Adaptation Nation

Welcome to the Exciting World of the Distributed Workforce!

2020-05-11T10:43:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the exciting world of the distributed workforce!

For many of you, working from home is a novelty, a challenge or both. At EcoAdapt, we’d call it Tuesday (or any other day of the week). We’ve been a distributed organization by design since we started in 2008. There are obviously a host of easy tips that you’ve no doubt either heard or learned the hard way—optimize your internet connection, find a quiet space, get headphones with a mic, and accept that your pet or child will want to join you on your meeting. Our team has a few of additional tips that might help you.

Here they are:

“Pick a time that your work day ends…otherwise it never will.”
“You cannot go from one zoom meeting to another all day. At some point you have to eat, drink and use the bathroom.”
“If you turn off your video, you can do yoga while you listen.”
“If you don’t have to take notes on a call, you can take your call while you take a walk.”
“Make yourself a daily schedule -with meal/outdoor breaks and stretch often!”
“Set your personal expectations during working hours as if you are 'at the office' - chores can wait until after work - just like they would if you were commuting to an office."
“Start your morning with some structure! Whether that’s reading the news, taking a walk, or making a hardy breakfast - having a consistent routine as soon as you wake up can help lay out the rest of your day.”
“Try to keep a spot in your home just for work - that is where you work and that is where work stays. Otherwise, it can be hard to keep work and life separate when everything happens in the same space.”
“Putting your work computer to the side at the end of the work day. Limit the temptation to start working again after your workday has finished.”
“Going for a walk before and after work as a way to simulate a ‘commute' to the office.”
“With kids - if you can, switch childcare duties with your partner in short spurts (e.g., 2.5 hours at a time).”
“Take the time to learn how you work best. Putting in the effort at the beginning will help with productivity in the long run.”
"Get dressed for the day! Even if you are not leaving the house, this can keep you in the 'normal' routine of going to work and can help you feel ready to start the day."
"Remember to be patient with yourself and your colleagues. The adjustment to working from home can be a difficult one."
"Communication is key! Having clear expectations and open lines of communication can help you stay organized, manage your time, and develop a sense of accountability."
"Even though you are not seeing colleagues as often or in person, try not to micromanage and overwhelm teammates with too much communication."
"Take breaks and eat your meals away from your desk or workspace."

Resources We Found Useful:

How to Collaborate Effectively if Your Team is Remote
(The Explainer; Harvard Business Review)

The New York Times - How to Work from Home
NPR - 8 Tips to Make Working from Home Work for You
Forbes - 10 Tips for Working Remotely During Coronavirus
TIME - 5 Tips for Starting Productive and Mentally Healthy While You're Working from Home
BBC - Top Working from Home Tips from Around the World

Pro Tip!

Keep your fluffy friends close for stress relief, laughs, and perspective!

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Ecological Drought Adaptation in a Changing Climate

2019-12-11T08:59:00.000-08:00

Decision-making in a changing climate is complicated by uncertainty in terms of which adaptation strategies are best suited for different implementation conditions and supported by scientific evidence. The purpose of our adaptation science assessments is to evaluate the body of scientific knowledge supporting specific climate adaptation approaches to determine the conditions under which particular actions may be most effective in achieving management objectives.

Jonny Armstrong

Our latest assessment focuses on ecological drought, or the deficit of naturally available water supplies that creates multiple stresses and may drive systems beyond their thresholds (e.g., transition from mesic to xeric habitats). Primary products include a synthesis report of the state of the science on ecological drought adaptation actions and a decision support table classifying actions by adaptation strategy, implementation feasibility, and effectiveness in reducing ecological drought vulnerabilities. Short on time? Check out the accompanying management brief. The results and products may be used by scientists, resource managers, and policy makers to prioritize the most effective actions for implementation, better target management efforts toward specific challenges, and evaluate whether to proceed with implementation.

Planning and Implementing Resilient Solutions in Coastal California

2019-10-09T13:19:00.002-07:00

Behind every coastal community is a team of government officials, academics, and community members working tirelessly to maintain the vitality of their prized resource. California’s coast is particularly special – sunbathers, whale watchers, divers, and fishermen alike can all find something to enjoy here. Nearly 26 million Californians live in coastal communities, and the coast is home to 80 percent of California’s wages, and 80 percent of its GDP. California’s coast is obviously critically important to daily life, and when three in four Californians say the condition of the ocean and beaches is very important to California’s future economy and quality of life, we’d better listen.

At this year’s Coastal Resilience Workshop (now in its fifth year), planners, practitioners, funders, and academics shared lessons learned and strategies for implementing coastal resilience projects. I learned that it’s always a good idea to engage the community by listening first. And the term “managed retreat” should be avoided at all costs. (Maybe try a ‘graceful step back’ to paraphrase one of the panelists).

Shorelines are a waterfront community’s first line of defense against rising seas. As king tides and storm surges continue to inundate low-lying coastal communities, planners are deciding what strategies best mitigate those impacts. Natural solutions, such as living shorelines, surfaced throughout the workshop. Seth Bothwell, Executive Director of the California Coastkeeper Alliance, described the progress Orange County Coastkeepers are making on their living shorelines. As the name suggests, living shorelines use plants, rocks, and other natural materials to protect and stabilize the coastal edge. Not only do they act as barriers to ocean waves, they are cost-effective, enable plants to grow over time, promote biodiversity, improve water quality, and are simply beautiful to look at. Because living shorelines provide so many ecological, aesthetic, and recreational benefits, one wonders why seawalls made of concrete are still constructed. Even the graphic above paints seawalls as a murkier, visually unappealing alternative.

What does this mean for the future of shoreline adaptation? Should we do away with seawalls entirely? Not exactly. Bothwell’s presentation was followed by a presentation by Brian Strong, Chief Resilience Officer and Director for the City and County of San Francisco. In it, he described San Francisco’s plans to reinforce the concrete wall surrounding nearly three miles of the city’s coastal edge.

