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Recent SharedEmergency Broadcasts
Click on an archived show
On SharedEmergency
Radio... There are over 2.45
million grandparents who raise their grandchildren in the U.S.
According to the Miami Herald,
148,000 such grandparents live in Florida. During this archived
episode, we look at how one organization, The Pantry of Broward,
helps ease the strain of everyday living for grandparents in this
position.
Listen to
the show, recorded July 26, 2009, at
Blog Talk Radio.
Articles on Scribd
Click on links to access printed contents
Rising Sea Levels- The Saltwater Solution
Jovian Warning II
Four Strategies the New GM Can Do To Succeed
Economic Heroes and the Power of Persistence
PDF To the Rescue...Helping the Newspaper Industry
Open the Curtain At America's Investment Gulper
Fighting The Post-Recession Repression
Read "Affordable Housing v. Global Warming," on
SharedEmergency.wordpress.com.
Needed...A White House Conference on
Affordable Housing (Posted January 25, 2009)
January 24, 2009
By Mitch Chester
 The
Obama Administration can elevate Affordable Housing strategies
to the national spotlight to help turn the economy around.
Needed: An invigorated and fresh federal focus on
affordable and workforce housing strategies.
The time is ripe for a White House
Conference to set a new high-priority national agenda
on an increasingly daunting issue that requires high-visibility
advocacy from the new President and his Housing and Urban
Development Secretary, Shaun Donovan.
As foreclosures increase and Americans lose their
homes, the demand and need for truly affordable housing (owned and
rented) exponentially expands. Just because home values are
resulting in lower prices in most real estate markets does not mean
those with limited or no credit can afford to move into, fix up and
sustain, over the long-term, a new residence without federal, state
and local governmental assistance.
As States such as Florida try to reduce the
amount of monies available for workforce housing initiatives (The
Florida Legislature seeks to cut $190 million from an already raided
state housing trust fund to help balance the budget), and as workers
face layoffs, lost savings and retirement funds, President Obama
needs to infuse this issue to the top of the new American Agenda.
A conference comprised of
affordable housing advocates, officials from all levels of
government, academic leaders, bankers, finance guru’s,
entrepreneurs, construction and home building representatives and
people affected by the housing crisis should be called with all
deliberate speed. Executive
Branch and Congressional leaders should herald a
“National Affordable Housing Month”
to focus on the need to resuscitate the economy by promoting home
ownership and rental infrastructure incentives that will allow
people to secure the fabric of their communities by getting and
keeping people in housing they can afford, while at the same time
promoting policies that encourage affordable housing near
transportation hubs to help reduce neighborhood carbon footprints.
A “National Housing Month”
initiative would further the White House urban agenda to increase
the supply of attainable housing in Metropolitan Regions and the
formation of a federal Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
In keeping with the President’s new media
strategies, the results of an intensified look at low to middle
income housing strategies can be posted on-line on the HUD.gov
website, including 24/7 citizen access to financial literacy tools
to keep, maintain and purchase attainable housing. The Department of
Education could urge local school boards to hold a one day focus in
social studies and civics classes which alert young minds to the
issue and raise the national consciousness through academics.
An articulate dialogue, starting from 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue, is the way to kick-start this effort. For when
people move into homes, the economy begins to receive the electric
shocks that produce progress, and we have another way to recover
from these difficult times.
Catastrophic Disaster Response...from CSPAN2
U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Transportation
Management hearing, July 27, 2009. Length 3 hours 27 minutes.
An exploration of what communities can do to prepare for
emergencies...are we ready? Planning for the future is discussed in
this telling hearing.
New and unresolved questions are discussed about the role of the federal
government before, during and after disasters. Is additional
authority needed for the government in dealing with future Katrina's
and 911 events? Just what is a "catastrophic event?" What have we
learned from recent disasters? How should we respond to disasters in
the years ahead?
What steps should be taken now to mitigate the effects of future
disasters? Are existing federal laws sufficient to deal with future
challenges? Do we rely too much on Washington to respond to local
and state disasters? What is FEMA's authority, and it's policies?
Hear witnesses from the new FEMA Director Craig Fugate and others
who work in this critical area.
SharedEmergency.com thanks CSPAN for making this video available as
a public service.
