This typically involves thedimension ofmaterial abundanceandwell-being(often represented throughmonetary income and opportunities for consumption and individual mobi-lity

the imperative of legitimation is identified as a crucialcomponent of the glass ceiling

In North America, it is the built infrastructure that is most susceptible to future damage from natural hazard events, although the cascading effects of such events can cause significant societal disruptions in transportation, commerce, power and water supplies, and other critical technologies.

Research on the weather-climate nexus has also advanced our understanding of the global oceanic forcing of drought and flood conditions across continents. Public health surveillance systems and disease outbreak detection have been revolutionized with the use of the Internet and social media such as Twitter, providing real or near-real time health surveillance (Brownstein et al. 2009; Chunara et al. 2013). Despite the great success in understanding of the physical processes behind natural hazards, there are still many challenges related to hazards science, and particularly, in the reduction of uncertainties in forecasting of hazard events, local resolution of models, and prediction lead time, among others.

Geological and hydro-meteorological hazards account for most disaster events. Much is known about the physical processes and forcing mechanisms of geohazards including the role of anthropogenic activities

Many forms of remote sensing have led to disaster reduction, especially inthe LDCs (Wadge, 1994 and Table 4.5). In general, Earth observationsatellites have supported pre-disaster preparedness through monitoring andmapping activities, while communication satellites have contributed todisaster warning and the mobilization of emergency aid (Jayaraman et al.,1997).

Many risk-management decisions are based on financial grounds. Thismeans that there is a need to attribute an economic value to a human life,despite the fact that many people are uncom-fortable with the notion. Anumber of approaches have been developed, of which the so-called humancapital method is perhaps the best-established. This method works on thebasis of an individual’s lost future earning capacity in the event of accidentor death. It is a relatively simple principle, which values the life of a child atthe highest level, but it is flawed in that it places a zero value on thosepeople who, for whatever reason, are unable to work. A better approach iswillingness to pay, which seeks to determine how much people would bewilling to pay in order to achieve a certain reduction in their chance of apremature death (Jones-Lee et al., 1985). This is preferable because itmeasures risk aversion, i.e. the value people place on reducing the risk ofdeath and injury, rather than on more abstract, long-term concepts

enforcing a building code that requires all new structures to be able towithstand a specified earthquake risk. Ideally this building code willbe enforced through legislation, with high penalties (includingdemolition in extreme cases) imposed for non-compliance;providing tax incentives and subsidies to owners to encourage theretrofitting of existing buildings in order to meet the building codestandards;educating the public about the building code and suitable measuresfor retrofitting buildings. Programmes that increase public awarenessof the earthquake risk may be undertaken. Emphasis is often placedon teaching children how to react because this helps to protect someof the most vulnerable people in society and assists in the transfer ofinformation to adults.

The legal framework for risk management is supported by a range ofother measures, such as the use of public information programmes thatinform people about hazards, the purposes and nature of the regulatoryframework and the actions that people can take to minimize their own risks.

In a study ofinhabitants’ perceptions of coastal threats in the flat coastal area of Benin,West Africa, Teka and Vogt (2010) found that risk perception differedaccording to factors such as age and ethnicity and concluded that riskmanagement strategies should reflect these group-specific attitudes.

The participatory approach aims to respect the riskperceptions held by local stakeholders and to work jointly towards theapplication of indigenous skills and coping measures.

As shown in Figure 4.9, this approach consists of adetailed, three-stage procedure that includes risk analysis, risk evaluationand risk management.Risk analysis is the first step when a general hazard appraisal takesplace using archived information from maps, terrain analysis, aerialphotographs and satellite imagery. Exposure analysis then identifiesand assesses the extent to which people or other local assets are atrisk. Consequence analysis combines the hazard and exposureoutcomes to provide estimates of expected damages or other lossesfrom given events. Risk calculation is then conducted to determinethe scale of expected losses for persons or socio-economic assets.Risk evaluation follows, so that the expected losses, expressed interms of fatalities or economic damage, can be scaled againstpredetermined safety goals (e.g. with respect to fatalities) in order todetermine what losses are acceptable and what are not. Interventionaction is then prioritized accordingly.Risk management is the final phase of evaluation and planning, whena search is made for the most appropriate mitigation strategy based ona variety of economic, ecological and social criteria in use at the time.

Early work onfloods revealed that rural dwellers have hazard perceptions closer tostatistically derived estimates than do urban dwellers, due to their greaterlevels of connection with, and reliance upon, the natural environment

A distinction between objective (statistical) risk and subjective (perceived)risk has already been made. Objective risk assessment is the consequence ofa scientific process. It follows a systematic procedure that seeks to excludeemotive elements due to personal preferences, in order to supply valid,reproducible results.