While living shorelines help native plants and animals thrive (you can find lots of example projects here), San Francisco’s Embarcadero Seawall supports a dense, urban landscape composed of parks, local businesses, and transportation infrastructure. The Seawall attracts more than 24 million people each year and supports over $100 billion assets in annual economic activity. This hardened seawall is the backbone of the city, and is now in need of some major upgrades. SF citizens agree and voted in large numbers to pass Proposition A, a $425 million bond dedicated to strengthening the century old Seawall.

Adaptation will always be multistep process and identifying the best strategy isn’t always clear. A bustling city such as San Francisco demands a much different strategy than its quieter counterpart in Orange County, but it’d be difficult to decide whether a seawall, a living shoreline, or if (dare I say) managed retreat is the best option without conducting a proper assessment first.

Before assuming one strategy is better than another, it’s important to first understand where the strategy will be employed, what are the societal and ecological implications, and how the strategy fits with the system’s long-term goals. There’s no straightforward answer to these questions, but assuming a strategy is best simply because it’s popular could be very hurtful in the long run.

To learn more about the different steps to adaptation, the check out EcoAdapt’s Ladder of Engagement.

Post by EcoAdapt's CAKE Program Assistant Tera Johnson, Tera.Johnson@EcoAdapt.org

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Images Credits: NOAA, https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/living-shoreline.html; SF Waterfront Resilience Program, https://www.sfportresilience.com/seawall-program

Conflict and inequality are forcing people to leave their homes. Climate change is making matters worse.

2019-09-17T17:32:00.001-07:00

With hurricane season still lingering, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to avoid discussions involving climate change. While climate change may not necessarily cause a hurricane, warming temperatures will certainly make them worse. There’s plenty of scientific research that shows this, however the extent of what happens after a hurricane hits – that is how communities cope – is still widely under studied.

We’ve all seen the jarring photos of communities demolished post hurricane. But what those photos don’t tell us is how and where people move. Typically, it is communities of color sitting at the lowest rung of the socioeconomic ladder that are at most risk, and have the least access to critical resources needed to move.

It’s estimated that 7 million people globally were displaced due to natural disasters in just the last 6 months - and that’s not including Hurricane Dorian victims. A report, published last week by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), shows that when people are not forced to leave their communities by physical forces such as a hurricane, they are driven away due to conflict, violence, and political unrest.

Displacement is an issue rooted in inequity and exacerbated by climate change. In the United States, rising costs of housing, gentrification, redevelopment, negligent landlords (in addition to catastrophic disasters) are squeezing our country’s poorest communities into living conditions that are even less equipped to bounce back if a natural disaster were to occur. They are hotter, more exposed to pollution, have limited access to public transit, and have less access to green spaces – all factors negatively impacting physical and mental well-being. The Urban Displacement Project has a great 5-minute explainer video about displacement and its long-term impacts.

We need to better understand the root cause of displacement, how to prevent it, and how to better serve those who have already been displaced.

There is growing research on the consequences of displacement, however more must be done to understand what communities and government officials are doing to incorporate climate change into their decision making. In an effort to better understand how those concerned with climate change are thinking about displacement, EcoAdapt is conducting a survey asking community leaders, organizations, and government officials what they’re doing and what else must be done. This project is part of a broader project in collaboration with Strong, Prosperous, and Resilient Communities Challenge (SPARCC) and the Urban Displacement Project.

Conversations about displacement shouldn’t stop once a hurricane has passed or after a family has been evicted. Studies like the IDMC’s put a number on how many people globally are forcibly displaced from their homes. And studies like EcoAdapt’s puts displacement in the context of climate change and helps us understand what needs to be done to help our most vulnerable communities. The results from the study will be shared with communities and organizations that are actively addressing displacement issues, and will help them develop the most effective messaging strategies that have the best chance of being adopted into policy.

Interim survey data report that some of the most frequently mentioned adaptation strategies by anti-displacement practitioners considering climate change effects in their work include:

Increase and diversity the supply of affordable housing options (e.g., funding, inclusionary housing/zoning, tax incentives, dedicating public land to housing, accessory dwelling units)
Incorporate anti-displacement criteria into investment and development rubrics
Integrate anti-displacement measures (e.g., affordable housing) into green infrastructure projects
Ensure that reliable transportation means are co-located with affordable housing
Integrate equity and just economy principles into climate action and resilience plans
Invest in workforce development (e.g., job training, green jobs)
Incorporate climate change and racial/ethnic equity impact assessments into policy and investment decision-making
Improve living wages to keep pave with cost of living

Nongovernmental or community organizations were most represented in the survey responses collected for the interim report. While there is much work being down at those levels and sectors, the project aims to collect data from academia, state, federal, and tribal governments as well as the private sector. Interim results from the survey also show lower response representation in the following geographical areas:

Southeast: Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, and South Carolina;
Caribbean: Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands
Pacific Islands: American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
Northeast: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia
Central:Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin
Western: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming

If you are an anti-displacement practitioner located in one of the aforementioned locations of low representation, please consider taking the survey and/or sending the survey to colleagues or organizations you think may be interested in taking part. The survey will remain open until October 15th.

If you have any questions concerning this project, survey, or EcoAdapt's State of Adaptation Program, please contact EcoAdapt's Senior Scientist Rachel M. Gregg.

Post content written by EcoAdapt's CAKE Program Assistant Tera Johnson, Tera.Johnson@Ecoadapt.org

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Images: (1) Petty Officer 2nd Class Adam Stanton, U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area, (2) Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Is Our Country Ready for Climate Change?

2019-09-12T19:31:00.000-07:00

“We have to do a better job.” – Kamala Harris

Dr. Hansen gives testimony to House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands in February 2019

This is an understatement.
Our country is not only not moving forward toward preparedness for climate change, but we are in fact moving backwards—making us progressively more vulnerable to the effects of climate change as the climate crisis grows.

Our communities are in harm’s way from increasing storms, flooding and fires. Our health is undermined by increasing temperatures, along with diminished air and water quality. Personal budgets stretched by rising food costs and increasing energy bills required to deal with extreme weather. There is no aspect of our lives untouched by climate change.

