An optimistic vision of the future after Covid-19 by a leading professor of globalisation at the University of Oxford.

We are at a crossroads. The wrecking-ball of Covid-19 has destroyed global norms. Many think that after the devastation there will be a bounce back. To Ian Goldin, Professor of Development and Globalisation at the University of Oxford, this is a retrograde notion.

He believes that this crisis can create opportunities for change, just as the Second World War forged the ideas behind the Beveridge Report. Published in 1942, it was revolutionary and laid the foundations for the welfare state alongside a host of other social and economic reforms, changing the world for the better.

Ian Goldin tackles the challenges and opportunities posed by the pandemic, ranging from globalisation to the future of jobs, income inequality and geopolitics, the climate crisis and the modern city. It is a fresh, bold call for an optimistic future and one we all have the power to create.

"Unraveling Environmental Disasters" provides scientific explanations of the most threatening current and future environmental disasters, including an analysis of ways that the disaster could have been prevented and how therisk of similar disasters can be minimized in the future.
Treats disasters as complex systems.Provides predictions based upon sound science, such as what the buildup of certain radiant gases in the troposphere will do, or what will happen if current transoceanic crude oil transport continues.Considers the impact of human systems on environmental disasters."

A searing investigation of the factors that devastated Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria, from acclaimed investigative reporter Michael Deibert. When Hurricane Maria roared across Puerto Rico in September 2017, it devastated the island. It was an unprecedented natural disaster, a Category 5 major hurricane, and ultimately responsible for the deaths of more than 3,000 people. It also ripped away the facade that had dominated discussions of the island's relationship with the United States for over a century. This is the first book to comprehensively expose what happened during Hurricane Maria, why Puerto Rico was so poorly prepared, and why a US territory, an island of American citizens, was largely ignored by the federal government in the wake of a catastrophic natural disaster. Using a blend of history and on-the-ground reportage, Michael Deibert pulls back the veil of the island known for its powdery beaches, rainforests, and apricot-and-lavender sunsets to reveal the trajectory for the decisions that set it on the path to the disaster that came during and in the wake of the storm, when its entire power grid and much of its water supply was knocked out. In doing so, he also reveals the stories of everyday heroism, compassion, and unexpected joy that have defined the island before and after Hurricane Maria.

This edited collection explores aspects of contemporary war that affect average people -physically, emotionally, and ethically through activities ranging from combat to television viewing. The aim of this work is to supplement the usual emphasis on strategic and national issues of war in the interest of theorizing aspects of war from the point of view of individual experience, be the individual a combatant, a casualty, a supporter, opponent, recorder, veteran, distant viewer, an international lawyer, an ethicist or other intellectual. This volume presents essays that push the boundaries of war studies and war thinking, without promoting one kind of theory or methodology for studying war as experiential politics, but with an eye to exploring the possibilities and encouraging others to take up the new agenda. It includes new and challenging thinking on humanitarianism and war, new wars in the Third World, gender and war thinking, and the sense of the body within war that inspires recent UN resolutions. It also gives examples that can change our understanding of who is located where doing what with respect to war -women warriors in Sierra Leone, war survivors living with their memories, and even an artist drawing something seemingly intangible about war -the arms trade. The unique aspect of this book is its purposive pulling together of foci and theoretical and methodological perspectives from a number of disciplines on a variety of contemporary wars. Arguably, war is an activity that engages the attention, the politics, and the lives of many people. To theorize it with those lives and perspectives in mind, recognizing the political contexts of war, is long overdue. This inter-disciplinary book will be of much interest to students of war studies, critical security studies, gender studies, sociology and IR in general.

Today, our lives are dominated by an ideology of extreme competition and individualism. It misrepresents human nature, destroying hope and common purpose. But we cannot replace it without a positive vision, one that reengages people in politics and lights a path to a better world. Urgent and passionate, George Monbiot shows how new findings in psychology, neuroscience and evolutionary biology cast humans in a radically different light: as the supreme altruists and cooperators. He shows how both democracy and economic life can be radically reorganised from the bottom up, enabling us to take back control and overthrow the forces that have thwarted our ambitions for a better society. Out of the Wreckage explains just how communities can be rebuilt with the help of a new "politics of belonging".

