Every Day Is a Disaster: Homelessness and the 2013 Colorado Floods

Although homeless populations are mentioned in studies of disaster vulnerability, discussions of their unique experiences, capacities, and vulnerabilities are often referred to tangentially. In an effort to address this gap in the literature, this research explores the experiences of predisaster homeless individuals and homeless-serving organizations (HSOs) during and following the 2013 floods in Boulder County, Colorado. I present data collected through over 100 hours of participant observation at HSOs, roughly 100 documentary sources, 28 semi-structured interviews with community stakeholders (e.g., staff from HSOs and public officials), and unstructured interviews and focus groups with 27 homeless individuals who were present during the floods.To situate my research, I draw upon social disaster vulnerability and political economy perspectives. Using the Pressure and Release (PAR) model introduced by Blaikie et al. (1994; Wisner et al. 2003) to organize my theoretical approach, I define political-economic root causes that lead to dynamic pressures, which produce unsafe conditions for homeless individuals and the organizations that serve them. I demonstrate how processes of neoliberalization have resulted in unequal urban design and policy, subsequently criminalizing homeless persons and increasing their vulnerability to disaster. At the same time, these processes have shifted responsibility for social welfare from the state to non-state actors, such as nonprofit community-based organizations, that are often strained in the ability to serve an increasing number of clients in need of their services. Further, in moving beyond social vulnerability studies that tend to homogenize marginalized and underserved groups, I demonstrate factors that increase and decrease homeless individuals’ and HSOs’ vulnerability and resilience to disaster. The broader implications of this research speak to the need to understand structural factors that create risk and vulnerability while simultaneously hindering efforts to enhance community resilience

Mountain pine beetles and Colorado forests : findings from a re-survey of Colorado community residents

North Central Colorado has experienced an extensive mountain pine beetle outbreak over the last 20 years. We conducted a survey of Colorado residents about their response to forest disturbance by mountain pine beetles in 2007. A survey questionnaire was sent to randomly selected households in Breckenridge, Dillon, Frisco, Granby, Kremmling, Silverthorne, Steamboat Springs, Vail, and Walden, Colorado. In 2018, we did a follow-up mail survey to see how local communities and residents have experienced and reacted to the mountain pine beetle outbreak and the accompanying changes in Colorado forests over time. These reports describe major findings of the 2018 re-survey for the whole study area and for individual study communities.This research was supported by the Decision, Risk and Management Sciences Program of the National Science Foundation (Award #1733990).This research was supported by the Decision, Risk and Management Sciences Program of the National Science Foundation (Award #1733990).Hua Qin, Elizabeth Prentice, Christine Sanders (University of Missouri-Columbia), Hannah Brenkert-Smith, Jamie Vickery (University of Colorado Boulder)Colorado re-survey report (20 pages : illustration) -- Breckenridge community survey report (13 pages : illustration) -- Dillon community survey report (13 pages : illustration) -- Frisco community survey report (13 pages : illustration) -- Granby community survey report (13 pages : illustration) -- Kremmling community survey report (13 pages : illustration) -- Silverthorne community survey report (13 pages : illustration) -- Steamboat Spring community survey report (13 pages : illustration) -- Vait community survey report (13 pages : illustration) -- Walden community survey report (13 pages : illustration

Challenges to evidence-informed decision-making in the context of pandemics: qualitative study of COVID-19 policy advisor perspectives

INTRODUCTION: The exceptional production of research evidence during the COVID-19 pandemic required deployment of scientists to act in advisory roles to aid policy-makers in making evidence-informed decisions. The unprecedented breadth, scale and duration of the pandemic provides an opportunity to understand how science advisors experience and mitigate challenges associated with insufficient, evolving and/or conflicting evidence to inform public health decision-making. OBJECTIVES: To explore critically the challenges for advising evidence-informed decision-making (EIDM) in pandemic contexts, particularly around non-pharmaceutical control measures, from the perspective of experts advising policy-makers during COVID-19 globally. METHODS: We conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with 27 scientific experts and advisors who are/were engaged in COVID-19 EIDM representing four WHO regions and 11 countries (Australia, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Ghana, Hong Kong, Nigeria, Sweden, Uganda, UK, USA) from December 2020 to May 2021. Participants informed decision-making at various and multiple levels of governance, including local/city (n=3), state/provincial (n=8), federal or national (n=20), regional or international (n=3) and university-level advising (n=3). Following each interview, we conducted member checks with participants and thematically analysed interview data using NVivo for Mac software. RESULTS: Findings from this study indicate multiple overarching challenges to pandemic EIDM specific to interpretation and translation of evidence, including the speed and influx of new, evolving, and conflicting evidence; concerns about scientific integrity and misinterpretation of evidence; the limited capacity to assess and produce evidence, and adapting evidence from other contexts; multiple forms of evidence and perspectives needed for EIDM; the need to make decisions quickly and under conditions of uncertainty; and a lack of transparency in how decisions are made and applied. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest the urgent need for global EIDM guidance that countries can adapt for in-country decisions as well as coordinated global response to future pandemics