Yet federal actions in recent years have focused on rolling back the already insufficient structures we had in place to prepare us. Our federal government must consider climate change in every decision (fiscal expenditures and policy) in order to stop making climate change worse and start making us more durable to the change we’ve already created.

We cannot afford not to.

Post content written by Lara Hansen, the Chief Scientist, Executive Director and co-founder of EcoAdapt, and co-author of Climate Savvy.

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Images: "Wake Up" Photo by Markus Spiskeon Unsplash

Let's Be BOLD!

2019-09-12T13:36:00.001-07:00

With a plethora of Democratic candidates vying for the 2020 Presidential nomination, climate change may be the issue that narrows the debate. On Wednesday, September 4, 2019, ten candidates took the stage at CNN’s Climate Crisis Town Hall to discuss their plans to take on climate change at the federal level.

Dr. Lara Hansen, Chief Scientist and Executive Director of EcoAdapt, was invited to submit live commentary on the CNN website during the town hall. On the theme of realistic, or dare we say even bold, action in regards to a changing climate, Dr. Hansen explained the need for immediate action:

“Let’s be clear, taking no action on climate change is the riskiest action we can take. This includes proposals that commit us to continuing to invest in fossil fuel infrastructure -- including natural gas which emits greenhouse gases not only when it is burned to make energy, but also in its extraction, refining and distribution. Senator Elizabeth Warren aptly called the current state of affairs where inaction rules “a nightmare.”

Let’s be clear, climate change is a monumental problem (as Senator Amy Klobuchar put it) and an existential crisis (as Senator Bernie Sanders reminded us) that we have spent over a century creating. It is a driver of the intensity of Hurricane Dorian, which is being reported on during this town hall. Let’s be clear, we need a monumental solution but we do not have a century to enact it. We need bold, rapid action…” Read the full comment here.

A refreshing tone of the night from all candidates was the move from the historic political dialogue of “is this a problem?” to “this is a problem, what do we do about it?” As candidates detailed their plans for action, Dr. Hansen’s comments reminded us that federal action on climate change should not circumvent local planning but rather facilitate it. In doing so, Dr. Hansen was able to highlight the work of the National Adaptation Forum community and direct readers to the Climate Adaptation Knowledge Exchange (CAKEx.org) for replicable resources on climate adaptation:

“Communities all across our country are experiencing the effects of climate change. You hear it in the many questions being asked in this Democratic Town Hall. People are asking about the disparity in the effects of climate change based on income, race, gender or abilities, about the vulnerability of coastal communities and sea level rise, about our fossil-fuel economy’s health effects, or citizens who have lost their homes to wildfire.

Some of these individuals are fortunate to live in communities looking to develop strategies to reduce the impact. Participants in the National Adaptation Forum share these ideas across geographies and there is a whole database of these efforts waiting to be replicated by any of us. We can all work in our own communities, but it is slow going and a patchwork of small-scale actions is insufficient and inefficient in protecting us from many of the effects of climate change…” Read the full comment here.

Overall, the night displayed the deep public concern regarding climate change and the fact that voters, especially millennials, plan to hold politicians accountable on this issue. Although the next Presidential election will not take place until Fall 2020, the town hall highlighted that we have no time to waste.

Post content written by EcoAdapt's National Adaptation Forum Program Assistant Molly Johnson, Molly@EcoAdapt.org

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Images: (1) Photo by Ashton Bingham on Unsplash; (2) Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash;

(3) Photo by Bob Blob on Unsplash

Frontline Communities Disproportionately Affected by Climate Change Impacts

2019-08-08T08:40:00.001-07:00

Scientific American released an article this week highlighting extreme weather impacts on affordable housing. The article focuses on new research from the Center for American Progress that emphasizes the difficulty of equitable evacuation and disaster recovery efforts based on the disproportionate availability of resources in frontline communities. Climate change poses significant threats to the physical, cultural, social, and economic displacement of communities around the world.

The research recommends a series of actions to address displacement threats and "build strong, healthy, fair, accessible, and affordable communities that are resilient to future climate change impacts":

Support equitable evacuation and disaster recovery for all survivors
Expand investments in federal rental assistance and homeless assistance programs
Prioritize equitable housing policies and just community development
Build resilient infrastructure
Increase funding for disaster mitigation and climate change adaptation strategies

EcoAdapt is conducting a survey to determine if and how people and organizations concerned about displacement pressures are considering the effects of climate change. This survey is part of a broader project in collaboration with the Strong, Prosperous, and Resilient Communities Challenge (SPARCC)and the Urban Displacement Project to better understand the intersections between climate change and displacement pressures. Results will be shared with anti-displacement practitioners to inform communications and messaging strategies geared toward generating more widespread adoption of policies and practices that can reduce both climate and displacement risks.

The survey aims to identify:

To what degree anti-displacement practitioners are thinking about climate change in their work;
Emerging practices and policies that may address the dual goals of reducing climate risks and displacement pressures; and
Needs, opportunities, and barriers in reducing climate risks and displacement pressures in communities.

If you are an anti-displacement practitioner or can refer a colleague to be part of this project, please consider taking the survey and/or reaching out to EcoAdapt Senior Scientist Rachel M. Gregg.

Additional examples of extreme weather and natural disasters leading to displacement can be found in the links below:

Puerto Rico / New Orleans, LA / Miami, FL / Across the Globe / Across the U.S.

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Image: Aerial image of Shishmaref, Alaska. | Bering Land Bridge National Preserve/Some Rights Reserved - Retrieved from "https://www.kcet.org/shows/earth-focus/forced-to-move-climate-change-already-displacing-us-communities"

Food Waste and the Distributed Office: How does EcoAdapt manage food waste?

2019-08-05T13:27:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago, I came across The Office Waste Challenge initiated by the World Resources Institute and thought it would be an interesting idea to take the general idea of the challenge and look into how EcoAdapt, being a distributed office, approaches waste generated during the work day. In addition to collecting resources, I polled the team to see what we are doing currently and how we can improve. For example, how are we approaching waste when it comes to food and office resources, and what are we doing to prevent the generation of waste in the first place?