A step-by-step guidebook for advance preparation and early response to school crises

This Second Edition of Preparing for Crises in the Schools arrives at a critical moment. With several recent dramatic examples of school violence and other tragedies afflicting communities nationwide, the need for school districts to take proactive measures–rather than merely react to a crisis–is critical.

This completely updated edition offers practical plans for laying the important groundwork to ensure that crisis response will be both immediate and thorough in the wake of tragedy. Authored by three school crisis response planning experts, it offers advice on early detection of trouble, developing plans and procedures to intervene with youths quickly and successfully, and conducting a school in-service workshop on crisis response planning and intervention.

Essential for counselors, school psychologists, teachers, and administrators alike, this book helps ensure that schools are not caught by surprise when a crisis occurs.

Where should they go? 70 million displaced refugees and asylum seekers with no passport, no money, and no worldly goods. In 380 BCE Plato wrote about the 'Ideal City,' but it wasn't until 1516 CE that Sir Thomas More invented the word, 'Utopia,' translated from Greek as 'good place,' that is in need of a new, contemporary interpretation. It is within the framework of utopia that the City of Refugees represents a place that transcends the fate of the refugee and the reason they were torn from their homeland and not given safe haven fleeing their country. It is a concept for a new city that welcomes these optimistic people looking for a place to be free from oppression. The University of Houston College of Architecture + Design with 135 students is proposing 4 cities on 4 continents as prototypes that represent a real utopia for housing the unprecedented migration of people moving across borders. This UN-sponsored, free economic zone for the 4 cities can be funded by small fractions of the defense budgets appropriated by the UN. The innovative cities create a platform for a new, multi-ethnic society based upon justice, tolerance, and economically viable with a net zero energy consumption within a sustainable environment. The new three-dimensional cities redefine the concept of streets by no longer needing cars creating a real utopia for those with no voice. The City of Refugees is a soft place to land that believes in the future.

'If there is any "must read" book about COVID-19, this is, without a doubt, the one.' Peter Jay Hotez, MD, PhD, National School of Tropical Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine 'Drawing on his brilliant reporting from the front lines of the fight against COVID, Gupta has produced a book filled with hope and optimism that draws on the lessons of the recent past to give people a grounded sense of how to navigate the future.' Walter Isaacson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Code Breaker Frontline Covid-19 health journalist, Dr. Sanjay Gupta has had insider access to the unfolding pandemic, including exclusive conversations with the world's top public health experts and behind-the-scenes scientists racing to find treatments and cures. And now he's sharing what he's learned in a book that will answer not only all our questions about what happened, but also about how our world will change in the years ahead, even once we're back to 'normal'. As the doctor who's been guiding us through the crisis with compassion, clarity, and well-earned wisdom, he gives you the unvarnished story behind the pandemic, including insights about the novel virus's behavior, and offers practical tools to ready ourselves for what lies ahead. He answers critical questions: Can we stamp out the virus for good (and if not, how do we live with it)? Should we put our parents in a nursing home? How do you decide when it's safe to go to a public pool or schedule elective surgery? What should Covid survivors know about protecting their future health? What if you become a long-hauler with chronic health challenges stemming? World War C will give you hope for the future along with real information that leaves you more resilient and secure. 'Part murder mystery, part practical how-to-survive guide, Dr Sanjay Gupta's World War C is a tour de force. In this riveting book, Sanjay divulges, as few others can, what you didn't hear about in the news during the pandemic, and equips us with the everyday tools to stay safe and chase life like never before.' Andy Slavitt, former senior advisor of COVID-19 response, Biden White House 'With his characteristic curiosity, compassion, and humility, combined with unparalleled talent as a master-storyteller, Dr Gupta presents the defining history of the greatest public health catastrophe of our lifetimes. This is a must-read for how we can emerge stronger as individuals and as a society.' Leana Wen, Washington Post contributing columnist, former Baltimore health commissioner and author of Lifelines

