Chicago Climate Action Plan Essay

Disasters or Hazards (these two terms will interchange throughout this paper) are going to happen. They are both intentional and accidental. Some are caused by nature and others are man-made. There is no way we as a whole, can stop every single hazard out there. Some areas are going to be hit harder by these hazards than others because they are more susceptible to thing than another place might be. No matter how they happen, if there is not a plan in place, the damage will be more severe. Every plan is going to have a few steps. Some plans have more steps than others, but they will all have steps nonetheless. Looking for the vulnerabilities of the community, person, etc. that is being planned for should be one of those steps. Knowing the weakest

Part of this action plan was in response to the amount of deaths in regards to the heat waves. The CCAP states that to reduce the vulnerability they would plant trees, improve emergency responses, increase air conditioning units in residential area, among other ideas that were given. “Middle-class and affluent residents suffered far less because most had air conditioning or were able to evacuate.” (Rumbach, A. J., & Kudva, N., 2011) To me, whoever is a part of the CCAP realizes that there is lack of funds for these people in Chicago, which is why the death rate is so high during these heat waves. They cannot afford the means necessary to stay cool during these times. In return this plan found the vulnerabilities to fix and when the next heat wave hits they are more likely to have a higher resiliency. Tierney, Rumbach, and Kudva seem to have the same ideas when it comes to vulnerabilities amongst those of the lower economic ladder. They see those who are less financially sound, having a greater vulnerability or quite possibly being a bigger vulnerability when a hazard hits. Even when reading through the article by Cutter, I see where they all agree. “Resilient communities are far less vulnerable to hazards and disasters than less resilient places.” (Cutter, S. L., Barnes, L., Berry, M., Burton, C., Evans, E., Tate, E., & Webb, J., 2008) This is not a very hard fact to prove