During a weekly team meeting we discussed what we do as a team to reduce our waste daily and in our work-related activities. One event that stood out was EcoAdapt’s National Adaptation Forum (NAF). At NAF 2019, several measures were implemented to reduce waste: only metal and china kitchenware were used in order to minimize the amount of plastic at the Forum; online programs were available to reduce the amount of paper programs needed; and a vegetarian diet was implemented. You can see data collected on these efforts in the NAF “by-the-numbers” report which details the sustainability impacts of the Forum. Vegetarian diets were an important addition to the sustainability and waste minimization efforts of the Forum as a means of reducing the Forum's carbon footprint. Vegetarian diets have been heavily researched as a means of showing how changes in the human diet can impact the environment. Check out these articles to learn more about how plant-based diets and the food industry impact the climate:

Annual Reviews: Climate Change and Food Systems
BioOne: Nitrogen and Food Production: Proteins for Human Diets
PNAS: Analysis and Valuation of the Health and Climate Change Co-Benefits of Dietary Change
Nature: Options for Keeping the Food System within Environmental Limits
ScienceDaily: For a Lower Climate Footprint, Vegetarian Beats Local
Global Food and Security: The Role of Trade in Greenhouse Gas Footprints of EU Diets

EcoAdapt’s Community Workshops work to minimize food waste by donating uneaten food to food banks and community centers, as well as giving leftovers to participants to take home. In order to learn more about how we approach food waste in our regular work days, I asked the team to respond to the following questions: Do you compost at home?; What would your go-to piece of advice be for minimizing waste while working at home?; Do you have any recipes that use leftovers or reduce food waste?

Do You Compost at Home?
EcoAdapt’s Headquarters on Bainbridge Island, WA has a compost bin and actively works to reduce food waste this way. I was curious how many staff members also compost at home. Over 50% of staff already compost at home and nearly 25% are actively working to incorporate composting into their day-to-day. Great job team!

What would your go-to piece of advice be for minimizing waste while working at home?

Do research about how to properly store your food - this can help items from spoiling quickly and tempting you to waste!
Get creative and use your leftovers and produce to make new meals the next day!
Watch out for plastic packaging and clean the unavoidable plastics for re-use or recycling.
Take note of your local resources! Buy in bulk at the local co-op, keep your purchases in-line with produce seasons, and use the “perimeter method” of shopping at the grocery store.
Meal plan! By planning your meals you can reduce extra or quick purchases throughout the week that may contribute to your total waste.

Do you have any recipes that use leftovers or reduce food waste?

Grate too-big zucchini, squeeze out the water, and freeze for winter zucchini bread or zucchini chocolate chip cookies.
Freeze overripe bananas to use in banana bread or smoothies. Save bruised pears or apples to cut up and steam for pear/applesauce.
Quiche! This is a great catch all for almost any type of vegetable combinations.
Make vegetable broth from kitchen scraps! Pop the scraps in the freezer until you have enough to use.

A few team members took the challenge to examine food waste even further by making a pledge for the week. Some pledges included:

Intentionally tracking how much food is being thrown away versus composted at home
Purposely buying “ugly” fruits and vegetables that others may not purchase
Researching what materials are collected for recycling in their city and improving how they sort their waste
Trying to keep things close! Eat at home when you can and use your own containers and mugs to take away food from restaurants.

In order to keep the team thinking about our food waste impacts, I gathered some helpful resources regarding composting and recycling efforts in our home-hubs throughout the country. Please, comment, email, or connect with us on social media with any resources of your own!

Bainbridge Island and Seattle, WA
Sustainable Bainbridge
Kitsap County: Garbage, Recycling and Compost Services
Bainbridge Disposal
Tilth Alliance
Seattle Public Utilities: Backyard Composting
King County: Organic Material Resources

Los Angeles, CA
LA Compost
Los Angeles County Public Works: Compost Bins
Los Angeles Sanitation and Environment: Compost Workshops
CalRecycle: Home Composting

Northampton, MA (and general MA)
Northampton Public Works: Compost
Mass Recycling and Waste Management: Composting and Organics
Litterless: Where to Compost in MA
Massachusetts Composting Rules

Philadelphia, PA
Clean PHL: Composting in Philadelphia
Pennsylvania Resource Council: Composting Workshops
Green Philly: Where Can I Compost in Philly?
City of Philadelphia: Office of Sustainability

Volusia County, FL (and general FL)
Florida Department of Environmental Protection: Composting and Organic Recycling
Volusia County: Composting at Home
University of Florida: Living Green
City of Orlando: Request a Composter

Interested in learning more about food waste reduction research and initiatives?

Click on the links below!

FAO UN: Save Food - Global Initiative on Food Loss and Waste Reduction
WRI: Tips for Reducing Office Food Waste
Sustainable America: Food Waste Resources
Food Loss and Waste Protocol
EPA: Reducing Wasted Food at Home
FDA: Tips to Reduce Food Waste
Sustainable Bainbridge: Drink Like You Live Here

Have any tips, suggestions, or favorite resources? Share them with us!

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Post by Kathryn Braddock, Kathryn@EcoAdapt.org

Pictures retrieved from: https://pixabay.com/photos/garbage-can-waste-waste-bins-1423840/; https://pixabay.com/photos/compost-fruit-and-vegetable-waste-709020/

Assessing the State of Climate Adaptation in the Marine and Coastal United States

2019-08-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

Climate change threatens the success and longevity of conservation, planning, and management. Decision makers are faced with the challenge of developing and implementing options that are suitable under changing climate conditions. Support for climate change adaptation action appears to have grown in coastal and marine areas in response to events, such as hurricanes and tropical storms. In marine and coastal environments, climate change-driven shifts are resulting in significant alteration, including increasing ocean temperatures, changes in ocean chemistry, and sea level rise, which affect species, habitats, infrastructure, cultures, and economies. Certain approaches are more suitable in some communities than others, depending on issues ranging from regulations guiding land use to public perception and support. Identifying what approaches are being implemented and their success expands the list of options for marine and coastal managers seeking to address climate change impacts.

