Latest news with #tribal
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Residents in Alaska's capital city prepare for possible glacial flooding
Alaska Flooding-Glacial Dam ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Residents and officials in Alaska's capital city prepared Friday for the possibility of glacial flooding that in past years has swept away houses, swamped several hundred homes and eroded the river fed by the popular Mendenhall Glacier. The state, federal, city and tribal officials who would run an incident command center during any flooding held a briefing to outline steps and to issue pleas to the public to be prepared. The threat of so-called glacier outburst flooding has become an annual concern in parts of Juneau since 2011. The Mendenhall Glacier — a thinning, retreating glacier that is a major tourist attraction in southeast Alaska — acts as a dam for a basin that fills each spring and summer with rainwater and snowmelt. The basin itself was left behind when a smaller, nearby glacier retreated. When the water in the basin creates enough pressure, it forces its way under or around the ice dam created by the Mendenhall Glacier, entering Mendenhall Lake and eventually the Mendenhall River. The water level in the basin as of Friday stood at 1,353 feet (412 meters) and continues to rise, said Nicole Ferrin with the National Weather Service. It's just 15 feet (1.5 meters) from topping the ice dam. The basin has been rising at an unpredictable rate, so there is no way to pinpoint when water would go over the top, she said. 'Some days when there's no rain, it only rises by a foot (0.30 meters),' she said. 'Other days when there is heavy rain or a lot of sunshine, it rises by 4 feet (1.22 meters), so it's a variable.' In some years, there has been limited flooding of streets or properties near the lake or river. But 2023 and 2024 marked successive years of record flooding, with the river last August cresting at 15.99 feet (4.9 meters), about 1 foot (0.3 meters) over the prior record set a year earlier, and flooding extending farther into the Mendenhall Valley. Last year, nearly 300 residences were damaged in the flooding. Capital City Fire/Rescue Chief Rich Etheridge warned people to stay away during flood stages because logs and other debris in the river can put would-be rescuers 'at extreme peril.' Once the water tops the dam, the city will set up a hotline where people can get information. A large flood event can release up to 15 billion gallons of water, according to the University of Alaska Southeast and Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center. That's the equivalent of nearly 23,000 Olympic-size swimming pools. During last year's flood, the flow rate in the rushing Mendenhall River was about half that of Niagara Falls, the researchers say. City officials responded to concerns from property owners this year by working with state, federal and tribal entities to install a temporary levee along roughly 2.5 miles of riverbank in an attempt to guard against widespread flooding. The installation of about 10,000, four-foot (1.2-meter) tall barriers is intended to protect more than 460 properties from flood levels similar to last year, said Nate Rumsey, deputy director with the city's engineering and public works department. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is at the start of what's expected to be a yearslong process of studying conditions in the region and examining options for a more permanent solution. The timeline has angered some residents, who say it's unreasonable. Outburst floods are expected to continue as long as the Mendenhall Glacier acts as an ice dam to seal off the basin, which could span another 25 to 60 years, according to the university and science center researchers. ___ Associated Press writer Becky Bohrer in Juneau contributed to this report.
Washington Post
4 days ago
- Climate
- Washington Post
Residents in Alaska's capital city prepare for possible glacial flooding
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Residents and officials in Alaska's capital city prepared Friday for the possibility of glacial flooding that in past years has swept away houses, swamped several hundred homes and eroded the river fed by the popular Mendenhall Glacier. The state, federal, city and tribal officials who would run an incident command center during any flooding held a briefing to outline steps and to issue pleas to the public to be prepared.
Fast Company
02-07-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
Wired to participate: Why marketing must evolve beyond broadcasting
Ninety-nine percent of human history was spent in small hunter-gatherer tribes. Though we've built modern civilizations, our brains remain fundamentally tribal, hardwired for the specific social dynamics that kept our ancestors alive. This evolutionary legacy holds a powerful secret for modern marketers —one that challenges everything about how brands engage with people today. We are not wired to watch. We are wired to participate. From prehistoric rituals to TikTok trends, humans have always needed to take part. We seek not just to observe culture, but to leave fingerprints on it. And in our era of infinite content and AI -generated everything, participation has become the proof that something is real. Marketing has undergone several transformative shifts in how it views the people it aims to reach: In the industrial era, people were consumers. In the broadcast era, they became audiences. In the digital era, they evolved into users. Today? They're co-creators. For Gen Z and Gen Alpha, participation isn't just preferred—it's expected. They don't follow celebrities; they duet with them. They don't just wear brands; they remix them. They don't want backstage passes; they want a seat on the creative team. To them, brands that only broadcast don't just feel dated—they feel exclusionary. PARTICIPATION AS A BIOLOGICAL IMPERATIVE Participation isn't a marketing trend; it's hardwired into our neurochemistry and psychology. It satisfies core human needs that governed our tribal ancestors' survival: Autonomy: 'I choose this.' Competence: 'I'm good at this.' Belonging: 'I'm part of this.' Recognition: 'Someone saw me.' Identity: 'This is who I am.' Meaning: 'This matters.' Our reward systems light up when we contribute. Dopamine fuels our desire to act. Oxytocin strengthens bonds during shared experiences. Mirror neurons trigger imitation when we see others participating. Flow states create immersion and self-actualization. While Claude Hopkins pioneered scientific advertising in 1923, creating a model of persuasion that's still dominant today, this approach fundamentally misaligns with how humans operate. We've mastered the art of telling, but forgotten the power of inviting. Most brands still plan campaigns in silos, broadcast stories to the masses, collect feedback without acting on it, and prioritize control over collaboration. Meanwhile, engagement decreases, trust erodes, and content is ignored. But people don't want to be audiences anymore; they want to be actors in the story. Creating a participatory brand requires more than occasional UGC contests or social prompts. It demands a systematic approach: Invite: Create a meaningful role for people. Open a door. Extend a genuine invitation to shape, remix, or influence something that matters. Equip: Make participation easy. Provide the tools, prompts, language, and assets people need to take action. Showcase: Make participation visible. Celebrate contributors. Let the community see itself reflected in what you do. Evolve: Let what people create inform what comes next. Participation should change your brand, not just feed it. This isn't just a tactic—it's a growth model. The more people participate, the more invested they become. The more invested they are, the more likely they are to evangelize, contribute again, and defend the brand publicly. FROM CAMPAIGNS TO CULTURAL PLATFORMS If participation is the goal, the campaign model needs to evolve: Campaigns are built to start and stop. Participation platforms are built to grow. A participation platform gives people a role, offers shared value, and evolves based on community input. It's a sandbox, not a sermon. A stage, not a setlist. Look at Nike Run Club: Runners don't just use an app; they join a movement that values consistency, effort, and progress. Or Liquid Death, which doesn't advertise like a beverage company but operates like a fan-powered cult. Stanley Cup tumblers transformed from utilitarian products into cultural phenomena through TikTok rituals, color drops, and collective culture-building. WHY IT MATTERS NOW We're entering an era of synthetic everything: AI-generated art, voice, video, and text. In this increasingly artificial landscape, participation becomes the proof of humanity. It's how we know something is real. It's how we know someone cares. It's how we feel something matters. Participation is the antidote to apathy. For brands, this is a tectonic shift. Those that embrace participation will build resilience, relevance, and long-term value. Those that don't will struggle to matter in a culture that demands involvement. The brands of the future won't just make things for people. They'll make things with people. And the ones who embrace participation now—in the messy, early, authentic way—will earn something no algorithm can fake: trust, affection, belonging, meaning.