For this reason, accurate predictions of the effects of climatechange on the occurrence of hazardous events are difficult to achieve withexisting models. One complication is the non-linear relationships that existbetween driving factors and the hazards themselves, such as between sea-surface temperatures and the formation of tropical cyclones

Other problems arise, asmentioned in the previous section, when past records are used for predictionpurposes on the assumption that there will be no change in causal factors.This assumption, known as stationarity, ignores the possibility of widerenvironmental change. Changes to physical systems can occur naturallyover very long time periods, but changes resulting from human activitiesare often more important. In terms of

A major conclusion must be that the reliability of results fromprobability-based analysis depends heavily on the quality of the database

robability analysis is less suitable for environmental processes known tohave changed during historical times. Thus, there may be a shift inmagnitude–frequency relationships for floods of a particular size ifextensive deforestation has taken place over the drainage basin.

For many threats, especiallytechnological hazards, the available data of past events are rarely adequatefor a reliable statistical assessment of risk. In these cases event and faulttree techniques are used (Figure 4.2). These use a process of inductivelogic, most often applied to industrial accidents, where a known chain ofevents must take place before a disaster can occur

is typified by so-called ‘dread’ hazards like nuclear power. It is also thecase that perceived levels of risk can change quickly over time. Forexample, the perceived risk posed by tsunamis increased greatly after the2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, even though the actual risk worldwidecontinued to remain relatively low.

Care must be taken to ensure thatan objective risk analysis, perhaps based on financial models of costs andbenefits, is not always assumed to be correct — or to lead to betteroutcomes — than assessments based on perception

hese choices are conditioned by individual beliefs and circumstances,including financial constraints, and also by wider attitudes in society

herefore, it is important that riskassessments are communicated in a transparent and accessible manner to

Another problem is that even theseemingly technical aspects of flooding have proved just as unpredictableand messy as politics. A twenty-five-year storm, such as that of 1978, is notjust a twenty-five-year storm. Well-designed debris basins inexplicably turninto flip buckets. Protective levees redirect the flow of water to underminethemselves. Precipitation records are too short and land use changes toorapid to make reliable predictions about future hydrology. All of this hasmade it difficult, and perhaps impossible, to achieve the precision ofprediction that flood control engineering seems to require for success

Moreover, engineeringworks to control floods often created a sense of security that induced moredevelopment, which in turn necessitated more flood control works.

A lone hiker in the San Gabriels one winter—exhausted, snow blinded, hypothermic—staggered down a ridgeline out ofthe snow and directly into the parking lot of a shopping center, where he

The environmentalists run the gamutfrom the sensible ones to the crazies. They say, ‘You'll kill what you put iton. You'll dislocate animals. You'll alter the land form.’ That's correct. Butwhen we're finished we'll plant vegetation. The animals will come back.The rest we have to leave to the Big Guy in the Sky, who will finallynaturalize these deposits we make.

people complained about the color contrast. Materials cleaned out of theLaurel Ridge Debris Basin, in the Santa Monica Mountains, used to behauled over the mountains in a direction away from the ocean and droppedat the Calabasas dump. Subsequent Laurel cleanouts went onto the beach.The Sedimentation Section has been investigating the possibility of usingpipeline slurries to transport debris to distant gravel pits; it could also go inpipelines to the beach. Vito Vanoni said, “I think the day will come whenwe grind it all up and send it to the beach. The question is: Where do we getthe water for the slurry? We could use sewage. That's not so good. Possiblywe could use salt water.”

Los Angeles owns some of this equipment, but Los Angeles is not anOPEC country. Los Angeles cannot afford to keep hundreds of dump truckswaiting for an annual or biennial storm. The debris is made attractive toprivate truckers. They are paid fifty dollars an hour for lugging mud, noovertime. Flood has used as many as three hundred private trucks in onestorm. They come from all over Southern California—from Lone Pine inthe Owens Valley, from San Diego. Forty trucks once came from Redding,nearly five hundred miles north, and found no work when they arrived. Acall once came to the section from a heavy-equipment operator in theMidwest. He wanted the work for his cranes and large loaders, and waswilling to send them two thousand miles

If Los Angeles hangs on long enough, it will cart the mountains entirelyaway, but already it is having difficulty figuring out where to put them. In aproductive season, the debris basins will catch more than a million cubicyards. The reservoirs back in the mountains take in much more than that.Over-all cleanout costs can exceed sixty million dollars in a single year—arequired expenditure if the system is to function

After thewar, the new people stayed on, and it was readily apparent that agricultureand urbanization were not compatible. Citrus relied on smudge pots toprotect the trees against freezes. It used fertilizer that was smelly. It createddust in the tilling. It bred flies. Big slow trucks went around full of oranges.Everybody had tolerated all this when oranges were the sole economy, but itwas a nuisance to the newcomers. They threw garbage in the orchards.They stole oranges. And, above all, they complained. They passed lawsagainst smelly fertilizer, against smudge smoke, against pesticides. Citruscould not compete. Water became too high-priced. Smog began to affect thetrees. The size and quality of fruit deteriorated. A superior product becamean inferior product.