A safe mode of transport today, the railways were far from vehicles of sleepy commute when they first came into service; indeed, accidents were commonplace and sometimes were a result of something far more sinister. In this fresh approach to railway history, Rosa Matheson explores the grim and grisly railway past. These horrible happenings include memorable disasters and accidents, the lack of burial grounds for London's dead, leading to the 'Necropolis Railway', the gruesome necessity of digging up the dead to accommodate the railways and how the discovery of dynamite gave rise to the 'Dynamite Wars' on the London Underground in the 1880s and 1890s. Join Rosa as she treads carefully through the fascinating gruesome history of Britain's railways.

An essential guide to the foundations, research and practices of community disaster resilience Framing Community Disaster Resilience offers a guide to the theories, research and approaches for addressing the complexity of community resilience towards hazardous events or disasters. The text draws on the activities and achievements of the project emBRACE: Building Resilience Amongst Communities in Europe. The authors identify the key dimensions of resilience across a range of disciplines and domains and present an analysis of community characteristics, networks, behaviour and practices in specific test cases. The text contains an in-depth exploration of five test cases whose communities are facing impacts triggered by different hazards, namely: river floods in Germany, earthquakes in Turkey, landslides in South Tyrol, Italy, heat-waves in London and combined fluvial and pluvial floods in Northumberland and Cumbria. The authors examine the data and indicators of past events in order to assess current situations and to tackle the dynamics of community resilience. In addition, they put the focus on empirical analysis to explore the resilience concept and to test the usage of indicators for describing community resilience. This important text: Merges the forces of research knowledge, networking and practices in order to understand community disaster resilience Contains the results of the acclaimed project Building Resilience Amongst Communities in Europe - emBRACE Explores the key dimensions of community resilience Includes five illustrative case studies from European communities that face various hazards Written for undergraduate students, postgraduates and researchers of social science, and policymakers, Framing Community Disaster Resilience reports on the findings of an important study to reveal the most effective approaches to enhancing community resilience. The emBRACE research received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013 under grant agreement n Degrees 283201. The European Community is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained in this publication.

Snow and Ice-Related Hazards, Risks, and Disasters, Second Edition, provides you with the latest scientific developments in sea level rise, permafrost degradation, rock/ice avalanches, glacier surges, glacial lake outburst floods, ice shelf collapses, climate change implications, causality, impacts, preparedness and mitigation. The book takes a geo-scientific approach to the topic while also covering current thinking about directly related social scientific issues that can affect ecosystems and global economies. Special emphasis is placed on the rapidly progressing effects from global warming on the cryosphere, perspectives for the future and latest scientific advances, and technological developments.

'One of the wonder women of our emergency services' Glamour

'Homeless as a teenager, Sabrina Cohen-Hatton has spent the last eighteen years dealing with everything from fires to car crashes and terrorist attacks. Who better to write a book about life-or-death situations?' Guardian

Dr Sabrina Cohen-Hatton has been a firefighter for eighteen years. She decides which of her colleagues rush into a burning building and how they confront the blaze. She makes the call to evacuate if she believes the options have been exhausted or that the situation has escalated beyond hope.

Taking us to the very heart of firefighting, she immerses us in this extraordinary world; from scenes of devastation and crisis, through triumphs of bravery, to the quieter moments when she questions herself. Revealing her own story for the very first time, she recounts her years spent sleeping rough and her passion for a career that allows her to rescue others as she was never rescued herself.

This book is the result of everything she has learnt about how we respond in our most extreme moments.

