submitted by Samuel Bendett

Homeland Security News Wire - April 19, 2012

Researchers place a model hospital on a shake table to assess the structure’s ability to withstand earthquake; in accordance with California latest building code, base isolators, which are rubber bearings intended to absorb the shock of the motion, were installed underneath the structure; the hospital passed the 6.7-magnitude and 8.8-magnitude tests with flying colors.

Last Tuesday, engineers from the University of California, San Diego conducted an ambitious and successful earthquake simulation, with what some called “boring” results.

Engineered had constructed a 5-story building, complete with a hospital operating room, an elevator, a kitchen filled with glassware. They also added a heavy air-conditioning unit to the roof. The building, built to California’s top earthquake codes, was then placed on top of a shake table, a device for shaking structural models or building components with a wide range of simulated ground motions, including reproductions of recorded earthquake time-histories.

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by Joel Makower - greenbiz.com - April 2, 2012

Nike is joining with NASA, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the U.S. Department of State to identify 10 “game changing” innovations that transform waste systems in both developed and developing countries.

The 10 winners don’t get cash or other prizes, but rather the chance to engage in a collaborative process with some of the world’s smartest and most connected people.

The goal of the LAUNCH: Beyond Waste challenge is to identify companies and organizations that have innovative designs for zero waste solutions, waste elimination, waste transformation, and waste mitigation technologies, “as well as waste reduction-focused education, business, and financial strategies that have the potential to reduce and/or eliminate waste at a household, community, office building, campus, or industrial level,” according to the program overview (download – PDF).

by Boyd Cohen - huffingtonpost.ca - August 1, 2011

In this series, I will be reviewing best practices in mitigating and adapting to climate change in cities, also known as resilient cities, around the globe, starting with the top 10 cities from my global ranking. Last week I highlighted number eight, New York. Next up, San Francisco.

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by Dana Hull- mercurynews.com - March 14, 2012

The amount of photovoltaic solar panels installed in the United States more than doubled from 2010 to 2011, representing a historic year for the American solar industry.

A year-in-review report jointly released Wednesday by the Solar Energy Industries Association and GTM Research found that 1,855 megawatts were installed nationwide in 2011, up from 887 megawatts in 2010 -- for a growth of 109 percent.

California continued to lead the nation, installing 542 megawatts, accounting for 29 percent of all installations in the country. Next came New Jersey, Arizona and New Mexico.

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U.S. Solar Market Insight™ is a collaboration between the Solar Energy Industries Association® (SEIA®) and GTM Research that brings high-quality, solar-specific analysis and forecasts to industry professionals in the form of quarterly and annual reports.

by Jeremy Rifkin - huffingtonpost.com - March 28, 2012

The great economic revolutions in history occur when new communication technologies converge with new energy systems. New energy revolutions make possible more expansive and integrated trade. Accompanying communication revolutions manage the new complex commercial activities made possible by the new energy flows.

Today, Internet technology and renewable energies are beginning to merge to create a new infrastructure for a Third Industrial Revolution (TIR) that will change the way power is distributed in the 21st century.

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California's Bay-Delta water supply area // Source: usgs.gov

submitted by Samuel Bendett

Homeland Security News Wire - March 30, 2012

Simultaneously attaining a reliable water supply for California and protecting and rehabilitating its Bay-Delta ecosystem cannot be realized until better planning can identify how trade-offs between these two goals will be managed when water is limited, says a new report from the National Research Council.  Recent efforts have been ineffective in meeting these goals because management is distributed among many agencies and organizations, which hinders development and implementation of an integrated, comprehensive plan.  Additionally, it is impossible to restore the delta habitat to its pre-disturbance state because of the extensive physical and ecological changes that have already taken place and are still occurring, including those due to multiple environmental stressors.

by Marc Gunther - greenbiz.com - March 26, 2012

Hitchhiking is so yesterday. A San Francisco-based startup called Zimride is using the power of social media to connect drivers with people needing rides -- saving people money, helping the environment and sometimes helping its customers make new friends.