With enough money—enough steam shovels,enough dump trucks, enough basins cupped beneath the falling hills—Lo

These are by no meansannual events, but when they occur they will stir even hydrologists to bandythe name of Noah. In January, 1969, for example, more rain than New YorkCity sees in a year fell in the San Gabriels in nine days. In January, 1943,twenty-six inches fell in twenty-four hours. In February, 1978, just beforethe Genofiles’ house filled with debris, nearly an inch and a half of rain fellin twenty-five minutes. On April 5, 1926, a rain gauge in the San Gabrielscollected one inch in one minute.

In the first rains after a fire, water quickly saturates the thin permeablelayer, and liquefied soil drips downhill like runs of excess paint. Theseminiature debris flows stripe the mountainsides with miniature streambeds—count-less scarlike rills that are soon the predominant characteristic of theburned terrain. As more rain comes, each rill is going to deliver a little moredebris to the accumulating load in the canyon below. But, more to the point,each rill—its natural levees framing its impermeable bed—will increase thespeed of the surface water. As rain sheds off a mountainside like water off atin roof, the rill network, as it is called, may actually triple the speed, andtherefore greatly enhance the power of the runoff. The transport capacity ofthe watershed—how much bulk it can move—may increase a thousandfold.The rill network is prepared to deliver water with enough force and volumeto mobilize the deposits lying in the canyons below. With the appearance ofthe rills, almost all prerequisites have now sequentially occurred. Themuzzle-loader is charged. For a fullscale flat-out debris flow to burst forthfrom the mountains, the final requirement is a special-intensity storm

n the slow progression of normal decay, chaparral litter seems to giveup to the soil what have been vaguely described as “waxlike complexes oflong-chain aliphatic hydrocarbons.” These waxy substances are what makeunburned chaparral soil somewhat resistant to water, or “slightlynonwettable,” as Wells and his colleagues are wont to describe i

fter a burn, so much dry ravel and other debris becomes piledup and ready to go that to live under one of those canyons is (as many havesaid) to look up the barrel of a gun

In February of 1978, while debris was still hardening in the home of theGenofiles, Wade Wells, of the United States Forest Service, went up anddown Pine Cone Road knocking on doors, asking how long the people hadlived there. He wondered who remembered, nine years back, the debris-flow inundations of Glendora and Azusa, scarcely twenty miles away. Onlytwo did. Everyone else had arrived since 1969

For fifty miles, they mark the wild boundarylike bulbs beside a mirror

In those days,twenty years before, the Genofiles’ acre was close by the edge of themountain brush, but a developer had come along since then and knockeddown thousands of trees and put Pine Cone Road up the slope

The phalanxed communities of Los Angeles have pushed themselves hardagainst these mountains, an aggression that requires a deep defense budgetto contend with the results.

Shedding, spalling, self-destructing

Theultimate question would remain the same: who would ultimately pay theprice for Los Angeles’ growth?

IfEast Side residents had suffered from the corrupt manner in which machinepoliticians handled the garbage crisis, they suffered equally from the fiscalpenny pinching of the reformers

Affected residents, mostly on thecity's East Side, raised their voices in urgent protest, and in many instancespublic health officials echoed their concerns.

This decision underscored the class andeconomic biases of the new progressive government. Most of the reformleaders were middle class, often with close ties to the city's businessinterests. When faced with the choice of favoring industrial developers orpreserving the homes of blue-collar residents, all too often their naturalinclination was to support the former over the latter

Theirreport, while cognizant of the need to protect residential districts,recommended the creation of a more flexible and liberal system that wouldaccommodate the expansion of manufacturing and place “no obstacles inthe way of industrial concerns desiring to locate here.”

n October1909 the council met with representatives from the Chamber of Commerce,the Merchants’ and Manufacturers’ Association, and the realty board todiscuss the liberalization of the zoning law

Moreover, despite the good intentions ofthe antismoke ordinance, the little evidence that exists suggests it wasapplied selectively. Enforcement was left to the overburdened policedepartment, and newspapers reported that few companies were making anyeffort to comply

“We have heard so much about blue skies, mockingbirds and the fragrance of the roses or the glory of the poppy bed that weresent any presence which casts a bit of smoke athwart the sunlight, ormakes a noise to frighten the lark on the fence. We must realize that acommunity cannot eat sunshine, satisfy its hunger on the song of the bird,or make a salad out of poppies.

candidates sworn to support political reform gained a majority on thecouncil. The reformers had pledged to eliminate political corruption and tocreate a government more attuned to the needs of the people.