The Crisis of Credit Visualized from
Jonathan Jarvis on
Vimeo.
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Fighting Information Suffocation-A
Reality Check from CBS News
>Play Video
For
substantive comment on the news consumer's responsibilities in
helping develop the future of newspapers and cable news, visit our
site at
SharedEmergency.wordpress.com
Watch CBS News Videos Online
Charting Issues with Debategraph
What is Shared Emergency and it's
purpose?
As we approach the second decade of the 21st
Century, we face unprecedented emergencies and opportunities...together.
It is only through collaboration that we can respond with meaningful
answers. This site is devoted to discussion of pressing issues and
to advance ideas that might make a difference.
This site is also an additional platform
for the
SharedEmergency.wordpress.com blog, the
BlogTalkRadio SharedEmergency broadcast and
Scribd
postings from the Editor.
Our purpose is to provide supplemental materials
for our radio broadcasts and original content which does not appear
on the blog site. Additionally, here we list archived internet radio programs and
provide support for special SharedEmergency projects.
For more information, visit SharedEmergency.wordpress.com and read
"The Allosphere...Postscript to Google Human,"
published April 18, 2009.
Preserving and Cherishing
the “Pale Blue Dot.”
No one except the great Carl
Sagan could put it so eloquently. There is no parallel to how
special yet insignificant we are in this universe. As planetary
inhabitants, will get no help from other distant civilizations. We
are dependent upon our own minds and initiatives…through our diverse
yet singular efforts.
Yet, as we deal with the
first pandemic of the 21st Century, worry about poverty, hunger,
climate change, great storms, nuclear arms, extremist elements
and grapple with an economic crisis of great magnitude, we forget
how important science is to the future of human kind as we try to
survive day by day. Each day is a test, a battle of sorts,
to persist and thrive.
That we have been given the
gift of being able to achieve ways to travel through space
to discover new worlds, peer into and invade the tiny inner space
of the body and develop vast stores of knowledge is truly
incomprehensible from the perspective shared by Dr. Sagan
in his Earth-centric yet universal poetry. Yes, we do have
a responsibility to the dot which sustains us. From our one
spec in a far corner of the known universe, there is all that we
know, share, fear and love. But we also have been given the
opportunity and burden to learn, and grow and protect our world.
This is why basic
research and the new emphasis on science is so important…and vital
to our future. We live in the most exiting of times. The pixel
that is Earth shares many emergencies, but all can be surmounted,
with education, understanding and strong will. That Washington is
newly engaged in research and science is exhilerating and exciting.
And
guess what. We are
preserving the “pale blue dot,” however inartfully and immaturely.
With every mis-step, we are learning, growing, and figuring things
out. We are moving forward, inch by inch, and finding our collective
way. We are achieving in greater bounds, at velocities previously
unknown and unfathomable. We have mapped the human genome. We
have developed cures for diseases. We have expanded the ability to
analyze, create and express. We have learned to reach out to each
other and permeate great barriers. We are on the verge of
understanding dimensions of which only science fiction writers could
dare to dream.
Carl’s message was to be
responsible to the dot. Despite our wars, our frailties, societal
mistakes and injustices, we are comprehending how to exercise the
caretaker role Dr. Sagan quietly reminds us we must maintain.
As society advances, it is heeding the call of the cosmos to act
intelligently. But there’s much more to do, and the more we learn,
the more we achieve, the more we recognize there is so much to do,
and little time for each generation to accomplish what must be done.
You and I are on a journey of trial and error…but one of
preservation, so exquisitely mapped by the words of Dr. Sagan.
Take a few moments. Explore the
CarlSagan Portal. His cognitive
expressions mean so much, and are a blend of art, music, science,
physics, math, knowledge, philosophy and compassion. We miss you
Carl, but your thoughts resonate with us daily.
For more on Dr. Sagan and his legacy,
transport yourself
here.
How is government reacting to this challenge?
See the Obama commitment to research and
education policy.
OSM 2008: A Year of Edits fItoWorld on
Vimeo.
Timescapes Timelapse: Mountain Light
Tom @ Timescapes on Vimeo.
SharedEmergency.com is edited by
Mitch Chester.
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