As policymakers respond to the threat of climate and environmental change, the concept of resilience has found itself at the center of discussion. Few scientists and policymakers, however, can come to a consensus on how to define, evaluate, and build resilience. The concept is sometimes defined as “the ability to bounce back.”. Featured on the front page of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars website.

Planet Experts brings you on the ground at the largest environmental protest in history. I produced, directed, edited, and co-DoP'd this short feature, turning it around in less than 24 hours. Second in a three part series.

NOTE: When I interned with the Wilson Center, I was not aware of how USAID worked, and was taking the best opportunity I could to work in the environmental field right out of college. As a dedicated anti-imperialist, while I am appreciative of the time spent with my wonderful coworkers, who I learned a lot from, I ask anyone visiting this work to treat it with many grains of salt-- USAID funding has a specific agenda that frequently does not align with my own personal views on environmentalism, economic justice, and America's imperialist intervention in the world. I know youthful ignorance and naivete is no excuse for my involvement, but it is my explanation. I also have nothing but appreciation for my former co-workers there, who were only good to me, and I think were there out of a sincere mission, even if I disagree now as to whether good work can be done with USAID funding. -------- As climate change threatens more extreme weather, it is becoming more important to incorporate disaster risk reduction into poverty-reduction efforts, writes the Overseas Development Institute in a new report. The authors of The Geography of Poverty, Disasters, and Climate Extremes in 2030 argue that the hard-won gains of development are threatened by vulnerability among the poorest to climate change disasters, especially droughts.

Only three months after approving a larger-than-average $209 million to fight wildfires, the State of California has already exhausted its allocated wildfire budget and is now using funds from an emergency $70 million reserve, according to a report by the Los Angeles Times. Wildfires have cost the state of California more than $4 billion in the past decade, with a USDA report projecting the cost of wildfires in 2014 to exceed available funding by more than $470 million.

NOTE: When I interned with the Wilson Center, I was not aware of how USAID worked, and was taking the best opportunity I could to work in the environmental field right out of college. As a dedicated anti-imperialist, while I am appreciative of the time spent with my wonderful coworkers, who I learned a lot from, I ask anyone visiting this work to treat it with many grains of salt-- USAID funding has a specific agenda that frequently does not align with my own personal views on environmentalism, economic justice, and America's imperialist intervention in the world. I know youthful ignorance and naivete is no excuse for my involvement, but it is my explanation. I also have nothing but appreciation for my former co-workers there, who were only good to me, and I think were there out of a sincere mission, even if I disagree now as to whether good work can be done with USAID funding. -------- Recently named the 6th best post in the history of New Security Beat, as part of the 20th anniversary celebration of the Environmental Change and Security Program at the Wilson Center: http://www.newsecuritybeat.org/2014/09/20-20-celebrating-decades-tracking-environment-population-security/ Baldwin applauded Basu’s message about expanding the traditional approach to empowerment, urging organizations to “unpack the concepts” behind their goals to determine what they define as successful empowerment. The idea of women’s empowerment is not clearly defined. For example, organizations should ask themselves when they start employment initiatives whether they are addressing working in the house or out of the house, in the formal sector or the informal sector, Baldwin said. “What is it about having that job or that income that makes a difference when [women] come home?” For organizations making these decisions, “it would be extra helpful to actually understand how these concepts knit together so that you would have half a chance that pushing on this part of the concept is actually going to give you the effect at the other end that you want,” she said.

The party was supposed to last until 2 a.m., but the atrium was almost empty by the time midnight rolled around, save for a handful of people. One woman left shouted to no one in particular: "We live in the socialist republic of Obama!"

Given growing awareness about environmental change and how it affects human life, it is perhaps not surprising there is also a growing audience for environmental filmmaking. At the 2014 Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital on , the Wilson Center premiered ECSP’s latest documentary, Scaling the Mountain: Protecting Forests for Families in Nepal.

"The Composition of Functions" is a concert film composed of performances by Atlas At Last in two different locations, at two different times, playing more or less the same songs. It is released in conjunction with Atlas At Last's newest EP, "A Composition Of Functions", available at http://www.atlasatlast.bandcamp.com/ I directed, edited, and shot this concert film singlehandedly.