'An inspirational woman' Good Housekeeping

The interconnectedness of communities, organisations, governing bodies, policy and individuals in the field of disaster studies has never been accurately examined or comprehensively modelled. This kind of study is vital for planning policy and emergency responses and assessing individual and community vulnerability, resilience and sustainability as well as mitigation and adaptation to climate change impacts; it therefore deserves attention. Disasters and Social Resilience fills this gap by introducing to the field of disaster studies a fresh methodology and a model for examining and measuring impacts and responses to disasters. Urie Bronfenbrenner's bioecological systems theory, which is used to look at communities holistically, is outlined and illustrated through a series of chapters, guiding the reader from the theory's underpinnings through research illustrations and applications focused on each level of Bronfenbrenner's ecosystems, culminating in an integration chapter. The final chapter provides policy recommendations for local and national government bodies and emergency providers to help individuals and communities prepare and withstand the effects of a range of disasters. This book will be of great interest to scholars and students of disaster and emergency management, disaster readiness and risk reduction (DRR), and to scholars and students of more general climate change and sustainability studies.

Jessica Alexander arrived in Rwanda in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide as an idealistic intern, eager to contribute to the work of the international humanitarian aid community. But the world that she encountered in the field was dramatically different than anything she could have imagined. It was messy, chaotic, and difficult--but she was hooked.
In this honest and irreverent memoir, she introduces readers to the realities of life as an aid worker. We watch as she manages a 24,000-person camp in Darfur, collects evidence for the Charles Taylor trial in Sierra Leone, and contributes to the massive aid effort to clean up a shattered Haiti. But we also see the alcohol-fueled parties and fleeting romances, the burnouts and self-doubt, and the struggle to do good in places that have long endured suffering.
Tracing her personal journey from wide-eyed and naive newcomer to hardened cynic and, ultimately, to hopeful but critical realist, Alexander transports readers to some of the most troubled locations around the world and shows us not only the seemingly impossible challenges, but also the moments of resilience and recovery.

Urban trauma describes a condition where conflict or catastrophe has disrupted and damaged not only the physical environment and infrastructure of a city, but also the social and cultural networks. Cities experiencing trauma dominate the daily news. Images of blasted buildings, or events such as Hurricane Katrina exemplify the sense of 'immediate impact'. But how is this trauma to be understood in its aftermath, and in urban terms? What is the response of the discipline to the post-traumatic condition? On the one hand, one can try to restore and recover everything that has passed, or otherwise see the post-traumatic city as a resilient space poised on the cusp of new potentialities. While repair and reconstruction are automatic reflexes, the knowledge and practices of the disciplines need to be imbued with a deeper understanding of the effect of trauma on cities and their contingent realities. This issue will pursue this latter approach, using examples of post-traumatic urban conditions to rethink the agency of architecture and urbanism in the contemporary world. Post-traumatic urbanism demands of architects the mobilisation of skills, criticality and creativity in contexts in which they are not familiar. The post-traumatic is no longer the exception; it is the global condition.

"Contributors include:
"Andrew Benjamin
Ole Bouman
Tony Chakar
Mark Fisher
Christopher Hight
Brian Massumi
Todd Reisz
Eyal Weizman
Slavojiek

"Counterpoint critics:
"Jayne Merkel
Craig Whitaker

"Encompasses:
"Urban conflict
Reconstruction
Infrastructure
Development
Climate change
Public relations
Population growth
Film

Enhancing Disaster Preparedness: From Humanitarian Architecture to Community Resilience relates to the fourth priority of the UNDRR's Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. Taking a wide understanding of disaster preparedness, the book deals with resilient responses and building capacities related to hazardous events, bringing some practical experiences and theoretical insights in this regard. Mostly based on field research conducted in the Global South by architects and other built-environment professionals, the book covers both post-disaster interventions (rebuilding and recovery) and development-related processes. Its three parts address the interlinkages between humanitarian design, community resilience, and inclusive governance, which are crucial for fostering effective disaster preparedness. Part I discusses the changing roles of architects and urban designers involved in the humanitarian sphere. Part II concentrates on resilience as a socioecological capacity to enhance preparedness within community-based spatial processes. Focused on global dynamics, Part III covers topics emphasizing the link between the management of crises, whether political or economic, at different levels of governance, and the vulnerability of communities and structures on the national and local scales. As such, the book approaches rising global priorities and brings timely lessons to support building a more equitable, safe, and resilient environment in a rapidly urbanized world.