Manybelieved his close ties to the council not only won him the contract butenabled him to manipulate its terms. As one health commissioner bitterlycomplained, “This whole garbage business smells to high heaven, and allwe can do is sit here with folded hands and pass resolutions.

There isa wide and fertile field here for development along manufacturing lines, butit is the people themselves who appear to hamper it most.” One real estatedeveloper similarly criticized this opposition, observing that “this talk of‘soiling the atmosphere’ is ‘country all over,’ and a lot of nonsense. Such athing wouldn't happen, but if it did happen it would be better to soil theatmosphere and be a great metropolis, even if one had to chop one's waythrough it downtown every day

Abandoned by its middle-class allies and facing well-organizedopposition from the business community and the local political machines,the working-class effort to ban the slaughterhouses faltered.

As one councilman, Owen McAleer, bitterly noted, “because afew people of the Sixth and Seventh wards, who, I doubt if they are evencitizens of the United States who live on sand lots worth probably $75 each,come here and cry against the proposed building of a great industry in thecity, we are stampeded and want to shut out every business

Thoroughly frightened by Davenport's recall, the council finally agreedto the removal of the Hauser plant from the Sixth Ward, though notgracefully.

by accusing Davenport of being a key figure in theeffort to bring slaughterhouses to the Sixth Ward

Opposed was the power ofenormous wealth behind the millionaire butchers. Contrasted with the set,determined faces of the workmen were the suave smiles of the highly paidattorneys who laughed at the feeble efforts of the property owners.

Themost obvious mark of this could be found on the huge piles of lumber thatlittered the construction site, all of them bearing the label of Nofziger &Brothers Lumberyard, the business owned by the councilman for the NinthWard

The sudden appearance of Hauser's construction crewsshocked residents, since the entire ward was beyond the boundaries of theslaughterhouse district—or so they thought.

The smells and effluent of thisindustry sparked protests in the working-class neighborhoods that had beendesignated as a meatpacking district.

This kind of response, coupled with substantial political pressure fromthe established gas monopoly, ultimately convinced the city council tooverturn the fire commission's decision

Protests proved of littleavail, in large part because of the company's close ties to neighborhoodpolitical machines.

Even in instances where corruption did notplay an overt role in shaping their environmental policies, these politiciansgenerally favored economic expansion, regardless of the cost to residentialdistricts.

Provisions is interested in finding a cannery to work with on designing a can with a new shape fitting the branding of its salmon filet. However, a lot of U.S. canneries have closed as the pouches replace cans. Ironically, the old-school steel can with tin or enamel coating, which was a pioneer in food packaging more than 200 years ago, is still easily recycled today

America’s overlapping governmental agencies aren’t always in sync. Some states have passed preemptive state laws to halt local plastic bag bans. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)58 has been a main driver of preemptive laws preventing local governments from any plastic bag regulations. For example, Austin, Texas, enacted a Single-Use Carryout Bag Ordinance in 2013 to encourage shoppers to carry reusable bags.59 It resulted in a 75% reduction in plastic bags in the city’s litter. Also, the Austin Park Foundation noticed a 90% reduction in plastic bag litter.60 However, in June 2018, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that bag bans violate state law. So, Austin announced it would no longer enforce its bag ordinance, yet hoped the community would continue its efforts to minimize waste.

In July 2018, Starbucks announced it would end single-use plastic straws from its more than 28,000 stores around the world. The company worked to create a container that would eliminate the need for any straw. Starbucks designed, developed and manufactured a strawless lid which will be standard for iced coffee, tea, and espresso beverages. For people who prefer or need a straw, they will offer an alternative-material straw. The company is rolling out its new packaging in the U.S. first and then will launch it in Canada, Europe, and the U.K. with the goal to eliminate plastic straws globally by 2020. Starbucks estimated this change would eliminate more than one billion plastic straws per year from its stores.55

“The whole supply chain needs to be engaged because these are totally novel materials being custom created for each application,” said Franch. “Each component might not be custom but the way in which it’s assembled together for the final film used for your product is a custom product. So, when you’re innovating you need to have all of those pieces of the supply chain working together so that you get fast response times if you need to go back and tweak something.