In 2011, EcoAdapt published a report detailing the results of surveys, inventories, and assessments of adaptation projects throughout North America’s marine and coastal environments. In December of 2018, EcoAdapt began Phase II of the project, which aims to identify, synthesize, and update climate adaptation activities in the marine and coastal environments of the United States, territories, and commonwealths that have emerged since 2011. Many concepts in adaptation have been developed and enhanced since EcoAdapt’s investigation began. The project will look at if and how practitioners have moved from generalities to concrete actions, including implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the efficacy of adaptation efforts.

Through conducting interviews, collecting survey data, and updating case studies we are looking to answer the following questions:

How and where is climate adaptation action happening?
What adaptation strategies and actions have worked and why?
What adaptation resources and tools are most useful?
What are the most pressing needs of professionals to effectively prepare for, respond to, and recover from climate change in marine and coastal systems?

Working on climate change in marine and coastal environments? Share your thoughts and case studies today!

Take the Survey!

Learn more about EcoAdapt's State of Adaptation Research and connect with us through CAKE, Twitter, and Facebook!

New Report: The State of Adaptation in Public Health

2019-06-28T15:44:00.002-07:00

The State of Climate Adaptation in Public Health: An Assessment of 16 U.S. States

EcoAdapt undertook a survey in partnership with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) to assess the state of climate adaptation planning and implementation for climate-related threats to public health in 16 U.S. states in the West (Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, Washington), Midwest/Great Lakes (Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin), Northeast/Mid-Atlantic (New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania), and Southeast (North Carolina, Virginia, Florida).

EcoAdapt scientists examined if and how climate change is being integrated into activities at public health departments and other agencies and organizations through an analysis of state climate adaptation and action plans, hazard mitigation plans, and health department plans.  Our goals were to identify activities to prepare for, respond to, and recover from climate-related challenges, and to determine the expressed needs of health professionals who are interested in taking action. Similar surveys have resulted in synthesis reports and case studies, including those related to marine and coastal adaptation projects in North America, freshwater projects in the Great Lakes region, and water resources projects in the Southeastern United States and Caribbean.

The survey of public health officials found that climate change is having a significant negative effect on the health of individuals. Climate-driven changes are contributing to decreased air quality; increased ground level ozone and particulate matter; increased asthma attacks and premature deaths; prolonged pollen and allergy seasons; increased mold growth and persistence due to increased temperatures and precipitation; heat-related illnesses (e.g., heat exhaustion, heat stroke) and death; and susceptibility to water-, food-, and vector-borne diseases.Public health officials and other decision-makers are tasked with the challenge of developing strategies to prepare for, respond to, and recover from the effects of a changing climate.

The majority of initiatives surveyed focus on capacity building, such as increasing public awareness through outreach and communication efforts related to climate change; creating resources and tools; and enhancing collaboration between state health departments and others. For example, the New York State Department of Health partnered with the New York State Office for the Aging to develop materials for senior citizens, including adding a link to the Cooling Center Mapping Application on their Aging Services mobile app, which connects older adults with information on health, housing, and transportation options.

Nongovernmental actors and tribes are also working to advance health-related climate adaptation action in the study area. For example, North Carolina’s Medical Advocates for Healthy Air and the Ohio Clinicians for Climate Action networks convene medical and health professionals to raise awareness of and advocate for climate change action. Several tribes have prioritized planning for climate change impacts on public health. Examples include adaptation planning by the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe in upstate New York and the Puyallup Tribe of Indians in Washington State to maintain access to healthcare facilities and emergency services to at-risk populations.

Products generated from this project include:

The State of Climate Adaptation in Public Health: An Assessment of 16 U.S. States;

Eighteen full-length case studies; and

An online public health and climate adaptation hub on EcoAdapt’s Climate Adaptation Knowledge Exchange (CAKEx.org).

U.S map of official state climate adaptation and state health department climate action plans. States indicated to have neither plan, may have a developed literature review, executive order, policy, or other legislation that incorporates climate change and public health, however there is not an official and available state-wide plan. See the full State of Adaptation in Public Health report for more information.

To learn more about the State of Adaptation Program and this project, visit EcoAdapt.org.

To join the CAKE community and learn more about climate adaptation, visit CAKEx.org.

To download a copy of this report, please visit www.EcoAdapt.org/library.

Communities & Climate: A New Way to Measure Vulnerability

2018-12-17T15:36:00.002-08:00

A community organization in Los Angeles recently identified a crucial need for public spaces that provide a place for residents to cool off, while not increasing greenhouse gas emissions that would make it even warmer. Temperatures have already risen in Los Angeles by 1.5˚F over the past century and heatwaves are expected to continue to increase in intensity in the next 30 years. As a result, vulnerable populations such as the homeless, those with health conditions, or the elderly will need respite from the heat.

In Atlanta, community organizations and community members have committed to incorporate specific questions about climate resilience into their community planning in the Lee Street Corridor by partnering more intentionally with public health experts, ensuring that residents have healthier housing with greater energy security, and that new trees planted in the neighborhood will be able to withstand hotter climates with less predictable precipitation patterns.

Communities are places of our cultures, our families, our friends, our jobs and the things we hold dearest. They are home. While holding space for the beautiful things in our lives, communities are simultaneously under tremendous stress—with record development in many urban areas, concurrent disinvestment in others, increased traffic and air pollution, aging infrastructure, a lack of affordable and decent housing, and increased exposure to climate change in the form of flooding, drought and extreme temperatures.

As people struggle with these stresses, the questions that continuously come to mind are those of vulnerability and resilience.

What decisions need to be collectively made to withstand climate change while centering climate justice and equity? How can solutions be developed that underscore climate vulnerability and chart a new path on which all people can be included?

The Strong, Prosperous, And Resilient Communities Challenge (SPARCC) has focused on these questions and others through the development of the Rapid Climate Vulnerability Assessment (RCVA)—the tool used by Los Angeles in its work cited previously, as well as other SPARCC regions.

