Keywords:
SCIENCE / Earth Sciences / General.
;
Electronic books.
Description / Table of Contents:
This thought-provoking book presents a compelling account of recent and historical disasters, both natural and human-caused, drawing out common themes and providing a holistic understanding of hazards, disasters and mitigation, for anyone interested in this important and topical subject.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
Pages:
1 online resource (324 pages)
Edition:
1st ed.
ISBN:
9781108111621
URL:
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/geomar/detail.action?docID=4783957
DDC:
363.346
Language:
English
Note:
Cover -- Half-title page -- Title page -- Copyright page -- Dedication -- Contents -- Online Appendix -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- 1 Black and White Swans, Communication, Evolution, and Markets -- Long-Term Risk, Listening Skills, and Evolution -- Cost of Disasters and the Role of Markets -- 2 What Is a Natural Disaster? Where Do They Occur and Why? Are They Different from Human-Made Disasters? -- Earth's Natural Cycles: Volcanoes, Climate, and Earthquakes -- How Does the Motion of Plates Lead to Earthquakes and Tsunamis? -- Volcanoes and Climate -- Hurricanes, Flooding, and Sea-Level Rise -- 3 If We Know So Much about Natural Disasters, Why Do We Remain Vulnerable? -- Scientific Uncertainty -- Time Lag, Sticky Infrastructure, and the Challenge of Relocation -- The Importance of Building Codes -- Cost versus Benefit -- 4 Japanese Earthquakes and Nuclear Power Plant Failures -- Hydrogen: Why Is It Produced in Nuclear Power Plant Accidents? Why Is It Dangerous? What's It Got to Do with the Hindenburg? -- How Bad Was Fukushima? -- What Went Wrong? -- A Disturbing Precursor -- Regulation and Transparency -- 5 Future Earthquake and Tsunami Disasters -- Sleepless in Seattle -- Tsunamis in Switzerland -- The Orient Express -- 6 Nuclear Power, Coal, and Tuna: The Concept of Relative Risk -- The Toxic Legacy of Lead -- Mercury and Coal -- Deaths from Coal versus Deaths from Nuclear Power -- Carbon Capture and Storage -- What about Solar? -- 7 Past and Future Coastal Flooding: Galveston, New Orleans, Bangladesh, and the Specter of Sea-Level Rise -- The Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900 -- New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina -- River Deltas, Subsidence, and Levees -- Could It Happen Again? -- Sea-Level Rise: A Slow Disaster in the Making -- Slow Sea-Level Rise and Rapid Flooding -- What Other Regions Are at Risk? -- Summary.
,
8 What's All the Fuss about Global Warming? -- Communication: The Need for Long-Term Data and the Challenge of Explaining Them -- The Time Lag Problem: Why We Need to Think Long Term -- Economic Consequences -- Some Lessons from Greenland -- 9 Solutions -- Communication -- Transparency -- Let Markets Work Their Magic -- The Magic of New Technology: Blue LEDs, the Tesla, and Photosynthesis -- R& -- D and Taxes -- Avoiding the "Coal Trap" -- Independent Boards -- Lessons Learned -- The Challenge of Large Infrastructure Projects -- Summary -- Summary of Recommendations by Chapter -- References and Further Reading -- Index.
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