Extreme Weather, Health, and Communities: Interdisciplinary Engagement Strategies (Extreme Weather and Society)

This volume presents a unique interdisciplinary approach, drawing on expertise in both the natural and social sciences. A primary goal is to present a scientific and socially integrated perspective on place-based community engagement, extreme weather, and health. Each year extreme weather is leading to natural disasters around the world and exerting huge social and health costs. The International Monetary Fund (2012) estimates that since 2010, 700 worldwide natural disasters have affected more than 450 million people around the globe. The best coping strategy for extreme weather and environmental change is a strong offense. Communities armed with a spatial understanding of their resources, risks, strengths, weaknesses, community capabilities, and social networks will have the best chance of reducing losses and achieving a better outcome when extreme weather and disaster strikes.

Dr. Sheila Lakshmi Steinberg is aProfessor of Social and Environmental Sciences at Brandman University-ChapmanUniversity System, Irvine, CA.  The themethroughout her research is examining people and their relationship to space andplace.Steinberg’s research interests includeenvironmental sociology, research methods, social inequality, community,geospatial research (GIS) and policy. Sheila has always been interested in theweather and climate from living in so many different parts of the U.S.Recently, she co-authored a book entitled GIS Research Methods: Incorporating Spatial Perspectives for Esri Pressand has also co-authored a chapter on this topic entitled"Geospatial Analysis Technology and Social Science Research" in the Handbookof Emergent Technologies, Sharlene Hesse-Biber, Editor, Oxford UniversityPress 2011.  In 2006, she co-authored a book for Sage Publicationsentitled, GIS for the Social Sciences: Investigating Space and Place. In2013, she joined Brandman University where she now teaches courses related tosocial and environmental sciences.

William A. Sprigg, Ph.D., Yale University is ResearchProfessor Emeritus, University of Arizona, the current and founding director ofthe World Meteorological Organization’s Pan-America Center for airborne dustforecasting in Barbados, and research associate of the Public Health Institutein California. He is a member of the American Meteorological Society’s Board onEnvironment & Health, the Chinese Academy of Sciences Committee for DigitalEarth Observations, and the Serbian Program of Basic Research, EnvironmentalProtection and Climate Change. Former positions includeDistinguished Professor at California’s Chapman University, Director, U.S.National Research Council Board on Atmospheric Science and Climate, head of theU.S. National Climate Program Office, and architect of the U.S. ClimateProgram. He participated in the first Intergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange. Authoring a number of technical publications on climate and, mostrecently, on his current research interests, airborne dust and human health,Dr. Sprigg continues his interests in interdisciplinary research and sciencepolicy.