1. Integrating Sustainability in A World Facing Natural Disasters
Earth, planetary, and space sciences 13 “Natural Disasters”
William I. Newman

2. Natural Disaster EPS SCI 013 Topics: Topics unchanged, but survivability focus added
Earth & space related
Earthquakes
Volcanoes
Tsunami
* Mass wasting (avalanches)
* Soil subsidence (sinkholes) and soil erosion/desertification
+ Space weather (solar activity; deniers’ favorite alternative fact)
Impact events (meteorites; asteroids & comets)
Climate change related
Severe weather
Hurricanes
Tornadoes
Flooding
Coastal erosion
Sea level rise (eustatic and continental ice mass melting/injection into oceans)
Wildfires (plus erosion, soil depletion)
Pandemics (climate-driven pathogen movement) and species extinctions
Global climate change (big picture)
Overpopulation, famine, and drought
Energy options and sequestration in a carbon-negative world

3. Sustainability is much more than the 3 R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
EPS SCI 13 also satisfies the diversity requirement inasmuch as survivability—past, present, and future—and central; a different kind of “sustainability” is central
The “usual” sustainability issues relating to homes related to building materials; but there is much more relating to exposure to natural hazards; this transcends “resilience”
Homes should not be situated in areas where they are prone to
Earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis;
Mass wasting (landslides), forest fires (land management), flooding, coastal erosion, sinkholes;
Energy conservation, insulation, and energy generation issues;

4. Sustainability is much more than the 3 R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (cont.)
Energy sourcing and carbon sequestration: renewables where possible; avoid coal at all cost (over hydrocarbons, inc. fracking); safe nuclear power (heavy-water moderated fission; fusion); MacKay’s Sustainability without the Hot Air (physics and engineering based comprehensive study)
Transportation modality
Environmental cost of automobiles must be included in assessment; hydrogen fuel; electric vehicles with renewable energy sources (self-defeating in some regions of country)
Public transport (and restructured communities—tie in with housing); bicycles and walking
Suvivability in context of natural disasters must extend sustainability and resilience leitmotif