On this edition of Your Call, climate law scholar Robert Verchick discusses his new book, The Octopus in the Parking Garage: A Call for Climate Resilience. Verchick explores what resilience looks like on the ground, from early humans on the savannas to today’s shop owners and city planners.
He takes us on a journey into the field: paddling through Louisiana’s bayous, hiking in one of the last refuges of Joshua trees in the Mojave Desert, and diving off Key Largo with citizen scientists working to restore coral reefs.
The book emphasizes disadvantaged communities, which bear the brunt of environmental risk, arguing that building climate resilience is a necessary step toward justice.
Guest:
Robert Verchick, former EPA official in the Obama administration, Gauthier-St. Martin Eminent Scholar Chair in Environmental Law at Loyola University New Orleans, Senior Fellow in Disaster Resilience at Tulane University, President of the Center for Progressive Reform, and author of four books, including The Octopus in the Parking Garage: A Call for Climate Resilience
Web Resources:
The Almanac: How can we tackle climate change? 'The Octopus in the Parking Garage' has some ideas
Miami Herald: About that octopus in the parking garage
NOLA.com: Explaining climate change with an octopus and a parking garage
Gizmodo: Action First, Doom Later: What Octopuses Can Teach Us About Climate Resilience