Introduction to International Disaster Management, Fourth Edition, offers an unbiased, global perspective for students and practitioners alike. It provides a comprehensive understanding of the disaster management profession, covering the varied sources of risk and vulnerability, the systems that exist to manage hazard risk, and the many different stakeholders involved, from individuals to global organizations. This text also serves as a reference on scores of disaster management topics, including various technological and intentional hazards, on international disaster management structures and systems, on global humanitarian spending and support, and much more. Taking a real-world approach with considerable illustration through case studies and recent and historical disaster events, this book prepares students interested in joining the disaster management community to understand the work they will be doing. In addition, it assists those who already work with the disaster management community by helping them better navigate this complex environment.

This volume provides an account of the 1989 Hurricane Hugo for historical purposes, evaluates the physical phenomena involved and the performance of structures and systems, and identifies and recommends cases where an in-depth study would improve our ability to analyze and forecast such failures.

This volume presents an economic framework for the analysis of resilience in relation to societal, environmental, and personal security perspectives. It offers a rigorous definition of economic resilience and an operational metric, and it shows how they can be applied to measuring and applying the concept to private and public decision making. Major dimensions of resilience and their implications for human development are explored. Resilience is emphasized as a coping mechanism for dealing with short-term crises, such as natural disasters and acts of terrorism. As well, the author shows how lessons learned in the short-run out of necessity and through the application of human ingenuity can be incorporated into long-run sustainability practices. In part, this opportunity stems from viewing resilience as a process, one that enhances individual and societal competencies. The book links economic resilience to several other disciplines and examines the relationship between resilience and various other key concepts such as vulnerability, adaptation, and sustainability. It scrutinizes the measurement of economic resilience in terms of temporal, spatial, and scale dimensions. It examines the time-path of resilience and relates it to the recovery process.This work also looks closely at progress on the formulation of resilience indices and stresses the importance of actionable variables. It presents a risk-management framework, including aspects of cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analysis. Additionally, it explores the role of resilience in relation to the co-benefits of disaster risk management.

***A GUARDIAN BOOK TO LOOK OUT FOR IN AUTUMN 2021*** A brilliantly warm, witty and moving portrait of our pandemic lives, told in ten heart-rending short stories Love and marriage. Children and family. Death and grief. Life touches everyone the same. But living under lockdown, it changes us alone. In these ten, beautifully moving short stories mostly written over the last year, Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle paints a collective portrait of our strange times. A man abroad wanders the stag-and-hen-strewn streets of Newcastle, as news of the virus at home asks him to question his next move. An exhausted nurse struggles to let go, having lost a much-loved patient in isolation. A middle-aged son, barred from his mother's funeral, wakes to an oncoming hangover of regret. Told with Doyle's signature warmth, wit and extraordinary eye for the richness that underpins the quiet of our lives, Life Without Children cuts to the heart of how we are all navigating loss, loneliness, and the shifting of history underneath our feet. 'Roddy Doyle is an absolute genius' J.K. Rowling 'The undisputed laureate of ordinary lives' The Times

Out of sight of most Americans, global corporations like Nestle, Suez, and Veolia are rapidly buying up our local water sources--lakes, streams, and springs--and taking control of public water services. In their drive to privatize and commodify water, they have manipulated and bought politicians, clinched backroom deals, and subverted the democratic process by trying to deny citizens a voice in fundamental decisions about their most essential public resource.

The authors' PBS documentary "Thirst" showed how communities around the world are resisting the privatization and commodification of water. "Thirst," the book, picks up where the documentary left off, revealing the emergence of controversial new water wars in the United States and showing how communities here are fighting this battle, often against companies headquartered overseas.

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