Funding can bring innovations to market faster and move the meter on climate change. Patagonia has learned that investing in science at an earlier stage is important but the ultimate goal is encouraging larger companies to adopt innovations to scale the environmental benefits. A major challenge is building a plan that includes the necessary infrastructure to bring packaging innovations to scale and encourage other businesses to adopt new technologies.

atagonia has shared innovations such as these, including information about its suppliers and partnerships, online at The Footprint Chronicles42 and to industry groups. This allows other companies to make greener products without investing the years of research and development required to solve supply chain challenges such as the best source of natural rubber. The same will happen with any single-use packaging innovation because Patagonia plans to continue sharing innovations, like PHA from waste streams, with its competitors.

However, today, only 3% of cotton is organic, while recycled polyester holds only 14% of the polyester market

Patagonia declined long-term exclusivity and encouraged Yulex to sell its neoprene-free rubber to Patagonia’s competitors because it was best for the planet

It is incredibly difficult for some of these innovations to succeed without funding due to the high upfront capital costs of building the infrastructure and supply chain. Patagonia understands environmentally-friendly innovations may initially come at a steeper price; however, time and scale should bring prices down as more companies adopt

“Tin Shed scouts out solutions that meet or beat industry performance standards and are biodegradable, renewable, or derived from waste

HA is a material that excites Patagonia as it is bio-based, converts waste into something of value, is biodegradable even in marine environments, and has similar characteristics to polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the most commonly used plastic in the world.

Today, packagers are at the table innovating with OSC2 companies and the group has taken on a support role to new companies traveling the path of sustainable packaging. One project is funding cradle-to-grave studies to compare different types of structures such as comparing a biodegradable petroleum structure to a plant-based structure and examining the tradeoffs and benefits. Also, OSC2 helped fund shelf-life studies for some of the first-generation biodegradable,

Most packaging is produced domestically where the ability to pilot within regions and withinsmall, family-owned producers is possible. The packaging supply chain can be more accessible, especially domestically,

The opportunity is that if you have an innovation that is cost competitive and provides differentiation, there’s a real hunger for adoption on the manufacturing end and some interesting opportunities for growing packaging businesses.

It requires a collaborative effort by municipalities, manufacturers, packaging suppliers and consumers.

The 2017, End of Market Demand for Recycled Plastic by the research company More Recycling27 concluded that for recycling rates to increase, demand for recycled content will need to increase to absorb that supply.

Many recyclable items are not recycled because one contaminated piece of plastic or cardboard can compromise the whole batch. Also, American recycling facilities must now find new markets after China stopped importing “foreign garbage.” The result is that only 9% of recyclable plastics are actually recycled

Patagonia is working toward developing labels for all of its apparel, polybags, and food packaging that educate customers on how to dispose of those items.

Mulvihill thinks there are real opportunities for innovation in three areas: 1) design packaging to disassemble or degrade, 2) produce packaging out of single component materials, and 3) create packaging using materials that are easily separated and sorted into valuable streams. Technology aimed at greener solutions needs to be applied throughout the supply chain, from the front end through the back end, to ensure materials can be reclaimed

This packaging wasn’t just designed for the consumer; it was designed to successfully run through the system, an improvement which took several years to achieve

In short, the packaging supply chain lacks transparency.

Today, few food packages can be recycled because they are made of multiple layers to maintain freshness. But if a package is designed to biodegrade or be recycled, how often does that actually happen? Can it be disposed of through an existing waste stream or are new recycling infrastructures needed? Is the consumer educated toknow how to dispose of packaging?

Patagonia Provisions packaging costs range from three to ten percent of the total product cost depending on the category, such as soup, wild salmon or cereal. The company is willing to spend more for a scalable solution that is more environmentally sound and also offers a safe food barrier and sufficient shelf life

rovisions knows that most grocers desire six months of shelf stability for packaged products, and that one or two months can be lost while bars sit in a warehouse and move through distribution, so the wrapper needs to provide a food safe barrier for a minimum of eight months.

Time to market is dependent on whether new solutions can run through existing packaging facilities or if entirely new packaging machinery needs to be designed, built, tested and integrated into the production line

Although glass is not ruled out by the company due to its promising reusability possibilities, it has yet to be a viable solution.

Patagonia is searching for packaging with potential reuse markets

Patagonia is eager for biodegradable and bio-based materials to replace non-renewable, petroleum-based plastic, however, much of the research around biodegradable, bio-basedmaterials involves GMOs.

But what if the plant-based material was grown under chemically-intensive agricultural conditions or was made from genetically modified corn rather than organic corn?

