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First Famines of Coronavirus Era Are at World’s Doorstep, U.N. Warns

The first famines of the coronavirus era could soon hit four chronically food-deprived conflict areas — Yemen, South Sudan, northeast Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo — the top humanitarian official of the United Nations has warned.

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Coronavirus Testing Labs Again Lack Key Supplies

Labs across the country are facing backlogs in coronavirus testing thanks in part to a shortage of tiny pieces of tapered plastic.

Researchers need these little disposables, called pipette tips, to quickly and precisely move liquid between vials as they process the tests.

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Clean Water Crisis Threatens US

           

Aerial view overlooking landscaping on April 4, 2015 in San Diego, California.  Photo: Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images

by Sarah Ferris and Peter Sullivan - April 25, 2016

The United States is on the verge of a national crisis that could mean the end of clean, cheap water.

Hundreds of cities and towns are at risk of sudden and severe shortages, either because available water is not safe to drink or because there simply isn’t enough of it.

The situation has grown so dire the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence now ranks water scarcity as a major threat to national security alongside terrorism.

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Resilience Alliance

There are many definitions of resilience from simple deterministic views of resilience anchored in Newtonian mechanics to far more dynamic views of resilience from a systems perspective, including insights from quantum mechanics and the sciences of complexity.  One baseline perspective of resilience sees it in terms of the viability of socio-ecological systems as the foundation for sustainability.  For those that are ready to look beyond resilience as the ability to return to the "normal state" before a disaster, take a look at:

http://www.resalliance.org/

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The San Francisco Resilience System's Distributed Smart Grid and Sustainability

Empowering Sustainability in San Francisco’s Neighborhoods

Using a Cloud Computing-based Distributed Smart Grid

 

There is a saying that trends are built in San Francisco, and when these innovations (born in the Bay Area and tested in California) hit New York, they are already beginning to fundamentally change the world we live in.

 

Overview

The San Francisco Bay Area has one of the largest concentrations of high technology companies and venture capital firms in the world.  As a result of its innovative cultures, history of strong earthquakes, and the recent economic downturn in California under conditions of rapid global change, the City of San Francisco is ratcheting up not only its emergency preparedness, but also its resilience and sustainability initiatives.  The goal is to create a new type of vibrant citizen-based leadership facing forward into the 21st century that enables San Francisco neighborhoods and communities of interest to thrive under otherwise uncertain and challenging times.

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