NOTE: When I interned with the Wilson Center, I was not aware of how USAID worked, and was taking the best opportunity I could to work in the environmental field right out of college. As a dedicated anti-imperialist, while I am appreciative of the time spent with my wonderful coworkers, who I learned a lot from, I ask anyone visiting this work to treat it with many grains of salt-- USAID funding has a specific agenda that frequently does not align with my own personal views on environmentalism, economic justice, and America's imperialist intervention in the world. I know youthful ignorance and naivete is no excuse for my involvement, but it is my explanation. I also have nothing but appreciation for my former co-workers there, who were only good to me, and I think were there out of a sincere mission, even if I disagree now as to whether good work can be done with USAID funding. -------- Despite the fact that with proper interventions, the likelihood of mother-to-child transmission of HIV is less than five percent, expectant mothers with HIV or AIDS often face intense stigma and marginalization from health care providers around the world. As a result, in some areas, the mortality rate for mothers with HIV is seven to eight times greater than the rate for non-infected women, said Dr. Isabella Danel of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

The current Ebola outbreak is the largest known outbreak in history, with more than 7,470 reported infections in West Africa resulting in at least 3,431 fatalities to date. CDC estimates warn that this infection total could surpass one million by the end of the year. As governments and scientists struggle to find solutions, it has become clear that the rapid spread of this current epidemic was due to mitigating environmental factors.

A loophole in federal water quality laws has allowed fracking companies to evade regulations requiring companies to get permits before using substances or methods that could expose dangerous chemicals to drinking water, according to a new report by the Environmental Integrity Project. The Safe Water Drinking Act mandates heavy regulations on the use of diesel, which is used in nearly all fracking wells, and is often mixed with other toxic chemicals such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene.

"The BALANCED initiative in Tanzania’s Saadani National Park, “the only terrestrial park in the country with a contiguous marine area,” released the results of a 2012 progress survey on its efforts to create community champions for sustainable natural resource management and family planning awareness. Compared to the last survey in 2009, they found increased family planning awareness, higher contraceptive distribution and usage, and improved discussion and acceptance of contraceptive use from male partners. BALANCED-trained community-based distributors provided contraception to “31 percent of all pill users and 21 percent of all condom users.” Survey results also show a greater community awareness of the impact of individual and collective actions on the surrounding biosphere. The report calls for the continued training of community-based distributors and PHE “champions,” along with outreach to the private sector in order to ensure training and distribution can continue without the permanent presence of the BALANCED Project."

In sub-Saharan Africa, women collectively spend an estimated 40 billion hours a year gathering water, often walking miles to the nearest source, which may not be clean, and braving exhaustion, harassment, and worse along the way. Water availability and quality at health clinics is often not much better, creating a crisis for women, especially pregnant women, throughout the continent.

CTPH’s initial goal was preventing cross-species cases of scabies and tuberculosis, which at the time were affecting both human and mountain gorilla populations. Gorillas, whose historical ranges stretch beyond the confines of the parks, were entering the land of farmers living on the edges and eating their crops, resulting in cross-infection from shared contact and sometimes-violent responses from villagers. CTPH formed “village health and conservation teams” (VHCT) to promote improved sanitation and treat disease in the human communities to help prevent these cross-species vectors. They also created response teams trained to peacefully deal with gorilla incursions. But the community health teams in particular opened up a new world for CTPH. Kalema-Zikusoka notes that a USAID officer at the time said, “We have money for family planning, but we don’t have money for zoonosis.” She says her initial thought was, “No, family planning that’s not what we’re doing, how could we be distributing condoms to people around the national park?” But after taking note of how many impoverished families in the region were stretched thin by having more children than they could handle, Kalema-Zikusoka says they saw how meeting existing demand for family planning could advance their conservation goals by creating healthier families.

At first glance, Inferno+ ‘s self-designated label as an Action-RPG seems to be a bit of an exaggeration. The upgrade system is fairly limited, you’re given no context for your actions, and while there are non-linear maps to explore, your only objectives are to find keys and locate the exit. But don’t let its bare-bones arcade presentation fool you: Inferno+ is a surprisingly engaging and stylish dungeon crawler, stripping both its parent genres down to their cores for one of the best action experiences on the Play store.

Rather than addressing societal structures and attitudes that entrench gender inequality, Basu, who is contributing to a new white paper from the UN Foundation on women’s economic empowerment and reproductive health, sees many efforts to empower the most marginalized women around the world as too focused on the idea of creating marketplace options. “I’m trying to think beyond that way of looking at empowerment and ask, ‘What is meaningful empowerment?’” While NGOs and governments have begun to incorporate women’s empowerment in many development programs, including the post-Millennium Development Goals agenda, popular metrics have struggled to adequately convey whether or not progress is really being made.