“WHAT can men do, what do they do, and what do they want to do ?”—these are the uestions that Prof. Thorndike seeks to answer in a very comprehensive and elaborate treatise. His undertaking is inspired by the belief that man has the possibility of almost complete control of his fate if only he will be guided by science, and that his failures are attributable to ignorance or folly. The main approach is through biological psychology, but all the social sciences are appealed to and utilized in an effort to deal with the human problem as a whole. The relative immaturity of the sciences dealing with man is continually stressed, but it is claimed that they provide a body of facts and principles which are “far above zero knowledge”, and that even now they are capable of affording valuable guidance in the shaping of public policy. Human Nature and the Social Order By E. L. Thorndike. Pp. xx + 1020. (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1940.) 18s. net.

Human Nature and the Social Order

There is increasing policy and research interest in disaster resilience, yet the extant literature is still mired in definitional debates, epistemological orientations of researchers, and differences in basic approaches to measurement. As a consequence, there is little integration across domains and disciplines on community resilience assessment, its driving forces, and geographic variability. Using US counties as the study unit, this paper creates an empirically-based resilience metric called the Baseline Resilience Indicators for Communities (BRIC) that is both conceptually and theoretically sound, yet, easy enough to compute for use in a policy context. A common set of variables were used to measure the inherent resilience of counties in the United States according to six different domains or capitals as identified in the extant literature – social, economic, housing and infrastructure, institutional, community, and environmental. Data were from public and freely accessible data sources. Counties in the US Midwest and Great Plains states have the most inherent resilience, while counties in the west, along the US-Mexico border, and along the Appalachian ridge in the east contain the least resilience. Further, it was found that inherent resilience is not the opposite of social vulnerability, but a distinctly different construct both conceptually and empirically. While understanding the overall variability in resilience, the BRIC is easily deconstructed to its component parts to provide guidance to policy makers on where investments in intervention strategies may make a difference in the improvement of scores. Such evidence-based research has an opportunity to influence public policy focused on disaster risk.

The geographies of community disaster resilience

PURPOSE: This study creates a COVID-19 susceptibility scale at the county level, describes its components, and then assesses the health and socioeconomic resiliency of susceptible places across the rural-urban continuum. METHODS: Factor analysis grouped 11 indicators into 7 distinct susceptibility factors for 3,079 counties in the conterminous United States. Unconditional mean differences are assessed using a multivariate general linear model. Data from 2018 are primarily taken from the US Census Bureau and CDC. RESULTS: About 33% of rural counties are highly susceptible to COVID-19, driven by older and health-compromised populations, and care facilities for the elderly. Major vulnerabilities in rural counties include fewer physicians, lack of mental health services, higher disability, and more uninsured. Poor Internet access limits telemedicine. Lack of social capital and social services may hinder local pandemic recovery. Meat processing facilities drive risk in micropolitan counties. Although metropolitan counties are less susceptible due to healthier and younger populations, about 6% are at risk due to community spread from dense populations. Metropolitan vulnerabilities include minorities at higher health and diabetes risk, language barriers, being a transportation hub that helps spread infection, and acute housing distress. CONCLUSIONS: There is an immediate need to know specific types of susceptibilities and vulnerabilities ahead of time to allow local and state health officials to plan and allocate resources accordingly. In rural areas it is essential to shelter-in-place vulnerable populations, whereas in large metropolitan areas general closure orders are needed to stop community spread. Pandemic response plans should address vulnerabilities.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jrh.12477

Community Susceptibility and Resiliency to COVID-19 Across the Rural-Urban Continuum in the United States.

Record-breaking fire seasons are becoming increasingly common worldwide, and large wildfires are having extraordinary impacts on people and property, despite years of investments to support social–ecological resilience to wildfires. This has prompted new calls for land management and policy reforms as current land and fire management approaches have been unable to effectively respond to the rapid changes in climate and development patterns that strongly control fire behaviour and continue to exacerbate the risks and hazards to human communities. Promoting social–ecological resilience in rapidly changing, fire-susceptible landscapes requires adoption of multiple perspectives of resilience, extending beyond ‘basic resilience’ (or bouncing back to a similar state) to include ‘adaptive resilience’ and ‘transformative resilience’, which require substantial and explicit changes to social–ecological systems. Clarifying these different perspectives and identifying where they will be most effective helps prioritize efforts to better coexist with wildfire in an increasingly flammable world. Record-breaking fire seasons are becoming the new normal, prompting calls for land management and policy reforms. This Perspective clarifies different types of resilience to wildfire to prioritize efforts to better coexist with increasingly fire-prone conditions.

https://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs_journals/2019/rmrs_2019_mcwethy_d001.pdf

