LGBTQIA Personal Safety and Security. June 2019

LGBTQIA Personal Safety and Security Safety and Security

Depending on the legal framework or cultural and social norms in a country, humanitarian staff may experience harassment or threats if they are perceived to be members or supporters of the LGBTQIA community. This short course was designed to raise personal safety and security awareness for both international travelers and national staff in countries where the risks to the LGBTQIA community are increased. After opening the course, subtitles are provided in many languages.

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Ontario. Environmental Protections take a back seat.

https://act.environmentaldefence.ca/page/43516/action/1

"As part of the More Homes, More Choice Act (Bill 108), the Ontario government intends to bring back the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB).

Returning to the OMB takes us back to an expensive, time consuming dispute resolution process that was difficult for citizens to take part in. But this time citizens voices will be highly limited, making it even more difficult for the public to participate.

The OMB was dismantled after an extensive 2-year public review and replaced with the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPATs). Now the Ontario government is bringing it back at the request of developers with no input at all from the public."

Why is Ontario bringing back the OMB? Because developers asked them to.

NOTE:
          Bill 108 would also remove protections for Ontario’s
          230+ species-at-risk, allowing developers to bulldoze
          their habitat in order to allow them to turn a profit.


The Premier says wildlife protections are "red tape".

Bill 108 would make survival even harder for Ontario’s endangered species by:

• Stripping protections for endangered species
• Letting builders pay a fee to break the law
• Giving the Minister veto power to ignore scientific decisions

"If enacted as proposed, the proposed legislative amendments, introduced in legislation known as Bill 108, would fundamentally alter key features of the province’s planning system, such as parkland dedication, development charges, section 37 community benefits, the role of heritage protection, and the availability of inclusionary zoning, among other things. Perhaps most importantly, a new “community benefits charge” based on a percentage of land value would replace parkland dedication requirements, soft service development charges, and section 37 contributions."

June 1-7, 2019. Sustainability NOW Telesummit

An exceptional compendium of content from 32 visionaries and experts from around the globe who will give you practical steps to take — things you can do right now to make a difference.

https://sustainabilitynowsummit.com/presell-page

Starting at 6AM (EDT) each day, you’ll have a 48-hour, ON DEMAND, ALL-ACCESS PASS to that day's presentations — so you can watch at your convenience.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/SustainabilityNowSummit/

7 Extraordinary Days with 32 Sustainability Icons From 9 Countries

Sharing Solutions and Hope for a Thriving Future

SCHEDULE

DAY 1: SATURDAY, JUNE 1 

Alosha Lynov – Off-Grid Water Systems

Marina Qutab – Waste Not Want Not: Zero Waste Solutions for Daily Living

Ryan Eliason – How to Change the World Without Going Broke

Sean Steed – Plant-Based Epoxy: a Case Study for Circular Economy

Zach Bush – Chemical Farming, Ecology & Human Health — A Path to Regeneration

DAY 2: SUNDAY, JUNE 2

Alexander Verbeek – Climate Change and Planetary Security

Brother Phil Lane – The International Treaty to Protect & Restore Mother Earth

Heshie Segal – Clean Water on the Go: Reducing Plastics and Protecting Our Health

Mike Strizki – Hydrogen Micro-Grids: Clean Power for the Future, Now

Summer Bock – How Fermented Foods Can Repair Our Health

DAY 3: MONDAY, JUNE 3

Hazel Henderson – How Halophyte Plants** Can Help Solve the Global Food Crisis

Jay Potter – ECOR: From Waste Stream Fiber to Circular Economy

Jorgen Hempel – Hemp and Hydrated Lime Construction

Ronit Herzfeld – Beyond Bias: Moving From “Me” to “We”

