Racial Justice without Environmental Justice is No Justice at All

Lexie Shah, a fourth-year undergraduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, offers an overview of multiple environmental justice challenges and suggests needed policy shifts at the federal, state, and local levels to help overcome them.Read More

Emergency Management in Philadelphia: a Q&A with Adam Thiel

As the sixth largest city in the United States, Philadelphia faces a myriad of risks. Last fall we sat down with Adam Thiel, Director of the Office of Emergency Management of the City of Philadelphia, to learn more about his role with our home city. Read More

PennApps 2020 – Hack for Resilience

From Friday, September 11 to Sunday, September 13, the third annual the Hack-for-Resilience competition (“H4R”) was hosted by Wharton Risk Center and the Insurance Information Institute’s (“Triple-I”) Resilience Accelerator as part of the PennAppsXXI hackathon. Read More

Fundraising for an Effective Cause During an Unrelated Crisis

COVID-19 has disrupted nearly every aspect of daily life and captured the world’s attention. Governments, nonprofits, and individuals have directed billions of dollars to COVID-19 relief. Although these efforts are commendable, the attention to the pandemic likely overshadows the urgency of other causes for which donations translate to proven impact. Read More

Reducing California Wildfire Losses

California has faced challenges over the years in convincing communities and property owners to adopt land use measures to reduce the likelihood of a fire spreading, notably in areas that are most prone to this risk: the wildland-urban interface (WUI). California’s current fires are a reminder of the need for undertaking strategic measures now to reduce future wildfires.Read More

Wildfires and Recovery: FEMA’s Individual Assistance funding provides important support—but unfunded damages remain

While the number of US wildfires per year remains fairly constant, the total acreage burned and average fire size has increased over the last thirty years.Without insurance, many individuals in wildfire-prone areas likely have insufficient resources to recover from these devastating events.Read More