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When powerful storms hit your city, which neighborhoods are most likely to flood? In many cities, theyre typically low-income areas. They may have poor drainage, or they lack protections such as seawalls. New Orleans Lower Ninth Ward, where hundreds of people died when Hurricane Katrina broke a levee in 2005, and Houstons Kashmere Gardens, flooded by Hurricane Harvey in 2017, are just two among many examples. With those disasters in mind, the Federal Emergency Management Agency made a big change to its Local Mitigation Planning Policy Guide in 2023. The agency began encouraging cities, towns and counties to address equity in their hazard mitigation plans, which outline how they will reduce disaster risk. Local governments have an incentive to follow those federal guidelines: Those that want to receive FEMA hazard mitigation assistance money which can be used to repair aging infrastructure like roads, bridges and flood barriers or funding from other programs such as dam rehabilitation have to develop local mitigation plans and update them every five years. The new guidance required cities to both consider social vulnerability among neighborhoods in their disaster mitigation planning and involve socially vulnerable communities in those discussions in ways they hadnt before. However, as the U.S. heads into what forecasters predict will be an active 2025 hurricane season, June 1 through Nov. 30, that guidance has changed again. The Trump administrations new FEMA Local Mitigation Planning Policy Guide 2025 talks about public involvement in planning but strips any mention of equity, income or social vulnerability. It mentions using projections for the future to plan but removes references to climate change. Who is most at risk in hurricanes, and why Hurricanes and other storms that cause flooding dont affect everyone in the same way. A legacy of redlining and discrimination in many U.S. cities left poor and minority families living in often risky areas. These neighborhoods also tend to have poorer infrastructure. In the past, local mitigation plans just focused on fixing roads or protecting property in general from storm damage, without recognizing that socially vulnerable groups, such as low-income or elderly populations, were more likely to be hardest hit and take much longer to recover. Low-income neighborhoods in Puerto Rico have been slow to recover from 2017s Hurricane Maria. [Photo: Ivis Garcia] The FEMA 2023 guidance encouraged communities to consider both the highest risks and which neighborhoods would be least able to respond in a disaster and address their needs. The equity requirement was designed to ensure that local plans didnt just protect those with the most wealth or political influence but considered who needs the help most. That might mean providing information in multiple languages in emergency alerts or investing in flood prevention in neighborhoods with aging infrastructure like roads, bridges and flood barriers. How New York Citys 2024 plan helped New York Citys 2024 Hazard Mitigation Plan, for example, included a thorough social vulnerability assessment to identify neighborhoods with high percentages of people who were living in poverty or were older, disabled or werent fluent in English. Knowing where disaster risk and social vulnerability overlapped allowed the city to boost investments in flood protection, emergency communication and cooling centers during summer heat in neighborhoods such as the South Bronx and East Harlem. These neighborhoods historically faced some of the greatest risks from disasters but saw little investment. The NYC Mayors Office of Climate and Environmental Justice mapped the risk of storm surge flooding in the 2020s (purple) and 2080s (dark blue), and neighborhoods that fall under the citys disadvantaged communities criteria. A 1% risk means a 1% of chance of flooding in any given year, also referred to as a 100-year flood risk. [Image: NYC Mayors Office of Climate and Environmental Justice] Further, New Yorks plan calls for expanding outreach and eary warning systems in multiple languages and enhancing infrastructure in areas with high concentrations of Spanish speakers. These kinds of changes help ensure that vulnerable residents are more likely to be better protected when disaster strikes. Why is FEMA dropping that emphasis now? FEMAs reasoning for the guidance change in 2025: make it quicker and easier to get plans approved and unlock federal funding for projects like flood barriers, storm shelters and buyouts in areas at high risk of damage. Its a pragmatic move, but one that raises big questions about whether residents who are least able to help themselves will be overlooked again when the next disaster strikes. And FEMA isnt alone other agencies, like the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and its Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery program, have made similar changes to their own disaster planning rules. Community Development Block Grant funds for disaster recovery are flexible and can be used for things like rebuilding homes and businesses, restoring infrastructure and helping local economies recover. What this means for low-income areas Some experts worry that the changes might mean low-income and other at-risk communities will be ignored again when cities develop their next five-year mitigation plans. Research from the Government Accountability Office shows that when something is required by law, it gets done. When its just a suggestion, its easy to skip, especially in places with fewer resources or less political will to help. But the short-lived rules may have already helped in one important way: They made cities and states pay attention to social vulnerability, climate change and the needs of all their residents. Many local leaders have learned the value of using data to understand where socially vulnerable residents face high disaster risks. And they have a model now for involving communities in decision-making. Even if those steps are no longer required, the hope is that these good habits will stick. Where and how communities invest in disaster protection affects who stays safe and who faces higher risks from flooding, hurricanes and other disasters. When government policy shifts, its not just about paperwork its about real people. Ivis García is an associate professor of landscape architecture and urban planning at Texas A&M University. Shannon Van Zandt is a professor of landscape architecture and urban planning at Texas A&M University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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E-Commerce
