**October 20, 2006 FEMA Emergency Management Higher Education Project
Activity Report**

\(1\) GLOBAL WARMING:

Cone, Marla. \"Future Weather Forecast Is a Study in Extremes - New
Method Predicts More Storms, Drought and Heat Waves This Century\...\"
Los Angeles Times, October 20, 2006. Accessed:
<http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-climate20oct20,1,1307606.story>

\[Excerpt: \"Much of the world, including the drought-plagued American
West, will face more deadly heat waves, intense rainstorms and prolonged
dry spells before the end of the century, according to a new climate
change study released Thursday. Focusing not on averages but on
extremes, the new research draws on nine climate models to predict what
will happen if worldwide greenhouse gases keep increasing\.... \'It\'s
the extremes, not the averages, that cause the most damage to society
and to many ecosystems,\' said Claudia Tebaldi, lead author of the
report by the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder,
Colo., Texas Tech University and Australia\'s Bureau of Meteorology
Research Center. In California, if the predictions come true, it could
mean a triple whammy:

more temperatures soaring over 100 degrees, longer rainless periods and
more powerful winter storms that could trigger flooding\.... \'In the
future, rising frequency, intensity and duration of temperature extremes
\... are likely to have adverse effects on human mortality and
morbidity,\' says the scientists\' report, \'Going to Extremes,\' which
will be published in the December issue of the journal Climatic Change.
\'Changes in precipitation-related extremes such as heavy rainfall and
associated flooding also have the potential to \[cause\] significant
economic losses and fatalities\'. The federally funded analysis is among
the first to use supercomputer simulations developed in the U.S., Japan,
France and Russia for an international committee of scientists, the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.\"

Hoffman, Andrew. Getting Ahead of the Curve: Corporate Strategies That
Address Climate Change. Pew Center on Global Climate Change, October 18,
2006, 150 pages. Accessed at:
<http://www.pewclimate.org/global-warming-in-depth/all_reports/corporate_strategies/index.cfm>

\(2\) KATRINA & FEMA:

Recio, Maria. \"Democrats Outline Reform Plan for Federal Emergency
Response.\" McClatchy Newspapers, 19Oct2006. At:

[[http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/nation/15800688.htm]{.underline}](http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/nation/15800688.htm)

\[Excerpt: \"The {House Congressional Democratic Katrina} task force
recommends diminishing the role of the Federal Emergency Management
Agency by redirecting its responsibility for disaster recovery to
agencies directly responsible for housing, transportation, education and
economic development.

Walsh, Bill. \"Democrats Have Katrina On Their Minds If They Win \--
Levees, Insurance Top List of Changes.\" New Orleans Times-Picayune,
October 20, 2006.

Accessed at:
<http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/washington/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1161325082179470.xml&coll=1>

\(3\) MITIGATION \-- OR NOT:

Kunzelman, Michael. \"Critics Say Easing Limits on Wetlands Development
on Coast a Risk.\" Sun Herald (S. Miss.), October 19, 2006. At:

[[http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/15799519.htm]{.underline}](http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/15799519.htm)

\[Excerpt: \"A plan to ease restrictions on developing the Mississippi
Gulf Coast\'s federally protected wetlands is under fire from critics
who say the proposal would leave a region hit hard by Hurricane Katrina
even more vulnerable to flooding from another storm. The plan, unveiled
this month by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, would allow developers
to fill in up to five acres of \'low quality\' wetlands in south
Mississippi without an individual permit from the Corps for each
project\.... David Hobbie, chief of the Corps\' regulatory division in
Mobile, Ala., said increasing the permitting limit - from a half-acre to
five acres - would streamline the regulatory process\.... environmental
advocates said the Corps\' plan would deal a severe blow to the
region\'s wetlands, which help control flooding from storms\.... Holly
Gordon, of the Stanford Law School Environmental Law Clinic, said there
are plenty of places on the Gulf Coast to build homes after Katrina that
won\'t encroach on wetlands. \'I understand the need to rebuild,\' she
said, \'but by choosing to build on wetlands, you are endangering
people\'s homes and lives in future storms\'. Hobbie said issuing a
\'regional general permit\' for Mississippi\'s six southernmost counties
also would help ease the workload on the Corps\' already overburdened
staff and accelerate the pace of rebuilding homes.\"\]

B.Wayne Blanchard, Ph.D., CEM

Higher Education Project Manager

Emergency Management Institute

National Emergency Training Center

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Department of Homeland Security

16825 S. Seton, K-011

Emmitsburg, MD 21727

\(301\) 447-1262, voice

\(301\) 447-1598, fax

wayne.blanchard@dhs.gov

[[http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu]{.underline}](http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu)

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