Commentary from Community Health and Environmental Policy

Food Insecurity
Feeding the Needy and Protecting Workers on the Front Lines of the Pandemic
Apr 30, 2020
Andrea Richardson @ASRichardson3, Tamara Dubowitz @TamaraDubowitz

Access to food could be critical to getting through the COVID-19 pandemic. Local leaders and policymakers may find themselves having to devote new resources to make sure all citizens have access to food and to protect those on the front lines.
Supply Chain Management
Supply Chain Disruptions Due to COVID-19 and Social Distancing
Apr 28, 2020
Aaron Strong @resourceecon, Jonathan W. Welburn @jwwelburn

There are significant epidemiological and economic risks and uncertainties with physical distancing policies put into effect in the United States to reduce the growth of COVID-19. We have estimated the economy-wide impacts of a set of these policies to provide a sense of their likely economic toll.
Artificial Intelligence
Catholic Church and Tech Companies Join to Call for Transparency in AI
Mar 31, 2020
Patrick S. Roberts @RamblingRoberts

The Catholic Church joined with technology companies in February to release the “Rome Call for AI Ethics,” which it hopes will lend meaning if not governance frameworks for the use of artificial intelligence. Making sure that “everyone can benefit” from AI by making its discoveries widely available will be important. This is perhaps where the church can be most effective.
Community Resilience
What Can FEMA Learn from the Historic 2017 Hurricane and Wildfire Seasons?
Feb 3, 2020
Jason Thomas Barnosky, Patrick S. Roberts @RamblingRoberts, et al.

When a hurricane comes ashore or a wildfire ignites, most of a community's vulnerability to disaster is already set. Emergency managers including FEMA, states, and localities could do much more to identify statewide risks and build community resilience before an event makes headlines.
Wildfires
Australia's Fires: Respond Now, but Also Measure Toll on People for the Future
Jan 20, 2020
Melissa L. Finucane @MelissaFinucane

As an Australian, Melissa Finucane has watched with anguish as massive bushfires devastated wide swaths of her home country. As a researcher who studies community resilience, she can't help but think of how much blood, sweat, tears, and money will be required to recover.
Wildfires
A Climate Scientist's Brush with Wildfire
Dec 18, 2019
Robert J. Lempert @RobertLempert

RAND researcher Robert Lempert was evacuated from the path of a wildfire. This experience emphasized for him the challenges of adapting to climate change, not merely because it is hard, but because it makes the familiar become unfamiliar in unexpected ways.
Global Climate Change
How Voters Can Assess New Climate Plans
Nov 14, 2019
Robert J. Lempert @RobertLempert

While the U.S. government has announced its intention to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, most presidential candidates and many states have proposed climate plans of their own. How might voters determine if any of these plans can seriously address climate change?
Wildfires
Turning Off Power to Combat Wildfires Could Harm the Very People Who Need Protection
Oct 28, 2019
Joie D. Acosta, Regina A. Shih @ReginaShih

Intentionally shutting off power may be a practical way to prevent power lines from sparking wildfires. But is it worth the risks? Until more thoughtful and comprehensive decisions are made, planned power outages need to be planned better.
Wildfires
Uncovering the Links Between Fires and Public Health in Equatorial Asia
Oct 25, 2019
Miriam E. Marlier

Fires in Indonesia, if left unchecked, could cause an average of 36,000 premature deaths annually across Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Researchers built a tool that models the effect of the fires on public health.
Environmental Science and Technology
The Science of Climate Policy: Q&A with Benjamin Preston
Oct 22, 2019

Benjamin Preston, a senior policy researcher and director of RAND's Community Health and Environmental Policy Program, specializes in climate risk and adaptation, disaster recovery, and resilience. In this Q&A, he discusses common misperceptions about climate change and how to decarbonize the U.S. economy.
Social Determinants of Health
New Data on How We're Measuring a Culture of Health
Sep 13, 2019
Alonzo L. Plough, Anita Chandra

We are seeing small but positive changes in the appreciation of the social determinants of health and the need for broader community health investments. People are expanding their views of what influences health and there have been some targeted improvements in health care and public health access. Yet, the critical systemic changes needed for more transformative health improvements have been slower to follow.
Environmental Pollution
We Built an App to Detect Areas Most Vulnerable to Life-Threatening Haze
Sep 10, 2019
Tianjia Liu, Miriam E. Marlier, et al.

Forest and land-use fires are ravaging Indonesia's Sumatra and Kalimantan islands. Haze from these fires is life-threatening; inhaling smoke can cause heart and respiratory diseases, leading to premature deaths. We developed a new tool to provide decisionmakers with information to protect people who live downwind.

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Researcher Spotlight

Robert J. Lempert

Director, Frederick S. Pardee Center for Longer Range Global Policy and the Future Human Condition

Robert Lempert is a principal researcher at the RAND Corporation and director of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for Longer Range Global Policy and the Future Human Condition. His research focuses on risk management and decisionmaking under conditions of deep uncertainty. Lempert's work aims to…

Nicholas E. Burger

Director, Washington Office

Nicholas Burger (he/him) is a senior economist at RAND and director of RAND’s Washington office. His environmental economics research focuses on domestic and international energy, climate, and resilience issues. His recent work has focused on economic approaches to valuing and prioritizing…

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Commentary from Community Health and Environmental Policy

Feeding the Needy and Protecting Workers on the Front Lines of the Pandemic

Supply Chain Disruptions Due to COVID-19 and Social Distancing

Catholic Church and Tech Companies Join to Call for Transparency in AI

What Can FEMA Learn from the Historic 2017 Hurricane and Wildfire Seasons?

Australia's Fires: Respond Now, but Also Measure Toll on People for the Future

A Climate Scientist's Brush with Wildfire

How Voters Can Assess New Climate Plans

Turning Off Power to Combat Wildfires Could Harm the Very People Who Need Protection

Uncovering the Links Between Fires and Public Health in Equatorial Asia

The Science of Climate Policy: Q&A with Benjamin Preston

New Data on How We're Measuring a Culture of Health

We Built an App to Detect Areas Most Vulnerable to Life-Threatening Haze

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