A good snapshot of work by MIT's remarkable Miho Mazereeuw on disaster prevention:

Wesleyan University

Alum Talk on Disaster Preparedness

Her Urban Risk Lab’s Housing Recovery Toolkit (

Urban Risk Lab

Preemptive Recovery Platform — Urban Risk Lab

) "brings together disaster managers, housing and planning departments, and community organizations before anything goes wrong in order to plan to rebuild an ideal city... Local governments can use this at their pace whenever they have time, and because it’s an online tool, they’re able to update it when necessary.'”

The annual Shamrock Splash, which raises money for the excellent programs of Save the Harbor/Save the Bay, went off swimmingly today on East Boston's Constitution Beach despite the freezing wind. More photos:

Safe harbor – Eric Bender

#Boston #harbor #coastal #environmentaljustice #nonprofit @Universal Hub

Ed Yong Wants to Show You the Hidden Reality of the World

Ed Yong Wants to Show You the Hidden Reality of the World

The Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer talks about burnout from covering the pandemic and how bird-watching gave him a new sense of hope.

(shared) Science "is one of the only areas of human endeavor that take us out of ourselves. We exist at a time when we are being crunched ever inward... There is a kind of implosive effect of the modern world, and the science and nature writing that I’m prioritizing, and the birding that I do, are all counters to that. They are a way of radiating your attention outward." #science #birding #nature

The latest round of proposals for Charlestown's long-abandoned Pier 5 includes two contenders that both abut the pier: Charlestown Marina and Courageous Sailing. The city will post the proposals later today. #Boston #Charlestown #park #harbor #environmentaljustice @Universal Hub

Sea-level rise: a new method to estimate the probability of different outcomes – including a worst case (A slightly technical but clear update for non-scientists on predictions for sea-level rise)

The Conversation

Sea-level rise: a new method to estimate the probability of different outcomes – including a worst case

Planners need more reliable projections of future sea-level rise to protect communities and ecosystems. A new method helps produce them.

"No matter how quickly we reduce our carbon emissions, our past emissions commit us to ongoing sea-level rise... Decision-makers face a major obstacle: the specific rate and magnitude of future sea-level rise is deeply uncertain." #sealevelrise #climatechange #climatecrisis

This morning in East Boston, the tower at Belle Isle Marsh Reservation and the hill at Condor Street Urban Wild.

The One That Got Away: This Small Town Is Left in Limbo After Betting Big on GMO Salmon "Even with so much public assistance, the project fell apart, and the village that hoped for a transformative industry is carrying the cost."

ProPublica

The One That Got Away: This Small Town Is Left in Limbo After Betting Big on GMO Salmon

AquaBounty GMO salmon was going to be the future of fish — and the future for one Ohio village that offered incentives to make a new facility hap...

(The saga of genetically modified salmon continues... I wrote about AquaBounty 8 years ago:

Ensia

Transgenic fish are ready for us. Are we ready for them?

Ensia is a solutions-focused nonprofit media outlet reporting on our changing planet. Published by the Institute on the Environment.

) #fish

Why children's books? "Those who write for children have the chance to point them towards beauty that they do not yet know exists: towards versions of joy that they have not yet imagined possible." (Best essay I've read in months, by Katherine Rundell in the London Review of Books, I think no paywall)

London Review of Books

Katherine Rundell · Why children’s books?

Children’s books, to a great extent because they are written for those who cannot participate in the market, can offer...

#literature #books

We're in our 'global weirding' era

We're in our 'global weirding' era

Climate change can be confusing, writes Courtney Humphries, an assistant professor of environmental studies. Yes, we’ll continue to have big snow...

"We’ll continue to have big snows. They will break records. But what we’re losing is predictability. That’s why climate scientist Katherine Hayhoe has coined the term 'global weirding' to capture what climate change does to the world." --Courtney Humphries @npub1gpsq...07he #Boston #climatechange #climatecrisis

#silentsunday