For short-term adoption, it is important that materials used for packaging are recognized as a qualified Food Contact Substance (FCS). Section 409 of the Food Drug & Cosmetic Act defines an FCS as “any substance that is intended for use as a component of materials used in manufacturing, packing, packaging, transporting, or holding food if such use of the substance is not intended to have any technical effect in such food.”17 The FDA supplies an inventory of effective FCSs18 and “guidance” on considerations when making “significant process changes.

This one example shows that while seeking alternatives with a smaller environmental footprint is urgent—it still requires time and research to weigh the pros and cons.

These limitations may leave people thinking that returning to paper bags is the answer. However, paper bags are also problematic because the materials require deforestation and producing paper bags emits greater greenhouse gases than producing plastic bags

In 2018, Trader Joe’s introduced new produce bags with the message, “100% compostable and will biodegrade in 180 days” which sounds like a good green option. Biodegradable and compostable implies a material that breaks down in a natural environment at a reasonable rate. What permits these bags to have the biodegradable label is that they include additives designed to make them decay faster than traditional bags.9 However, if consumers read the small print on the bag, they’ll see “ASTM D6400” which refers to the American Society for Testing Materials which specifies this type of bag is “designed to be composted in municipal and industrial aerobic composting facilities

1) made from renewable raw materials, 2) performs acceptably on current packaging and processing equipment, 3) provides adequate shelf life, 4) available at a reasonable cost achieved through scaling volume over time, and 5) is either easily reusable, biodegradable, renewable or recyclable using current technology or newly proposed technology.

“So, in the example of polybags used to package our apparel products, we don’t have a supply chain option that can make a post-consumer recyclable or 100% recycled polybag, and that’s an issue. Why aren’t supply chains doing that and how can we leverage our business to help develop more responsible solutions

Patagonia Provisions purchased 80,000 pounds of wild salmon in 2014 and officially launched itswild sockeye smoked salmon. From salmon caught using reef nets, an ancient selective harvesting technique, to Long Root Ale®, the first beer made from Kernza®, a perennial grain with a root system that grows up to ten feet long and thrives without tilling,8 Provisions engages with all aspects of the food’s supply chain, building relationships with farmers, fisherman, and ranchers. For food to reach Provisions’ customers with the same quality and assurance, the food needs to be protected

Near term, Patagonia will continue its polybag recycling efforts and will work towards using 100% recycled content polybags. Long term, Patagonia is exploring reusable and biodegradable polybags

1) changing how products are folded can result in a 50% reduction in plastic packaging per product and 2) using more recycled content in polybag manufacturing.

Patagonia has investigated the possibility of eliminating polybags but found that 30% of garments that went through its Reno, Nevada, distribution center without packaging were damaged beyond the point of being sellable.

A polybag—or some form of packaging—is crucial for a product traveling through the supply chain to prevent damage. Patagonia currently recycles all the polybags collected in Patagonia’s retail stores and distribution centers, but some leave the Patagonia system so they are not recycled

polybags have been a pain point for the business

collaborative systems approach is what is required

Questions which Doug Freeman, Patagonia’s Chief Operating Officer, is actively seeking answers to include: Why aren’t there more biodegradable, recyclable, or reusable packaging options for manufacturers and consumers? Are there non-extractive feedstocks which could be scaled into new responsible packaging solutions? How can composting be expanded through industrial facilities and backyards that will allow packaging to have a smaller environmental impact? Who is going to collect, recycle, and reuse new packaging materials? Is it reasonable to expect the consumer to know how to properly dispose of single-use packaging?

Patagonia is searching for solutions to mitigate its own contributions to the single-use packaging crisis. However, it is critical to keep in mind the purpose and application of packaging when seeking solutions. The primary job of a package is to protect what is inside. Packaging exists for health and hygiene reasons—to keep products separate, to block moisture from leaking out, and to prevent bacteria from contaminating food. It also exists to transport goods safely without damage and to look appealing for marketing reasons

Due to complicated and global packaging supply chains, the quest for viable and sustainable improvements requires collaboration, innovative technologies, forward-thinking companies, consumer demand, and new government incentives and laws

Satellites such as NOAA, SPOT, and Landsat have been used in the past to map fire location and extent of fi re damage using the visible wavelengths (Li et al., 1997; Fuller, 2000). However, recent spaceborne sensors are able to provide near real-time data on global fires and physical geographic variables used in predictive fire behaviour models

They demonstrated that object-oriented classifi cation techniques enhance quantitative analysis of traditional pixel-based techniques for change detection of urban features.

effective disaster management dependson the implementation of a carefully planned sequence of actions overmany years that embraces both pre-disaster protection and post-disasterrecovery

For example, the gap within the UK has widened so that the wealthiest 10per cent of society now earn 12 times as much as the poorest-paid.