Its value is in assessing the vulnerability of people and place—exploring the adverse effects of climate change, how it exacerbates and intersects with challenges of health and equity and creates a pathway to addressing those vulnerabilities. The process of using this tool is ideally community-driven and allows community residents, leaders and local governments to collectively plan for future change, potentially increasing the effectiveness of every decision and every dollar spent. Addressing inequities through vulnerability assessments allows people and communities to utilize knowledge and data to be in a better position to withstand shocks and stressors. In addition, the RCVA provides a basis for communities to work with local organizations, public and private authorities, and local government to take immediate action to transition to a climate resilient future.

Rapid Climate Vulnerability Assessment

The RCVA has been implemented in three of the six metro areas that are part of SPARCC, led by NRDC, Enterprise Community Partners, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and the Low Income Investment Fund.

Here is how it works: The RCVA is a 3-step process that brings community members together around local goals and priorities, including for example, the update of a local planning effort or projects such as developing a new grocery store or soccer field. Using readily available climate data and local knowledge, RCVA participants consider how those decisions might be affected by future climate change projections such as rising heat or sea level.

Then, considering both existing stresses relating to health, equity or any other community priorities, and the effects of climate change, they can see where these variables intersect—an exercise that helps them see the ways people connect to nature and the environment, understanding that climate change directly affects their lives in ways both small and large. Once those initial links are made, community leaders can engage in a strategic session to address vulnerabilities and solve for what the community cares about. That leads to decisions about investment and revitalization that means the community can better withstand the effects of climate change.

Recently, the climate team collaborated on an RCVA workshop in Chicago led by Elevated Chicago, the local SPARCC partner. Elevated Chicago is focused on promoting racial equity, prosperity, and resilience in Chicago communities by using equitable transit-oriented development as the catalyst for change. One focus of its work is centered on displacement, and its RCVA prioritized ways to “ensure residents can remain and want to remain in their communities.” The workshop focused on climate change interactions with health and community equity, which we define as the sharing of community assets and other development resources and investment in neighborhoods in a fair and equitable way. Various connections were made throughout the day, including, for example:

· Health: The Chicago region will face annual temperatures 5-9˚F higher by the end of the 21st century and changing precipitation patterns resulting in both higher risks of flash floods and extended dry periods. These changes would be expected to increase heat-related illnesses and deaths, worsen air quality and aggravate respiratory illness and asthma, exacerbate crime, cause the release of contaminants from soils, and disrupt the food supply chain.

· Equity: Concentrated flood damage from heavy rainfall would hit low-income families especially hard. CNT’s (Center for Neighborhood Technology) Urban Flood risk data show the lowest income ZIP codes are disproportionately impacted by urban flooding. In areas of Chicago, such as those near the California Pink Line, residents have the highest percentage of impervious surface area, leading to greater flood risk and air quality concerns.

· Climate: The impacts of ground-level ozone and other air pollutants, for example, are exacerbated by high temperatures, which increases the frequency of red-air days (restricting the use of outdoor space, and limiting outdoor activity), damages trees and vegetation, threatens crops, and keeps tourists away, affecting jobs and businesses.

The RCVA in Chicago revealed the need to explore potential air quality hotspots, including generating improved and more localized data, especially those related to poor air quality in residential neighborhoods with already significant rates for asthma, especially childhood asthma. When you add the simultaneous challenge of heat vulnerability from climate change, this makes for an even bigger health concern. Proposed solutions included advocating for requiring clean freight transportation best practices, planting hedges around perimeters of new developments to improve air quality, requiring clean air stipulations for new developments, advocating for community benefits, and encouraging people to check the air quality before going outside for extended periods of time.

As Marcella Bondie Kennan of CNT sees it, “Air emissions are a major issue and need to think about how we can respond to that.”

Addressing inequities such as air quality is an important objective of climate vulnerability assessments, allowing communities to utilize knowledge and data to be in a stronger position to withstand shocks and stressors of greater unpredictability.

Climate-Savvy Communities

Vulnerability assessments aren’t new. Those in the natural resource world have been using them to document and adapt to climate change events such as coral bleaching for over a decade. But such assessments at the state, city and community level are just beginning, and their power is being understood in such fields as urban forestry and in planning and design.

As the examples in Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Chicago demonstrate, RCVAs provide a first step to taking ownership of local climate change impacts by making breakthroughs in understanding and quantifying their effects on the general population. This “rapid” version (often conducted in one day) allows community leaders, stakeholders and residents to articulate the climate vulnerability of development and revitalization projects and to gain experience in thinking about climate change in their work. What makes community RCVAs different and so valuable compared to city or regional authority-scale assessments, is that they are local, cross-cutting, and grounded in every aspect of community life.

As Lara Hansen, executive director of EcoAdapt and an architect of these and other assessments, put it: “We want the SPARCC communities to design solutions that are not at risk of having their shelf life cut short by climate change. We want durable solutions that will last for decades to come, serving all of the community.”

As we apply the RCVA across all six SPARCC sites, our knowledge, and that of the communities in which we work, will grow. Ultimately, undergoing an RCVA provides a collaborative basis for tackling climate adaptation in the context of building social justice and community wealth. And, that’s the point—to spread the fundamental reality that climate change affects our health, our well-being, our economic opportunity, our social consciousness and responsibility, and our future. We can do something about it, if we ask the questions, then apply the data and also our values to designing climate-informed solutions.

Cross-posting with the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Strong, Prosperous, and Resilient Communities Challenge

Is My Project Vulnerable to Climate Change?

2018-01-01T14:42:00.000-08:00

Many natural resource managers have been and continue to implement on-the-ground
projects. But are these projects vulnerable to climate change? Can they be designed differently
to reduce potential vulnerabilities?

These are the kinds of questions we set out to answer during a two-day workshop in 2016 with natural resource managers from federal and state agencies, conservation organizations, and watershed
partnerships in Southern California. The workshop focused on four common types of projects in
the region:
1. Expanding and restoring fuelbreaks in chaparral habitats;
2. Restoring and revegetating sage scrub habitats;
3. Revising grazing management plans in grassland habitats; and
4. Improving aquatic organism passage in stream habitats.

