Disasters collide at the intersection of extreme weather and infectious diseases.

Natural disasters interact to affect the resilience and prosperity of communities and disproportionately affect low income families and communities of colour. However, due to lack of a common theoretical framework, these are rarely quantified. Observing severe weather events (e.g. hurricanes and tornadoes) and epidemics (e.g. COVID-19) unfolding in southeastern US communities led us to conjecture that interactions among catastrophic disturbances might be much more considerable than previously recognized. For instance, hurricane evacuations increase human aggregation, a factor that affects the transmission of acute infections like SARS-CoV-2. Similarly, weather damage to health infrastructure can reduce a community's ability to provide services to people who are ill. As globalization and human population and movement continue to increase and weather events are becoming more intense, such complex interactions are expected to magnify and significantly impact environmental and human health.

Environmental Change in Southern Appalachia: Local Ecological Knowledge across Residential Groups.

This paper examines how residents of Southern Appalachia observe changes in their natural environment, the values that they assign to plants and animals in that environment, and their understandings and explanations of environmental change. We use semi-structured interviews and participant observation to determine that multigenerational residents and newcomers to the region are observing and noting change in different components of the environment and that they have different determinations of both the causes and likely consequences of that change. While multigenerational residents focus their observation and commentary on staple crops and culturally-important species, newcomers to the area concentrate on species related to recreational pursuits, giving each group insights into different aspects of environmental change. These findings are translated into recommendations for more inclusive and effective environmental and conservation planning.