Month: January 2023

Why Hospitals See Spikes in Visits During Heat Waves

Why Hospitals See Spikes in Visits During Heat Waves

01/31/23

“Why do hospitals see spikes in visits during heat waves?”

Heat waves are public health crises. The long-lasting soaring temperatures lead to wide-scale dehydration, stress, and pain. If not treated carefully, these conditions can put people into critical states, forcing them to the emergency room. Public Health Professionals and Emergency Planners need to understand Why Hospitals See Spikes in Visits During Heat Waves and get their infrastructure prepared.

Virtual Reality First Responder Training

Virtual Reality First Responder Training

01/30/23

“How can first responders integrate virtual reality into their training?”

First responders are some of the most important people during emergencies. Their skills allow them to rush to the scene and save lives. However, setting up training for these events can be quite challenging. Emergency situations are very complicated dynamic events that don’t always play well in rehearsal. For example, simulating a building collapsing from an earthquake is very expensive to perform physically.

So how can we use current technology to fix part of this gap? Well, what if we were to simulate a virtual world using virtual reality? This way, we can perform countless different complex scenarios without ever having to build anything in the physical world. Virtual Reality First Responder Training gives us the opportunity to put first responders in any situation they need to prepare for.

How Virtual Reality Can be Used to Help Urban Planners Explore Their Ideas

How Virtual Reality Can be Used to Help Urban Planners Explore Their Ideas

01/29/23

“How can virtual reality be used to help urban planners explore their ideas?”

Virtual reality allows people to explore a simulated space. This can be applied to professional spaces, urban planning being no exception. With virtual reality, urban planners can visualize what a concept they have may look like on a human scale. Instead of being restricted to a static computer program, planners can see how residents will actually feel about things. Virtual reality can show a project’s impact on the surrounding environment such as shadows and reflections. This is How Virtual Reality Can be Used to Help Urban Planners Explore Their Ideas.

Medical Responders for Heat Waves

Medical Responders for Heat Waves

01/28/23

“Why are medical responders critical during heat waves?”

Heat waves are public health emergencies. The intense strain they put on human bodies can lead to dehydration, stroke, and even death. Medical Responders for Heat Waves play a critical role in responding to such events. They can perform actions such as placing people on I.V systems, setting up cooling centers, and rushing large numbers of people to hospitals. As the climate warms with each passing minute, these medical professionals are only going to become more important.

Why Community Resiliency Assessment Metrics Need to Be Co-Developed With the Communities Being Assessed

Why Community Resiliency Assessment Metrics Need to Be Co-Developed With the Communities Being Assessed

01/27/23

“Why do community resiliency assessment metrics need to be co-developed with the communities being assessed?”

Urban Planners develop community resiliency assessment metrics to determine the adaptive capacity of a place. However, if these planners do not have any connection with the communities, the methodology they develop may miss important nuances and give an inaccurate portrayal. For example, an economic evaluation of a low-income neighborhood may make it sound like it has no hope when a disaster strikes. But the community may be tight-knit and well-organized, positioning itself to be self-reliant during climate impacts. To capture these elements, the communities will need to be a part of the metrics development process. This is Why Community Resiliency Assessment Metrics Need to Be Co-Developed With the Communities Being Assessed

Why Building Codes Should Incorporate Future Temperature Projections

Why Building Codes Should Incorporate Future Temperature Projections

01/26/23

“Why should building codes incorporate future temperature projections?”

Building codes often take into account local temperatures in their guidance. For example, California’s Title 24 building energy efficiency codes require residential units to have minimum ceiling and wall insulation values corresponding to their local climate zone. With the advent of climate change, the temperatures in such climate zones will shift, and the buildings built today must withstand this new paradigm. To illustrate, the Californian city of Fresno is projected to experience 10 times as many heat days per year between 2050 and 2099 than what it experienced from 1961 to 2005. Policymakers should start considering Why Building Codes Should Incorporate Future Temperature Projections to protect their citizens.

Why Public Utility Commissions Will Need to Integrate Climate Adaptation into Utility Regulations

Why Public Utility Commissions Will Need to Integrate Climate Adaptation into Utility Regulations

01/25/23

“Why will public utility commissions need to integrate climate adaptation into utility regulations?”

Climate change has arrived. Vast swaths of California are burning. Bangladesh is flooding. The Sahel is turning more and more into a desert. Utilities are going to have to adapt to this new paradigm. However, if there are no regulations to govern them, they might propose solutions that don’t benefit their customers. For example, they could harden their infrastructure to climate pathways that are considered too extreme by most scientists, just so they can extract as much money as possible. To solve this, public utility commissions will have to step in and enforce regulations on these organizations. Actions to undertake this range from bringing climate adaptation matters into rate case proceedings to forcing adherence to particular standards. This is Why Public Utility Commissions Will Need to Integrate Climate Adaptation into Utility Regulations

Why Floods Can Disrupt Telecommunications Infrastructure

Why Floods Can Disrupt Telecommunications Infrastructure

01/24/23

“Why can floods disrupt telecommunications infrastructure?”

Telecommunications infrastructure comes in the forms of wires, wi-fi units, radio/cell towers, and much more. However, their physical nature puts them at risk during floods. Water can seep into underground cables and damage them. Strong winds can knock down communications towers, disrupting service in the surrounding neighborhood. Power shut offs can sap the energy from internet providers. Heavy rains can muddle satellite communications. With all of this in mind, it’s easy to see Why Floods Can Disrupt Telecommunications Infrastructure.

Why Climate Disasters Exacerbate Domestic Violence

Why Climate Disasters Exacerbate Domestic Violence

01/23/23

“Why do climate disasters exacerbate domestic violence?”

When climate disasters occur, people lose their resources and are forced to shelter in places for long periods of time. This can lead people to being entrapped with domestic abusers without the ability to escape. Worse, the immediate chaos surrounding the disaster makes it more difficult to report and get assistance from authorities. This is Why Climate Disaster Exacerbates Domestic Violence. Disaster professionals will need to consider ways to mitigate these risks and ensure the protection of victims.