03.26.07
Help Juneau . . . Not That They Asked
This is part of the series:
- Premise For The Abrupt Climate Change Game for Community Planners
- The Best Shade Tree
- Grow Corn for Food or Fuel
- YouTube Video Contest
- One Way to Think About A Community Disaster
- Culprit Tax (Carbon Tax) to Pay For Disaster Preparedness
- Should Communities Support Seed Banks?
- Save the World - Youtube Video Contest
- Victory Gardens as Community Insurance
- Deer and the Abrupt Climate Change Game
- Zone Roof Gardens to Plan For Abrupt Climate Change (the game)
- Who Knew the UK Drank So Much Tea? Maybe Their Streets Are Dark?
- Where’s the Climate Change Game?
- Gardening is the Answer . . .
- Help Juneau . . . Not That They Asked
- Don’t Save the World With Bamboo
- AP gets Silence of the Frogs Wrong?
- Reunion Smalltalk - How Will You Survive Global Warmng
Juneau Alaska has an interesting community planning / environmental disaster problem. They have a section of town that they know is vulnerable to avalanches. This section is built-up and has had some damage before. (17 houses in 1962). The city isn’t willing to buy everyone out, a cheaper alternative than building snow barriers that may be counter-productive anyway.
In 2004, Alaska was apparently in a state of denial. They had the highest per capita avalanche death rate in the country, failed to implement state mandates for an education and forecasting program, and failed to get a cut of Federal funding for avalanche programs. Volunteers filled the gap.
Volunteers put together a shoestring program to educate and warn of avalanche dangers. In 2006 they were able to get funding to expand the forecasting capability. They are still short of their goal of getting a government-funded, voluntary buyout of at-risk areas but they’re taking actions that have cut fatalities 60% in other areas where they have been tried.
Any suggestions for them? (Put your comments here. I’ll write them up and forward them to www.avalanche.org.)
My own suggestion involved selling local “tourist” businesses advertising space on their site. - A potentially significant source of revenue in a 2006 budget of $200,000.