The reasons are not always clear. For example, whilst nations with highHDI ratings tend to have the financial resources and democratic systemsneeded to reduce disaster impacts, many countries with medium-levelratings are at a greater risk than might be expected. This is due to rapidlychanging socio-economic conditions. The rush for material growth createsmore exposed wealth quickly but also produces greater social inequalities,as little attention is paid to health and safety issue

For example, a data normalization exercise was conducted on twentieth-century hurricane-related losses in the USA (Pielke and Landsea, 1998).The raw information indicated a trend to rising damage and economic lossbut, when adjusted for growth in the coastal population and the rise inexposed wealth, the losses in the 1970s and 1980s were found to be smallerthan in some earlier decades (see also Chapter 9)

environmentAs the world population grows, so more people are at risk and disastermortality might be expected to rise; as the size of the world economygrows, and as price inflation continues, so the financial impact of disaster islikely to rise.

Quite apart from concerns about the growthin economic losses, greater frequency and magnitude of weather extremes isan expected outcome of global warming. Not surprisingly, some observershave concluded that the fingerprint of climate change — whether due tohuman actions or not — is on these data (see also Chapter 14, Section F).But caution is required. As already indicated, raw trends in disaster lossesare unlikely to be driven solely by physical factors, not least because therate of change in socio-economic conditions is usually faster than that forlarge-scale natural systems.

Datasets cover varying time periods. Some of these are too short toprovide a valid sample and may be restricted in other ways. Someconcentrate on certain types of loss, like the reinsurance companies. Several

In summary, more coverage of the underlyingcauses of disaster, rather than the routine focus on panicked residents,helpless victims and looting of evacuated properties, would greatly improvethe media balance.

Miller and Goidel (2009) identified the main features of newsorganizations that lead to reporting bias. First, the coverage of disasters isepisodic and creates the impression of a series of unrelated events ratherthan a coherent narrative. The focus is typically victim orientated. Duringthe ‘Ash Wednesday’ bushfires in Australia, residents were portrayed ashelpless victims, with little mention of more positive aspects like earlywarning and emergency response (McKay, 1983). The media rarely explorethe wider context of disaster and pose deeper questions, such as: why do somany Americans locate close to hurricane-prone coasts, or so manyAustralians live in suburbs prone to bushfires? Other examples of mediareliance on predetermined story lines include exaggerating the physicalscale of events and highlighting rapid-onset events at the expense of long-term disasters such as drought. Second, the media employ social stereotypesthat may falsely portray affected residents. Such bias existed in the USmedia after hurricane ‘Katrina’ struck New Orleans in 2005. Victims wereoften characterized as poor, black and — sometimes — unworthy of publicsupport. Stories of looting, lawlessness and criminal damage wereprominent, even though this was quite rare (Tierney et al., 2006). WhenAfrican-Americans broke into shops to obtain food, it was ‘looting’,whereas the same behaviour by others was seen as an act of survival. Just asmany white victims featured in TV interviews as black victims, eventhough blacks were more numerous in the New Orleans population andprobably suffered greater loss

News organizations are well equipped to collect and transmit informationcontinuously in times of crisis, and knowledge of a disaster spreads rapidlyfrom the hazard zone to a global audience

Many disasters are compound events and create instant problems ofclassification. To avoid double counting of impacts, each loss category,such as deaths or damages, should be recorded once only and allocated to aspecific cause, but practical problems arise. For example, when anearthquake triggers a landslide, should deaths be attributed to theearthquake (the trigger event) or the landslide (the direct cause)? Willdeaths occurring days or weeks later from injuries sustained in the landslidebe recorded? Generally speaking, when recording mass fatalities, the initialtrigger is named. This means that the effects of ‘secondary’ hazards, such aslandslides, are under-estimated (see Chapter 8). For long-duration disasters,such as drought, there may be doubts about the exact date of the event. Theprecise location of a disaster can also be difficult to identify, especially forevents (like floods and droughts) that cross administrative boundaries.

It is vital to compile reliable disaster data in order to identify time trendsand spatial patterns that will inform policy making. Problems start with alack of standardized methods for data collection in the field and

Working with this group, Gromacki ran an internal pilot test of their new polyester concrete coating that used rinse styrene as the base ingredient

BPS differed from traditional waste exchanges in several ways. BPS groups had closed memberships, with each member company invested in identifying bilateral synergies. BPS groups emphasized building relationships and finding common connections, similar to typical supply chain relationships. Waste exchanges, on the other hand, had open memberships and were designed to reach as broad an audience as possible to increase the probability of a match. Whereas BPS partnerships held both parties responsible for quality and supply issues, waste exchanges operated using spot transactions that did not require investments in any long-term relationship.