William Padilla-Brown – Cultivating Culinary and Medicinal Mushrooms 

DAY 4: TUESDAY, JUNE 4

Brian D. Ridgway – Finding Freedom 

Judy Wicks – Nurturing Local Economies

Kristen Comella – The Regenerative Power of Your Own Stem Cells

Reggie Nayar – The Dirty Truth About Waste and Recycling

DAY 5: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5

Jon Ramer – Deep Social Networking as a Vehicle for Global Change

Judah Becker – Aquaponics: a Path to Self-Sufficiency

Michael Rice and Zana Zu – Holistic Design

Dr. Richard Satava – Frontiers of Medicine and the Ethics of Medical Breakthroughs

DAY 6: THURSDAY, JUNE 6

Amy Oskins & Amzi Smith – New Paradigms for Housing: Earthship 2.0

Hajjar Gibran – Earthy meets Elegant with AirCrete Construction

Larry Sterns – Composting Toilets and Waterless Waste Solutions

Paul Rodney Turner – Sharing Food, Sharing Compassion

Vinit Allen – We ARE the Planet: Redefining the Human Family

DAY 7: FRIDAY, JUNE 7

Jessica Cooper – Work Environments Designed to Help People Thrive

John Todd – Restoring Water and Land with Biologically-Based Eco-Machines

Michael Gosney – Vehicles of Social Change

Michael Pawlyn – Solving Design Challenges Through the Wisdom of Nature.

**Note: Halophytes are good for more than just food!

NIST Disaster Resilience Symposium. August 2019

2019 NIST Disaster Resilience Symposium

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is pleased to announce its second annual Disaster Resilience Symposium. 

The symposium will be held on August 7-8, 2019 at NIST in Gaithersburg, MD.

The symposium will feature presentations from over a dozen grant awardees funded by NIST and from NIST researchers on the latest findings from related internal projects. Topics will include disaster and failure studies, earthquake engineering, wind engineering, community resilience, and wildland-urban interface fires.

• Development of Tornado Design Criteria for Buildings and Shelters Subject to Tornado Induced Loads
• Improving Disaster Resilience Through Scientific Data Collection with UAV Swarms
• Seismic Assessment, Retrofit Strategies and Policy Implications for Vulnerable Existing Steel Buildings
• Integrating Aging Effects in Performance-Based Seismic Design and Assessment of Reinforced Concrete Structures
• Resilience of Steel Moment Frame Systems with Deep Slender Column Sections
• Coastal Inundation Events in Developed Regions
• Decision-Oriented Column Simulation Capabilities for Enhancing Disaster Resilience of Reinforced Concrete Buildings
• Liquefaction-Targeted Ground Motion Parameters
• Improving Disaster Resilience by Quantifying WUI Community Ember Exposure
• Biomacromolecules as Flame Retardants for Wood-Based Construction
• Temperature Measurements of Airborne Firebrands
• Development of Methodology for Determination of Ignition Propensity by Firebrands in Wildland-Urban Interface

The symposium keynote speakers will be Prof. Albert Simeoni of Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Dr. James Harris of J.R. Harris & Company. Both internationally recognized keynote speakers will share their perspectives on how we can enhance the resilience of US communities.

A flyer of the event can be found here: https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2019/05/21/symposium_2019.pdf.  

Registration is free and is now open.  

For more information, go to:  https://www.nist.gov/news-events/events/2019/08/2019-disaster-resilience-symposium.

FEMA New Recipients Disaster Grants Guide 2019

FEMA has released the ‘FEMA New Recipients of Disaster Grants Guide’, May 2019.

The FEMA New Recipients of Disaster Grants Guide describes Recipient requirements for the three FEMA categories of disaster grant assistance available to Recipients following a Presidential emergency or major disaster declaration: PA, IA, and HMGP.

FEMA provides specific guidance for state-led PA and is developing state-led housing options to allow Recipients to manage greater portions of the recovery effort.  Recipients interested in pursuing these options should consult with regional program staff for details and requirements.

Guide can be accessed and downloaded directly from the FEMA website at:

https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/1557850250582-4ae86b7c934aff6f663aa5c157b3ba3e/New_Recipients_of_Disaster_Grants_Guide_2019.pdf