Solutions

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention outfitted a Gulfstream jet with an isolation pod designed and built by the U.S. Defense Department, the CDC and a private company. The pod, officially called an Aeromedical Biological Containment System, is a portable, tentlike device that ensures the flight crew and others on the flight remain safe from an infectious disease.

kfor.com - by Laura Noland - August 1, 2014

ATLANTA (CNN) — When a plane took off from Georgia to meet two American missionaries fighting to survive Ebola hemorrhagic fever in West Africa, a small epidemic ignited on social media in the United States: Fear.

The medical charter flight that departed Cartersville on Thursday could bring Nancy Writebol or Dr. Kent Brantly back to a treatment facility up the street from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. . .

. . . If the plane returns with them lying in the microbial containment system erected in its bay, it will be the first known time that someone infected with Ebola has crossed into the United States.

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I would like to share the results of my research, thinking and writing with the U. S. Resilience System in the hopes that its viewers can incorporate some of it into their own work.  I also hope to receive feedback so I can improve my ideas.

My background is in city and regional planning.  More recently it has expanded to include futures research.  I believe that the much-needed resilience many of us are seeking can best be achieved if we are working on immediate plans and actions plus long-range plans and actions at the same time.  Immediate or short-term actions are seldom sufficient by themselves.

Resilience to the wide variety of critical problems and uncertainties we expect to face this century requires systemic changes in our country and world.  It requires changes in the way we think, act, organize and communicate, and in what and where we build.  We slowly build our man-made environment to fit our needs and then our man-made environment shapes and controls us for many decades - even after our needs have changed. 

Image: Chart of the Top 25 Firms Scored Using the Modified GEMS Rating

environmentalleader.com - July 24, 2014

Ecolab has the strongest environmental management of all the companies in the Russell 3000 index, according to a study that evaluates environmental policies and infrastructure.

Scoring 91 of 100 points, Ecolab saw an increase in score of 38 points (72 percent) during the past two years.

In second place is two-time top rated firm Intel with 89 points. Lexmark ranks no. 3 for 2013, increasing by 10 points from 2011, to 84 points.

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Young and old hockey stars reach for the puck in a game of shinny on a frozen pond in Palgrave, something the NHL worries may become less possible as the climate changes.  Jim Wilkes / TORONTO STAR

Hockey is taking steps to reduce its carbon footprint, for good reason: more than other pro sports, it depends on cold weather and clean water.

thestar.com - by Kevin McGran - July 23, 2014