While CCP paid for the removal and disposal of the drums associated with its former product and that of several other companies, the EPA oversaw the process. At the end of this project, CCP was surprised by the EPA’s demand for nearly $500,000 to reimburse the agency for its “overhead, administrative and investigation” costs associated with the project. A senior manager at CCP noted, “Since CCP had taken the lead using a major contractor and engineering firm and [had] self-completed all the actual work including monitoring, repackaging, disposal, reporting and site investigation for roughly the same amount, CCP considered this demand outrageous, abusive and in bad faith considering the written and verbal understanding of the prior agreement with the EPA.” The additional cost of this regulatory fee pushed the entire loss to over $1 million

Cement manufacturers used the material as a fuel to fire their energy-intensive cement kilns.

Furthermore, the U.S. Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), nicknamed “Superfund,” gave the EPA authority to impose “joint and several” liability on hazardous waste generators like CCP for all costs associated with cleaning up contamination caused by any company that handled or disposed of their waste.

RCRA imposed stringent requirements on facilities that generated hazardous waste, specifying permissible methods for storage, recordkeeping, and emergency preparedness.

The HFA document encourages a collaborative strategy that includesnational governments, regional bodies and local communities

It is difficult to envisage a world in which well-designedengineering works, good land planning and effective humanitarian aid playno part in disaster reduction

A new hazard paradigm does not imply a completerejection of previous ideas but represents a shift in emphasis.

Similarly,Dynes (2004) called for a vision that broadens beyond the Western focus onthe rapid-onset hazards threatening largely urban communities to embracemodern-day threats that range from the multi-layered emergencies afflictingthe rural poor in the LDCs to the disasters that still occur in the richestmega-cities of the MDCs

9/16/2018We don’t need to save endangered species. Extinction is part of evolution. - The Washington Posthttps://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/we-dont-need-to-save-endangered-species-extinction-is-part-of-evolution/2017/11/21/57fc5658-cdb4-11e7-a1a3-0d1e45a6...4/5nations in the world. A model like that can serve a large portion of the planet, while letting humanity grow andshape its own future

Thespecies that we rely on for food and shelter are a tiny proportion of total biodiversity, and most humans live in— and rely on — areas of only moderate biodiversity, not the Amazon or the Congo Basin

If they can adapt and flourish there, then evolution is promoting their success.If they outcompete the natives, extinction is doing its job

Conserving biodiversity should not be an end in itself; diversity can even be hazardous to human health.

9/16/2018We don’t need to save endangered species. Extinction is part of evolution. - The Washington Posthttps://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/we-dont-need-to-save-endangered-species-extinction-is-part-of-evolution/2017/11/21/57fc5658-cdb4-11e7-a1a3-0d1e45a6...3/5out that species richness has shown no net decline among plants over 100 years across 16,000 sites examinedaround the world

I don’t think today you can do everything on hazard because there are a lot of chemicals that there may not be any replacements for

ndividual action by one brand will not create the scale and scope of change that we need—particularly in the apparel industry where you have a shared supply chain where any one vendor could be manufacturing and doing business with three to 12 brands. If we all communicate with the same set of expectations and tools, this can lead to faster uptake of the change we’d like to see.

In addition to paying for a few initial screens, LS&Co. told some chemical companies that if they invested to have their formulations screened and their profits over the following year did not cover the initial screening investment, LS&Co. would pay them the difference

successes in achievingLWS, states started to frame thesystemicchallenges ascivilizational problems of a planetary scale that need to be solved byallofhumanity andallparts of society together

The state had to act, but without risking the loss of economicgrowth or negative impacts on the lifeworld of citizens

sustainability of their lifeworld in that the state‘greened’domestic productionwhile at the same time fostering consumption and economic expansion

tates never improvedeverybody’slifeworld–there are numerousinstances where environmental risks have been shifted to poor neighborhoods,communities of colour or indigenous communities, notably in North America

Legitimation crises, Habermaspoints out, are always crises of the lifeworld

Put differently, getting rid of existing power elites alone would notnecessarily lead to an ecologically more sustainable society.

The impossibility of a‘sustainability imperative

develop the argument that the glass ceiling is associated with problems of statelegitimation leading to a systemic separation of‘lifeworld’from‘system’sus-tainability.

environmental state isindeed curtailed by an invisible yet effective structural barrier that I call the‘glass ceiling of transformation

the structure of state imperatives does notallow for the addition of an independent sustainability imperative without majorcontradiction

Companies need to develop in-house expertise or rely on external professionals to identify the likely evolution of public policies and associated carbon prices

While students will be at the forefront, the organizers want everyone to participate by walking out of their “homes, their offices, their farms, their factories.”