Rethinking resilience to wildfire

Disasters are unpredictable events that have catastrophic impacts. There is now a focus on disaster resilience and capacity building in the recovery of the community. Resilience literature also suggests a staged model of disaster impacts and likelihood of staged manifestations of resilience. It also points to a potentially important link between place-based social cohesion and resilience. This article reports on comparative findings of cohesion and resilience indices in four Canadian rural communities that experienced disasters and evacuation in potentially different phases of coping and resilience. Buckner’s Index of Cohesion and the Index of Perceived Community Resilience are examined in each community for relationships (correlation) between cohesion and resilience and for differences in the intensity of these variables. Our findings show a consistent significant positive correlation between cohesion and resilience, although the strength of the relationship varies. Findings also show place-specific differentiation in the mean intensity of both cohesion and resilience scores; temporal phases of disaster recovery for each community are also noted. This information can help in disaster recovery planning by ensuring supports are available at key points in time for communities that experience disasters. Other research is needed that compares communities that have experienced different types of disasters and over time periods to document any changes to resilience or cohesion thereby assisting with disaster policy development and programme planning.

Social cohesion and resilience across communities that have experienced a disaster

Community resiliency: emerging theoretical insights

This paper reviews the key demographic, employment, income, and social capital features of rural Canada. Rural populations have different characteristics that are typically a direct result of "rurality"--i.e., long distances and low population density. Jobs that require a high-density population (such as a professional hockey player) are not available to individuals who live at a distance from a metro center. Rural Canada may have an agricultural landscape (or a forestry or mining landscape) but the vast majority of rural workers do not work in primary sectors. Manufacturing employment is larger. Rural Canada is competitive in manufacturing--rural areas are gaining a larger share of Canada's manufacturing workforce. Rural incomes are lower, on average. But lower living costs mean that the rural incidence of low incomes is similar to urban. In rural communities, the existence of social networks does not always imply that these networks are used. Networks are complementary-one network does not always substitute for another. However, local strength in one network can be used to build capacity in another network.

Demographics, employment, income, and networks: differential characteristics of rural populations.

Typologies and indicators require frequent evaluation to ensure that they are accurate reflections of changing conditions. This paper uses a framework developed by the New Rural Economy Project (NRE) as an example of one such classification for rural places. It compares sites on the basis of four measures representing key processes driving rural change and a fifth one regarding economic and social outcomes. The utility of this framework is illustrated by an examination of population, health, and employment characteristics in the Canadian context. The results reinforce the value of the framework, the interdependency of the processes involved, and the importance of local institutions and capacity. Three examples are provided of the ways in which these interdependencies might reinforce the emergence of new institutions around watersheds, environmental footprints, and trade networks. All of them focus on interests common to both rural and urban people.

Exploring diversity in rural canada

Wildfires are becoming a greater concern in many areas of the world. In this article, focus is on wildfires in two rural communities in Canada with emphasis on the aftermath at both the individual and community levels. Through open-ended interviews, information was generated about individual experiences with recovery and the creation of groups in the communities post-wildfire. The findings reveal that despite the differences in the severity of the fires, residents at both sites experienced impacts after the event. Disaster management implications include the need to focus on all community residents, not just those who experienced losses, while investing in the social rebuilding of communities.

/pdf/impacts-of-wildfires-aftermath-at-individual-and-community-jl64u9knr9.pdf

Impacts of wildfires: Aftermath at individual and community levels?

Results: • The disaster was totally unexpected, but did not result in fatalities or major injuries among area residents. • Firefighters, local authorities and leaders had to quickly make difficult decisions to save relevant infrastructure. • Most residents were not prepared for the disaster and felt overwhelmed by the suddenness and severity of the fires. • The process to restore normality creates multiple stresses that impacted the everyday lives of families. • The people and their commitment to their community were major strengths that helped the recovery process. • Many families underwent six main changes after experiencing the wildfires: -Re-evaluation of life goals and priorities -Changes in interactions within family units -New routines -Changes in interactions with the community -Changes in attitudes -Reconsideration of values and perceptions Since the fires, changes in living arrangements, financial assets and family relationships had the greatest impact on households. Children were affected by changes in family routines. Parents lacked the energy to deal with their children‘s needs. In many cases family members felt closer together and shared a sense of internal strength as a family. Some children had difficulties with emotions, concentration, behaviour, or getting along with people. Children most at risk for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) were mainly young (aged 7-11), females, and did not experience home loss. On average, parental assessment of PTSD was lower than what students reported in the schools. Local initiatives such as coordination of recovery efforts and social events have been helpful for families. RURAL WILDFIRE STUDY Families and Children: Responses to Wildfires Links to Community Resiliency

Families and children : responses to wildfires--links to community resiliency

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