Harvey's Deluge, Why We Waste, The Second Disaster

Why Hurricane Harvey Brought So Much Rain Guest: Russ Schumacher, PhD, Associate Professor of Meteorology, Colorado State University The amount of rain that Hurricane Harvey has dropped on the Gulf Coast is hard to fathom. An analysis in the Washington Post put it this way: “The 9 trillion gallons of water dispensed so far is enough to fill the entire Great Salt Lake in Salt Lake City — twice! It would take nine days straight for the Mississippi River to drain into Houston and equal the amount of water already there.” The Gulf Coast is already pretty rainy and flood prone, but Harvey is way, way out-of-the norm. Aftermath of Japanese-American Internment Camps Guest: Daniel Shoag, PhD, Associate Professor of Public Policy, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University The internment of Japanese Americans in the US during World War II was a tragic violation of human rights. And though the US government authorized restitution to the internees’ families some 40 years later, new research shows the financial repercussions of internment were still felt decades after the internees were released. Not only that, the location of the internment camp where a person was held had a major impact on that family’s economic standing for generations. Our Willingness to Waste Guest: Selina Juul, Founder, Stop Wasting Food, Denmark On average, Americans and Europeans waste 25 percent of the food they buy – it languishes in the fridge or freezer until we throw it out. That’s basically like throwing out one in every four shopping carts you fill up at the grocery store. Meanwhile, people the world over are going hungry. It doesn’t have to be this way. The nation of Denmark cut back on the amount of food it wastes by a quarter in just five years. Find out more about the Stop Wasting Food Movement here. Practice Crime Scene (Originially aired on May 9, 2017) Guest: Amie Houghton, Assistant Professor of Forensic Science, Utah Valley University Crime scene investigation has become a staple of TV drama. Viewers love those moments when the brilliant detective stoops under the yellow police tape, scans the scene crawling with technicians in lab coats cataloguing evidence and then picks up on a subtle clue that makes the whole mystery fall into place. But that’s TV.  Students at Utah Valley University are about to get some hands-on training in what CSI is really like. The university’s forensic science program there has acquired a home that can be made to resemble any crime scene Hollywood could conjure, so students can practice processing the evidence. Single-Gender Schools (Originally aired November 14, 2016) Guest: Bette Heins, PhD, Professor of Education, Stetson University All-boys or all-girls schools carry either an antiquated Catholic school connotation or the posh-Ivy-league prep aura in US education today. Segregating students by gender is very, very rare in public schools – even on the classroom level. But The Atlantic magazine recently profiled a couple of all-girls public charter schools in California and Colorado that got us thinking about the concept again. These schools happen to be focused on preparing girls for STEM fields – the science, technology, engineering and math careers that tend to be male-dominated.  Disastrous Relief (Originally aired August 18, 2016) Guest: Juanita Rilling, Former Director at USAID (United States Agency for International Development) Center for International Disaster Information, Current Senior Humanitarian Advisor at USAID Center for International Disaster Information This week Cedar Bayou, Texas clocked 51.88 inches—that’s over four feet—of rain from Hurricane Harvey, setting a new record for Continental US rainfall. When natural disaster such as this strikes, we often think, “what can I do to help?” Sometimes aid agencies publish requests for particular items online: sanitary supplies, groceries, even kennels to house displaced dogs.  In any disaster relief effort, there’s the risk of a “second disaster” prompted by unsolicited help and donations that can end up being worse than useless – think winter coats sent to Honduras in the summer.