How volcanologists can improve urban climate resilience

The cities of the U.S. and Canadian Pacific Northwest have long been incubators for novel environmental policy. Governments in Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, B.C., for example, were among the first to enact urban growth boundaries, climate action plans and clean energy policies.

These cities also share similar geologic settings — active Cascade volcanoes dominate their eastern skylines, while to the west, a subduction zone hidden offshore threatens potentially catastrophic earthquakes. This juxtaposition of openness to policy innovation and experience living beside active tectonic hazards hints at a previously unrecognized way that cities, in this region and beyond, could learn and apply important lessons about resiliency to other risks — by learning from scientists at the world’s volcano observatories.

Few local governments have the expertise on staff to adapt and respond adequately in real time to rapidly changing and compounding disasters. Nor do they have the budgets needed to educate the public about the increasing breadth and severity of climate-exacerbated risks or to invest in sufficient physical and social infrastructure to protect residents from catastrophic impacts. Among the biggest challenges — and opportunities — for cities trying to increase their resilience is customizing lessons learned elsewhere to their specific geographic, demographic, political and economic situations.

This is where the approaches of volcanologists can help. Their unique skillset and understanding of how to apply global knowledge to individual scenarios could help urban governments (and their residents) prepare for the increasingly dangerous climate perils to come.