Extreme Weather Hits Home

Description

> The book will be advertised in Ecological Home Ideas, Smart Homeowner, Natural Home, Mother Earth News, E Magazine and Green Builder. > There will be a postcard mailing to Building Restoration groups, Real Estate Boards, and Insurance groups. > The book will be promoted with an Eblast sent out to prospective reviewers offering them an opportunity to request a review copy, an interview, or an excerpt.

> Buildings in North America are already being damaged from the effects of climate change, causing millions of dollars worth of damage. This book deals with mitigating the effects of climate change: a preventative approach. > The book will appeal especially to homeowners whose homes are one of the most expensive investments they will make, and landlords or property owners; as well as to the building trade. > People think climate change effects are restricted to hurricanes and coastal areas. But there are multiple other climate change effects that are subtle and coming to their neighborhood... For example: close to 50 percent of North America’s population lives in areas with a potential for expansive clay soils.

Subjects

• Books
• Savoirs
• Formal sciences
• Hurricanes
• Floods
• Structural Damage
• Home improvement
• Risk assessment
• Ice storm
• General officer
• Extreme weather
• Real estate
• Climate change
• General
• Civil
• Science
• Architecture

Informations

• Published by: New Society Publishers
• Published: 01 March 2009
• Reads: 0
• EAN13: 9781550923506
• Language: English
• Document size: 1 MB

Exrait

Chapter Title | i

A DVANCE P RAISE FOR Extreme Weather Hits Home

Banta’s timely advice could help us learn to live with nature with respect and foresight. Too often we trust our city planners, administrators, builders, and other service entities instead of taking personal responsibility for our own health and welfare. Banta provides us with the needed information (tools) to prepare ourselves to face the challenges that global climate change can bring. If knowledge is power, then John Banta has empowered us to live more responsibly and safely. — Walt Anderson, Professor and Chair of Environmental Studies, Prescott College. Prescott, Arizona

Banta's book is the Noah's Ark of the twenty-first century. Climb aboard for practical advice, great illustrations and information that will help you preserve and protect your bit of dry earth. — Jeffrey C. May, Author ofMy House is Killing Me! The Home Guide for Families with Allergies and Asthma

John Banta takes a complex — and scary — subject and breaks it down into understandable chunks that we can act on.Extreme Weather Hits Homeempowers us to be less at the mercy of climate change and better able to ride out the storms, even as we work to restore balance to our earth’s atmosphere. — Carol Venolia, architect, coauthor ofNatural Remodeling for the Not-So-Green House, and Director of EcoDwelling at New College of California

Banta has done a superb job of addressing the range of potentially devastating impacts upon the residential ecosystem that can result from the spectrum of climate change effects that are anticipated to increase in frequency and severity for some time to come. Blending building and earth sciences in an engrossing narrative style, this book presents the practical and applied knowledge of home protection practices that every current and future homeowner needs to maximize to preserve the building’s structure and the health and safety of its occupants, in the face of earth’s natural forces. — Eugene C. Cole, DrPH, Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, Brigham Young University

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John Banta’s book contains timely, practical, insightful information on a topic of emerging global concern. He clearly explains the key concepts of building science and physics, and their role in how weather-related events can impact the integrity and safety of modern residential dwellings, including indoor environmental quality. This book should be required reading for anybody building or buying a home — as well as builders, architects, engineers, and other residential construction trades and suppliers. — James Craner, MD, MPH, Occupational and Environmental Medicine

Brilliant ... a very informative book, a must have for property owners. This book will definitely safeguard your home against extreme weather.I look forward to John's next book! — Joseph J. McDonald, PowerWorks LLC

John Banta’sExtreme Weather Hits Homeis an easy read chocked full of indispensable information for any serious restoration, remediation, construction, insurance or indoor environmental professional. The information and writing style is even clear enough for home or business owners who want to make their buildings more disaster-resistant and to understand restoration basics. John combines a serious collection of environmental and building science with practical solutions based on years of real-life field experience. It doesn’t get much better than this! — Jeff Bishop, Restoration industry author, trainer and technical advisor Clean Care Seminars, Inc.

As an active member of the Standards Writing Body, John’s caring, time and spirit has made an inestimable difference to our industry. He has put the same diligence and passion for the industry intoExtreme Weather Hits Home. — Barry D. Costa, Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration, Certification Standards Chair and President Costa Group, Inc.

Banta has taken the concepts of global warming and rapid climate change, and stretched our understanding to a new level by synthesizing these climatic threats with his thorough knowledge of building dynamics to develop a scientifically sound, yet accessible, publication. This well written and informative volume serves to enlighten and educate, while challenging us to think beyond familiar environmental issues to the immediate environment in which we live our daily lives, and brings global environmental concerns to the doorstep of each of us who share this planet. — Sean P. Abbott, Ph.D., Microbiologist, Natural Link Mold Lab, Inc.

Chapter Title | iii

iv | EXTREME WEATHER HITS HOME

Chapter Title | v

N EW S OCIETY P UBLISHERS

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Cataloging in Publication Data: A catalog record for this publication is available from the National Library of Canada. Copyright © 2007 by John Banta. All rights reserved. Cover design by Diane McIntosh. Photos: iStock. Printed in Canada. First printing July 2007. Paperback ISBN: 978-0-86571-593-6 Inquiries regarding requests to reprint all or part ofExtreme Weather Hits Homebelow.should be addressed to New Society Publishers at the address To order directly from the publishers, please call toll-free (North America) 1-800-567-6772, or order online at www.newsociety.com Any other inquiries can be directed by mail to: New Society Publishers P.O. Box 189, Gabriola Island, BC V0R 1X0, Canada [phone] New Society Publishers’ mission is to publish books that contribute in fun- damental ways to building an ecologically sustainable and just society, and to do so with the least possible impact on the environment, in a manner that models this vision. We are committed to doing this not just through education, but through action. This book is one step toward ending global deforesta- tion and climate change. It is printed on acid-free paper that is 100% post-consumer recycled (100% old growth forest-free), processed chlorine free, and printed with vegetable-based, low-VOC inks, with covers produced using Forest Stewardship Council-certified stock. Additionally, New Society purchases carbon offsets based on an annual carbon audit, operating with a carbon-neutral footprint. For further information, or to browse our full list of books and purchase securely, visit our website at: www.newsociety.com

N EW S OCIETY P UBLISHERS

www.newsociety.com

Chapter Title | vii

This book is dedicated to my wife Trisha, my daughters Tiffany and Jamie, and the generations yet to be born.

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Contents

Acknowledgments..........................................................................xi Forewordby Paula Baker-Laporte ..................................................xiii Preface........................................................................................xvii Introduction....................................................................................1

P ART O NE : C LIMATE C HANGE AND Y OUR H OME : A N O VERVIEW ......9 Chapter 1:.........................................11Why Good Buildings Go Bad Chapter 2:How Homes are Damaged by Climate Change ................25

P ART T WO : T HE E FFECTS OF C HANGING C LIMATE ...........................37 Chapter 3:Wind Storms .................................................................39 Chapter 4:Tornados .......................................................................49 Chapter 5:Hurricanes ....................................................................55 Chapter 6:Lightning ......................................................................63 Chapter 7:Hail ...............................................................................71 Chapter 8:Flooding .......................................................................75 Chapter 9:Rising Temperatures ......................................................89 Chapter 10:..........................................93Drought and Desertification Chapter 11:Heat Waves .................................................................99 Chapter 12:Fires ..........................................................................103

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