Compounded Vulnerability: Homeless Service Organizations during Disaster

Community-based organizations (CBOs), especially those that serve vulnerable and marginalized communities, are critical fixtures in the daily lives of their clients. When disaster strikes, nonprofit CBOs fill needed gaps and extend their roles in response and recovery activities. While studies of organizational response and cross-sector collaboration demonstrate a lack of disaster planning within many CBOs, few of these studies focus on CBOs\u27 disaster experiences--specifically of those that serve vulnerable and marginalized groups such as the homeless. In addressing this gap, I argue that homeless service organizations (HSOs) experience compounded vulnerability because of social and structural factors that place them in a weakened position during disaster. Not only do structural conditions weaken the ability of these organizations to meet the needs of a growing client base, but the marginalized status of their clients also requires unique considerations for these organizations during disaster, resulting in compounded vulnerability. Using the 2013 Boulder Floods as a context in which to examine these processes, I draw on over seventy hours of participant observation and data from 14 semi- structured interviews with staff members from homeless adult service organizations. Finally, and as part of a larger ongoing research project, I offer disaster preparedness and response recommendations for nonprofits and CBOs serving homeless populations

Cricket

The domestic and global cricket landscape has evolved rapidly over the last decade. During this time there has been a considerable growth in playing schedules due mostly to the increase in the number of limited overs matches. The more congested playing schedules have considerably modified the physical and physiological demands of cricket play and the incidence of injuries. Cricketers spend large amounts of time on their feet during competition and practice. Consequently, optimal levels of body fat are essential for efficiency of movement and optimising performance. With the large amounts of torso rotational and bracing movements in bowling and batting, it is vital that cricketers have a strong trunk. Cricketers are required to perform numerous explosive actions when fielding and batting

Barriers and facilitators to state public health agency climate and health action: a qualitative assessment

Abstract Background As the health implications of climate change become more apparent, agencies and institutions across the United States are developing recommendations for state and territorial health agencies (S/THAs) to implement evidence-informed climate and health adaptation strategies. The CDC established the Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) framework in 2010 to encourage local and state public health engagement in climate change adaptation. However, even after a decade of the BRACE initiative, the elements that affect the adoption and implementation of climate and health programming by S/THAs are not well understood. Methods Using an implementation science framework, this study sought to further understand and define the barriers and facilitators that determine the breadth and success of climate change and health activities undertaken by state health agencies (SHAs). We conducted focus groups with representatives from SHAs with and without climate and health programs, and analyzed data using the framework method for qualitative research. Results This study identified funding, state and agency-level prioritization, staff capability and capacity, and political will and polarization as factors that influence the readiness for implementation and implementation climate for climate and health activities. Conclusions As the impacts of climate change intensify, S/THAs will need to expand resources and capacity, and seek advocacy and assistance from external organizations in order to support the level of engagement required to strengthen climate resilience. Findings from this study have implications for public health policy and highlight potential pathways to expand support for climate and health activities in S/THAs in the U.S

From pity to fear: security as a mechanism for (re)production of vulnerability

Vulnerability is a shared basic condition but also a condition of potential. In the context of disasters and crises, the concept of vulnerability is often used to portray individuals and groups as ‘weak’, ‘threatened’ and ‘in need of help’. But occasionally a shift occurs and the ‘threatened’ - and therefore usually pitied - become those who are feared and hated, i.e., a ‘threat’. We explore how apparently incompatible discursive regimes of ‘threatened’ and ‘threat’ intertwine, merge and feed upon each other, and how vulnerability can be and is consequently securitised. We demonstrate that too often the freedoms and opportunities prescribed by the neoliberal state are impossible to actualise when ‘normality’ and therefore ‘otherness’ are also defined by the state, where people are first and foremost subjects of a global market. These considerations are critical if we are to truly reduce vulnerabilisation by focusing on justice

A response framework for addressing the risks of climate change for homeless populations

People experiencing homeless have greater vulnerabilities in relation to climate change that require a range of policy and systems approaches. There are two interrelated areas that policymakers can consider in relation to climate change and homelessness: migration and exposure. This synthesis of the available data and expert opinion provides practical information to policymakers, with specific strategies alongside case examples. The data captured here is through systematic reviews, and expert opinion is generated through input from a year-long series of five virtual think tanks. Throughout this synthesis paper, an emphasis is placed on explicitly addressing homeless populations in the policies and plans designed to address climate change-related impacts. Prevention-oriented plans are shown to be more effective in terms of outcomes and cost-effectiveness compared to the more commonly deployed crisis response models. Another key issue considered is the availability of relevant data with which to target policy responses and evaluate outcomes. Data-driven responses tend to be more successful, though relevant data are, to date, lacking for homeless and other marginalized populations. Moreover, effective policy design in this area needs to be intersectional and inclusive, tailored to the needs of local communities and developed in consultation with lived experience stakeholders, including service providers. Policies that ignore local input tend to fail. Prevention-oriented, culturally-situated, and trauma-informed systems and services hold the greatest promise in responding to the severe health risks and inequities that homeless populations face in the climate crisis. Key policy insights Prevention-oriented measures are key, with most focussing on the availability of affordable housing and upgrading housing and living conditions of vulnerable populations. There is a need to include lived experience and input from local communities, especially when designing measures that will impact livelihoods, such as planned migration. Disaster, crisis response, and aftercare plans need to outline explicit measures for homeless populations. There is a need for cross-sectoral alignment of policy and intervention responses. Successful approaches tend to be culturally-situated and trauma-informed