduction and poverty-reduction policies contribute to climate change mitigation and resilience building. The key finding of the report is that climate change represents a significant obstacle to the sustained eradication of poverty, but future impacts on poverty are determined by policy choices: rapid, inclusive, and climate-informed development can prevent most short-term impacts whereas immediate pro-poor, emissions-reduction policies can drastically limit long-term ones.

The Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate

The Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate
Author: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 755
Release: 2022-04-30
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9781009157971

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading international body for assessing the science related to climate change. It provides policymakers with regular assessments of the scientific basis of human-induced climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for adaptation and mitigation. This IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate is the most comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the observed and projected changes to the ocean and cryosphere and their associated impacts and risks, with a focus on resilience, risk management response options, and adaptation measures, considering both their potential and limitations. It brings together knowledge on physical and biogeochemical changes, the interplay with ecosystem changes, and the implications for human communities. It serves policymakers, decision makers, stakeholders, and all interested parties with unbiased, up-to-date, policy-relevant information. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.