When asked, Americans express plenty of financial regret, such as making big, impulsive purchases and spending too much to keep up with higher earners. According to a new Clarify Capitol survey of more than 1,000 Americans (including boomers, Gen Xers, millennials, and Gen Zers), they also have deep regret over not investing earlier. Forty-three percent pointed to that oversight as their biggest financial failure. Following closely behind, 38% said they regret overspending, which ended up costing them about $63,000 in net worth. One in three said they overspent simply to “keep up with the Joneses.” However, it’s not just irresponsible spending that haunts Americans. They have regret about the financial choices they made on the job, too. Ten percent said that not negotiating a higher salary was their biggest financial regret. According to the report, the failure to negotiate with an employer ends up costing an estimated $78,000 of income. Likewise, working Americans also said they regretted quitting their job without a backup plan. One in 10 said they wished they had figured out their next move before giving their notice. According to a 2024 Pew Research Center study, one of the biggest reasons for dissatisfaction among workers is how much they’re (not) being paid. Eighty percent said their pay has not kept up with increases in the cost of living, and 71% said their pay was too low for the quality of work they produce. Seventy percent said their pay is too low for the amount of work they do. Given how unhappy so many workers are with their pay, leaving a job can be the right moveas long as you have new employment lined up. Just make sure you negotiate your salary to avoid feeling regret down the line.
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E-Commerce
It’s official: Mozilla has announced that its extremely handy read-it-later app Pocket will be shutting down on July 8, 2025, with user data exports available until October 8, 2025. If this leaves you looking for a new home for your saved articles, videos, and web pages, the good news is youve still got plenty of excellent options. Here are five solid alternatives to Pocket that offer a variety of features and pricing structures to suit your needs. Matter Matter is a premium read-it-later solution that goes beyond simply saving articles. For one thing, it also lets you read email newsletters in an environment thats superior to dealing with them in your inbox. Available in iOS and web versions, it also offers powerful highlighting and annotation tools that allow you to capture your thoughts directly on the text. The anpp integrates with popular third-party services and curates a daily digest of interesting articles from your saved sources, adding a discovery element. Theres a free version available with an uncapped read-later library, mobile and web extensions, and sharing features. Matter Premium starts at $8 a month and includes text-to-speech, newsletter sync, unlimited highlighting and note-taking, Kindle export, and other goodies. Readwise Reader If you’re already familiar with Readwise for its highlight export features, then Readwise Reader is a natural extension. It boasts a clean interface, strong highlighting and note-taking capabilities, text-to-speech, AI features, and the ability to import various content types (web articles, PDFs, newsletters, YouTube transcripts, and more). Readwise Reader is included with a Readwise subscription, which offers a free 30-day trial and then runs $10 per month. Raindrop If you’re a highly visual person or deal with a wide variety of content formats, this ones for you. While many read-it-later apps focus primarily on text, Raindrop shines as a universal bookmark manager that’s both visually appealing and versatile. You can save articles, images, videos, PDFs, and even entire collections of links while leveraging organization features like tags, nested collections, and a powerful search engine. Raindrop offers a pretty generous free plan with unlimited bookmarks, collections, and devices. The Pro plan runs $28 per year and adds AI suggestions for organization, full-text search, a permanent library (copies of saved pages), more upload space, cloud backup, and other enhancements. Recall Recall allows you to save and process various types of content, including articles, PDFs, YouTube videos, podcasts, and even meeting recordings. It then uses AI to summarize the interesting bits from your saved content. You can ask it questions about the content, create notes, and organize it all in one central place. Recall offers a free plan which includes 10 free content summaries, unlimited read-it-later storage, and unlimited personal notes. The “Plus” plan starts at $10 per month and offers unlimited content summaries, automatic categorization, unlimited AI questions, and more. Instapaper For those of us of a certain well, vintage, Instapaper is something of a household name. A pioneer in the read-it-later space thats now almost old enough to vote, it saves and presents articles in a clean, minimalist format that’s ideal for focused reading. Its straightforward to use as well, offering offline reading capabilities, adjustable fonts, and simple highlighting. If your primary goal is distraction-free reading of saved articles,Instapaper is worth a look. Instapaper offers a free version with unlimited article saving, syncing, folders, and integration with third-party apps. Instapaper Premium starts at $6 per month and includes full-text search, a permanent archive of articles, unlimited notes, text-to-speech, speed reading, and an ad-free website.
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E-Commerce
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