Participants worked together to evaluate how climate and non-climate vulnerabilities could
impact the ability to achieve project goals, whether and how current project actions minimize
vulnerabilities, and potential new adaptation actions that could be added to the project.

Check out each case study to see how many of the actions already being implemented help
reduce climate vulnerabilities as well as new adaptation ideas to incorporate in future projects!

Improve engagement and reconnecting with our lands and waters

2017-06-24T16:03:00.000-07:00

From our partners at PICCC:

A huge shout out to EcoAdapt for facilitating four more Adaptation Workshops here in Hawai’i. One was on Oahu April 24th-25th, one on Molokai April 27th, Kauai June 5th & 6th and we just finished up with the island of Hawai’i on June 13th & 14th. It is always great to see the positive interactions between the participants and the strong partnerships that already exist. It is rewarding to hear them share how much they appreciate this time to collaborate together and that more opportunities like this are needed.

A Kauai participant mentioned that “We all work in parallel organizations, side by side, but either due to the geography or communities we work in, we rarely intersect all in one place.” Every organization has slightly different priorities, but overall they are all working to conserve our island home here in the Pacific. On Hawai’i Island, J. Rubey with Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture said, “We each come as one side of a crystal and together we are strong if we are interconnected.” This was a common theme that emerged at most, if not all, of the islands was this fundamental need for a paradigm shift of working together on a landscape scale, rather than working within our arbitrary jurisdictions. “Our species do not recognize dotted lines on a map, nor should we.”

Participants reviewed the vulnerability assessments from the prior workshop and applied that knowledge to looking at their existing management plans to see if they could modify or add new actions to minimize vulnerabilities and increase resiliency from mauka to makai. They also looked at how to address future management goals & explored new strategies and/or techniques that agencies/organizations can adopt and apply these climate actions into their own work. They identified the need to apply the best available science to inform management decisions and ultimately policies, but agencies and organizations can’t do that alone. The participants brought together diverse perspectives and fresh ideas to help develop the framework of what efforts are necessary to build resilience on their islands.

A theme that popped out on Kaua'i was the need for more education and outreach in regards to protecting their valued resources in terrestrial, aquatic, coastal, and marine environments. The need for place-based education and reconnecting people of all ages to the places that are important culturally. One idea was to bring back programs that were successful, like the Kilauea work days. Where families (ka'amina only) came together, pitched in to help restore the landscape. An opportunity for Aunties and Uncles, kapuna and neighbors telling stories along the way and teaching the next generation about species, habitats, and the resources that are central to their culture. Hawaiians for centuries have adapted and lived off these islands in sustainable ways, but a real need for creative ways to help inspire and impart that place matters. These practitioners from federal, state, county, non-profit organizations and groups identified that this responsibility can and should be shared across the island, but having overarching, consistent practices and slogans/campaigns would be extremely helpful.

Very similar on Hawai’i Island, this need to shift from impacts on habitats and empower communities to reconnect people to place, foster opportunities where relationships with the land and people are intimately intertwined. Emphasizing taking care of the aina should be a community driven process insuring authentic and integrity along the way. One strategy that they focused on was becoming self reliant and caring for each other especially in regards to food reliance, water security, and energy. It would be a lifestyle change to get out of debt with offshore dependencies like buying food that has been shipped across the ocean and looking to invest in restoring sustainable agricultural practices such as field systems and other traditional ecological knowledge that could inform those who can shape our immediate future and also looking multiple generations out. In a changing climate precipitation and cloud cover will most likely look different and hence a need to communicate and emphasize that water is a scarce and finite resource. There are structures and organizations in place, so the idea of not-reinventing the wheel was mentioned but to do it strategically with strong leaders will be critical. These workshops were testament that we have the man power and best available science in hand to adapt and to move forward, but the urgency to engage more audiences is paramount. Inspiring stewardship and bringing communities together is no easy task, but every participant who showed up for these workshops has people/manpower to lead us through this process and build resiliency on each of our islands.

On Moloka'i, it was inspiring to hear the participants brainstorming highly visible restoration projects that not only build resiliency along the landscape, but also emphasizing the power & strength of healthy, sustainable communities too. The vision and tangible strategies of how to start this effort was inspiring and is exciting to see on the ground projects in the works. We look forward to seeing more communities come together, new networks of organizations strategizing how to adapt across the landscape, and ultimately moving forward as new challenges arise. Mahalo to those agencies who sent participants, EcoAdapt for fostering these conversations and helping us synthesize the process, and as always to the organizations who hosted us for the time and space to get together in person.

Keep your eye on the prize: Protecting our natural and cultural resources

2017-05-23T09:18:00.002-07:00

A blog post from our partners at the Pacific Islands Climate Change Cooperative!

Offsetting ennui by supporting those in the adaptation trenches this Giving Tuesday!

2016-11-29T09:22:00.000-08:00

It’s Giving Tuesday! Where you can help EcoAdapt make adaptation happen!

Not to be confused with Voting Tuesday, which might mean less adaptation if we don’t all work together.

To help offset the impact of the election on adaptation progress, consider making a gift to EcoAdapt, your friends in the adaptation trenches. We’re here when you need us, but right now, we need you. #AdaptationTrenches #GivingTuesday #EcoAdapt

EcoAdapt and Partners Win Honorable Mention for North-Central California Project

2016-06-07T14:39:00.001-07:00

We are happy to announce that one of our projects, the North-Central California Coast and Ocean Climate-Smart Adaptation Project, just received a Broad Partnership Honorable Mention as part of the 2016 Climate Adaptation Leadership Awards for Natural Resources. Thank you to the National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy’s Joint Implementation Working Group and to all of our partners at the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, Farallones Marine Sanctuary Association, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Point Reyes National Seashore, National Park Service, and Point Blue Conservation Science.

