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RAND energy and environmental analyses examine the implications of existing and proposed energy policies on the environment. Building on a long history of policy research, RAND helps balance the need for environmental protections and economic development.

Commentary
Puerto Rico's Food Security Must Factor in Planning Energy Security
The tragedy of disaster recovery has unlocked substantial capital for Puerto Rico to rewrite its interdependent security in energy and food. Considering food security in this context could help to ensure the population has access to both power and food.
Feb 24, 2023
Essay
An Early Warning System for Landslides Protects Sitka, Alaska
A 2015 landslide that killed three people in Sitka, Alaska, changed how residents looked at the steep hills all around them. The community worked with researchers to develop a warning system to prevent such tragedies in the future.
Mar 14, 2023

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Report
An Initial Methodology for Evaluating Social Equity Performance in Disaster Mitigation Grants: The Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Program
The authors explore how the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities grant program addresses the greatest natural hazard risks for mitigation (predisaster actions to reduce damage and ease recovery) while also integrating social equity factors.
Mar 22, 2023
Periodical
RAND Review: March-April 2023
The cover story describes how K-12 schools can build trust with students to increase threat reporting and strengthen school safety. The Q&A with Ashley Woo explores how restrictions on race- and gender-related topics are affecting teachers.
Mar 22, 2023
Essay
The Time to Prevent Shortfalls in Critical Materials Is Now
China's domination of the rare earth market is a matter of economic and national security concern. Existing plans to diversify the market and help the United States break its reliance on China likely don't go far enough or fast enough, and the clock is running.
Mar 20, 2023
Blog
Opioids in America, Silicon Valley Bank, Semiconductors: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on addressing America's illicit opioids problem, Silicon Valley Bank’s demise, Taiwan’s semiconductor dominance, and more.
Mar 17, 2023
Journal Article
Collective Action by Community Groups: Solutions for Climate Change or Different Players in the Same Game?
This article investigates how community groups solve collective action problems though data gathered across 25 organizations in three sites—Sitka, Alaska, USA; Toco, Trinidad; and a global site of distributed citizen science organizations.
Mar 8, 2023
Commentary
Consequences of the War in Ukraine: The Economic Fallout
Before Russia invaded Ukraine, projections estimated global economic growth in 2022 would be around 5 percent. But the war in Ukraine contributed to slowed economic growth in 2022 and a slowed recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. What are the broader consequences for the global economy?
Mar 7, 2023
Report
Growing Toward a Low-Carbon Future: Estimating Greenhouse Gas Emissions in California's Westlands Water District
The authors assessed the greenhouse gas emissions of crop production in California's Westlands Water District and the trade-offs of policies aimed at decarbonization. They provide policy insights and recommendations to local and state decisionmakers.
Mar 1, 2023
Journal Article
Community-Level, Participatory Co-Design for Landslide Warning with Implications for Climate Services
This paper describes a community-level co-design process among academic, state, and federal scientists and the community of Sitka, Alaska to develop a novel landslide warning system for the small coastal town.
Mar 1, 2023
Journal Article
Capacities of Health Systems in Climate Migrant Receiving Communities: Insights in the US Gulf Coast
This report examines how health care delivery systems in receiving communities meet the needs of climate migrants in three case study sites in the US Gulf Coast.
Mar 1, 2023
Research Brief
Growing Toward a Low-Carbon Future: Policy Implications of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Their Trade-Offs in California's Westlands Water District
The authors assessed the greenhouse gas emissions of crop production in California's Westlands Water District and the trade-offs of policies aimed at decarbonization. They provide policy insights and recommendations to local and state decisionmakers.
Mar 1, 2023
Journal Article
International Humanitarian Narratives of Disasters, Crises and Indigeneity
Narratives are a means of making sense of disasters and crises. We identify and characterise narratives in humanitarian communications involving Indigenous Peoples by conducting a narrative analysis of humanitarian communications.
Feb 22, 2023
Journal Article
Social Vulnerability Shapes the Experiences of Climate Migrants Displaced by Hurricane Maria
The purpose of this study is to understand the experiences of climate change related migrants. To do so we draw on focus group discussions with Puerto Ricans in South and Central Florida displaced by 2017 Hurricane Maria.
Feb 21, 2023
Blog
Earthquake in Turkey and Syria, Facial Recognition, Gun Violence: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on the devastating earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria, regulating the use of facial recognition technology by law enforcement, improving data collection on gun violence, and more.
Feb 17, 2023
Q&A
Earthquake in Turkey, Syria: Insights from RAND Researchers
Thousands of people have been confirmed dead in one the strongest earthquakes to hit Turkey and Syria in the past century. As search-and-rescue missions ended and recovery began, a handful of RAND researchers shared some of their initial thoughts.
Feb 14, 2023
Commentary
Will Logistics Be Russia's Undoing in Ukraine?
Russia's experience in Ukraine one year in is an example of what happens when a nation tries to fight a war without fully considering the logistics and sustainment that go alongside such a fight. The consequences for failing to fully consider these concepts drove Russia into a prolonged conflict for which it was already ill-prepared a year ago, with increasingly dire consequences for its future.
Feb 10, 2023
Report
How Can DoD Compare Damage Costs Against Resilience Investment Costs for Climate-Driven Natural Hazards? Overview of an Analytic Approach, Its Advantages, and Its Limitations
This report assesses methods to compare the damage costs from climate change-related extreme weather events against the costs of investing in U.S. Department of Defense installation resilience.
Feb 2, 2023
Brochure
Implications of Climate Change for Department of the Air Force Missions and Operations
This compilation of climate research conducted within RAND Project AIR FORCE for the Department of the Air Force and more broadly across RAND offers insights about climate change and its implications for military operations and other contexts.
Feb 1, 2023
Journal Article
How Disasters Drive Media Channel Preferences: Tracing News Consumption Before, During, and After Hurricane Harvey
Understanding public media channel preferences can inform preparedness plans, response strategies, and long-term recovery.
Feb 1, 2023

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Research conducted by

Researcher Spotlight

Tom LaTourrette

Senior Physical Scientist

Tom LaTourrette is a senior physical scientist at the RAND Corporation. He has over 20 years of experience in a wide range of topics related to energy, infrastructure, and public safety policy. His research covers seabed mining and critical minerals supply chains; alternative transportation…
Mark Alan Hanson

Senior Quantitative Analyst

Mark Hanson is a senior quantitative analyst at the RAND Corporation, and an adjunct associate professor at the Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California. His research interests include healthcare quality, environmental sustainability, transportation planning, urban…

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