Bob Freitag, expert on hazard mitigation and floodplain management, joins us to take a big-picture, ecological look at water ways and water systems.

We discuss:
-creeks, rivers, beaches, oceans
-how climate affects streams and creeks and rivers
-energy flow through water ways and water systems
-human and nature interactions and consequences
-good ideas and bad ideas in our culture
-attempts to control the Mississippi River
-ways we can change culture to adapt to nature instead of trying to fight it, destroy it, or control it
-listening to people and nature instead of ordering them around
-enjoying life and working with nature.

About: Bob Freitag is Senior Instructor Part-time and Director of the Institute for Hazards Mitigation Planning and Research (IHMP). The University of Washington Institute for Hazards Mitigation is an interdisciplinary academic Institute housed in the Department of Urban Design and Planning within the College of Built Environments at the University of Washington. http://mitigate.be.uw.edu) He is the past Executive Director of the Cascadia Region Earthquake Workgroup (http://www.crew.org/) and past member of the Association of State Floodplain Managers’ Board of Directors. (http://www.floods.org/) Bob is also a Certified Floodplain Manager. He has published many articles and written courses for FEMA and others concerning hazards mitigation and floodplain management, and was lead author of “Floodplain Management: a new approach for a new era” (Island Press 2009).

Before coming to the University, he had a 25-year career with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) serving as Federal Coordinating Officer (FCO); Public Assistance, Mitigation and Education Officer. Prior to FEMA he was employed by several private architectural and engineering consultant firms in Hawaii and Australia, and taught science as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines. Freitag received his Master of Urban Planning degree from the University of Washington.

Contact Bob here: http://urbdp.be.washington.edu/people/robert-freitag/

His book Floodplain Management: A New Approach for a New Era
by Bob Freitag, Susan Bolton, Frank Westerlund, Julie Clark: https://www.amazon.com/Floodplain-Management-New-Approach-Era/dp/1597266353

Contact Michael:
1. [email protected]
2. http://www.goldams.com
3. https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-gold-2883921/
4. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1152144714995033/

Join us at CCERP on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/groups/1152144714995033/


Show notes:
1. Littoral drift
a. http://sandshed.org/sandshed-science/what-is-littoral-drift/
b. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longshore_drift
c. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/littoral-drift

2. Of the Mississippi River, "Mark Twain noted in 1883 that 'ten thousand river commissions, with the mines of the world at their back, cannot tame that lawless stream, cannot curb it or confine it, cannot say to it, go here, or go there, and make it obey.' From: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/mississippi-national-waterway-trump-infrastructure-river-enviorment-a8266366.html

3. Before people were watching The Wolves of Yellowstone, hydrologist Bob Beschta was studying the Lamar River and biologists Bill Ripple and Eric Larsen were studying the disappearance of Aspen trees in Yellowstone.
a. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF4F7yvMlAM
b. https://www.pbs.org/strangedays/episodes/predators/experts/yellowstonewolves.html


See also:
1. Asking questions to dig deeper into people's needs, goals, and drives, and to find root causes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_whys

2. Montessori education
a. https://www.spreaker.com/user/11043023/episode-21-montessori-expert-charlotte-c_1
b. https://www.spreaker.com/user/11043023/episode-27-montessori-expert-charlotte-c

Picture and bio courtesy Bob Freitag.