"Zimriding is really fun," says John Zimmer, the company's co-founder and chief operating officer."We've had people who have met a girlfriend or boyfriend, or found a new job."

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Zimride is a simple way to find friends, classmates, and coworkers going the same way you are.

http://www.zimride.com/

submitted by Samuel Bendett

Workers fix subway lines that were damaged after an earthquake was felt in Mexico City on Tuesday, March 20. (Associated Press / March 19, 2012)

By Hector Becerra and Sam Allen, Times Staff Writers - latimes.com - March 22, 2012

The state spends a fraction of what countries like Mexico and Japan spend on their systems. One reason for the lack of interest, experts say, is that California has not experienced a catastrophic quake in more than a century.

March 13, 2012

WASHINGTON – The Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) today announced an innovative new partnership designed to continue to strengthen the nation's ability to respond to and recover from disasters while expanding career opportunities for young people.

FEMA Corps is a historic collaboration which will create a new unit of AmeriCorps' National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) whose members will be devoted solely to FEMA disaster response, and recovery efforts. The five-year agreement provides for a full service corps of 1,600 members annually who will be an additional workforce in support of FEMA's current disaster reserve workforce.

“The initiative we're launching today underscores our commitment to shared responsibility and strong partnerships to help communities across the United States more effectively prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters of all kinds,” said Secretary Napolitano. “This new partnership will help us respond to disasters in a way that is cost-effective, and that draws on the strengths of our communities and our people.”

FEMA and AmeriCorps to Announce New Partnership to Strengthen Disaster Response, Recovery

Join the announcement by webstream: 11:00am EDT on Tuesday

On Tuesday, March 13, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Craig Fugate, Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) Acting CEO Robert Velasco, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Deputy Administrator Rich Serino, and Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council Cecilia Muñoz, joined by Tuscaloosa, AL Mayor Walter Maddox, will announce an innovative new partnership between FEMA and CNCS designed to strengthen the nation’s ability to respond and recover from disasters.

We welcome you to join the launch of this effort.  You are invited to view the official announcement of this partnership at FEMA Headquarters via webstream, at 11:00am EDT at the following link:

http://www.fema.gov/LiveVideo.

submitted by Albert Gomez

Beacon Food Forest Schematic Site Plan

by Zak Stone - good.is - March 2, 2012

Imagine if your neighborhood park doubled as a communal orchard. Out of fruit in the fridge? Just stroll down the block and pluck the first ripe pear you see. It may sound like a hippie fantasy, but residents of Seattle's Beacon Hill neighborhood could soon be living that dream, with a community group planning to break ground on the country's largest "food forest" this summer.

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submitted by Janine Rees

Stream Gaging Station by Beige Alert, on Flickr

by John Farrell - energyselfreliantstates.org - February 27, 2012

In a New York Times SundayReview piece last week – Drawing the Line at Power Lines – Elisabeth Rosenthal suggested that our desire for clean energy will require significant tradeoffs . . .

I disagree.

The future of American electricity policy is not about tradeoffs, but rather a chance to trade-in an obsolete, centralized paradigm for a local, clean energy future.

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Source: NPR - Credit: Adam Cole, Maggie Starbard

by Adam Cole - npr.org - February 24, 2012

. . . "Surveillance is one of the cornerstones of public health," says Philip Polgreen, an epidemiologist at the University of Iowa. "It all depends on having not only accurate data, but timely data."

Public health officials have been trying to speed up their responses to disease outbreaks since, well, they started responding to outbreaks.

There's still plenty of room for improvement.

The current system requires the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to compile reports about from physicians and labs all over the country — and that can take a while. There's typically a week-long delay between an outbreak and the release of an official report.

To get an early read on things, epidemiologists look for the first clues of illness — a rise in thermometer sales or increased chatter on hospital phone lines. Now, they're tapping into the Internet. . . .