From the award website:

"Coordinated by NOAA's Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, the planning team for the project Climate-Smart Adaptation for the North-central California Coast and Ocean has demonstrated exceptional collaboration and ingenuity in advancing the region's understanding of climate impacts and vulnerabilities to coastal and marine ecosystems by developing a Vulnerability Assessment Report and advancing an adaptation planning process to address those vulnerabilities."

EcoAdapt is Recipient of 2015 Business Achievement Award for Adaptation

2016-03-01T17:57:00.000-08:00

Every year, the Climate Change Business Journal (CCBJ) recognizes outstanding performance in the climate change field with their Business Achievement Awards. EcoAdapt is pleased to announce that we were chosen to receive the 2015 award for Advancing Best Practices: Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience.

Nominations for the 2015 CCBJ Business Achievement Awards were accepted in 200-word essays in either specific or unspecified categories. Final awards were determined by a committee of CCBJ staff and CCBJ editorial advisory board members.

EcoAdapt was recognized for providing valuable support, training and assistance to local adaptation practitioners in the public and private sectors. Program and project accomplishments from 2015 that garnered attention include:

Continued research and outreach through the State of Adaptation initiative, producing case studies and synthesizing lessons learned through interviews with and surveys of adaptation practitioners. In 2015, these surveys included assessing adaptation efforts in the Southeast and U.S. Caribbean water resources and U.S. marine fisheries management.
Continued management and curation of the Climate Adaptation Knowledge Exchange (CAKEx.org);
Serving as primary sponsor and organizer of the May 2015 National Adaptation Forum in St. Louis, MO;
Working with SeaPlan, the City of Boston, and The Boston Harbor Association to develop an adaptation indicators framework to track and evaluate climate-related progress within the city; and
Establishing and running the Available Science Assessment Project, which aims to apply scientific knowledge to increase the effectiveness of adaptation actions, with its first test case examining the role of fire treatments in Northwest national forests and communities.

For more information on the other winners of the Climate Change Business Awards, visit http://ebionline.org/business-achievement-awards.

The 2015 CCBJ awards will be presented at a special ceremony at the Environmental Industry Summit XIV in San Diego on March 9-11, 2016. The Environmental Industry Summit is an annual three-day executive retreat hosted by EBI Inc. Lead Scientist, Rachel M. Gregg, will formally accept the award in person at this event.

What does the Paris Climate Agreement have to do with....fisheries and food security?

2016-01-05T12:59:00.003-08:00

By Alex Score

The Paris Climate Agreement signed in December 2015, also known as COP21, included prioritizing food security because of the imminent threats posed by climate change to global food and fisheries production. This is the first international climate change agreement that identifies food security as a priority, and highlights the need to increase resilience by prioritizing adaptation and mitigation strategies for global agriculture and fisheries. Generally, there is still a lack of understanding of how climate change will impact food and fish production. In addition, there is some uncertainty on how climate change will interact with non-climatic stressors, such as pollution, coastal land use changes, and overfishing.

EcoAdapt is working to increase understanding and capacity for U.S. fisheries management in the context of climate change and ocean acidification. We are currently gathering existing information and developing a fisheries climate adaptation online dashboard to help managers make climate-informed decisions. The dashboard will include regional U.S. impacts, global and U.S. fisheries adaptation case studies, and resources in a Climate Adaptation Toolkit for Fisheries Management to help build capacity of fisheries managers and ultimately make fisheries decisions more resilient to climate change. The dashboard can help other managers worldwide by providing easily accessible information on climate impacts to fisheries and climate adaptation solutions, examples, and resources. The dashboard will be powered by the Climate Adaptation Knowledge Exchange (CAKE).

What does the Paris Climate Agreement have to do with....the Bainbridge Island Comprehensive Plan?

2015-12-15T09:40:00.001-08:00

By Lara Hansen

Bainbridge Island, WA is a long way from COP21 but climate change is not just a conversation for Paris. The agreement from the City of Light gave us the foundation for a path forward, some aspiration and some new commitment. However it does not give us the whole solution to the global climate conundrum we’ve created for ourselves. Solutions will need to be at the global level, like those we’ve started in Paris, but they will also need to be at the local level, like those people are developing in towns such as Bainbridge Island.

This fall while negotiators were preparing their positions and balancing their willingness to compromise, citizens of Bainbridge Island have been discussing the update of the city's Comprehensive Plan. Just like everywhere else that has such a plan, they are considering how to frame their collective desires around issues like transportation, housing, land use, water, utilities, the economy, and the environment. But they are doing something a little different. The community is also considering how climate change will affect their island home and how the Comprehensive Plan could be made more durable in the face of that change, so they can get better long-term outcomes despite their vulnerabilities.

Just like we don't know for certain if the Paris Agreement will be enough to get us on the right path, we'll have to watch what happens on Bainbridge Island to know if it's successful. So stay tuned...and in the meantime, get your own community working to develop climate-informed actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and plan for the effects of climate change.

A global climate deal is in the works, but its success may be a matter of degrees

2015-12-09T16:50:00.001-08:00

By: Rachel M. Gregg

As David Horsey's cartoon indicates, coming to an international agreement on climate change has been a long and laborious process. However, an agreement to curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions may finally become reality this month. The 21st Conference of the Parties (or COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) is convening in Paris, and all signs indicate that a deal may be imminent, although challenges still lie ahead.

COP21 builds off of previous agreements and attempts to finalize a global compact on climate change, such as the UNFCC and the Kyoto Protocol. The UNFCC, signed during the 1992 Earth Summit, officially acknowledged climate change and the significant contributions of human activities to GHG concentrations, particularly from developed countries. The 1997 Kyoto Protocol then set GHG reduction commitments for developed nations by 2008-2012, but essentially failed without the backing of the United States. Since then, COP delegates have gathered annually to discuss ways to create a legally binding climate agreement, resulting in various “plans to plan for a plan.” For example, COP15 in Copenhagen resulted in an agreed upon goal of capping increasing temperatures at 2° Celsius[i] but no plans were produced on how to achieve the needed reduction targets.

An encouraging difference between COP15 and COP21 is that countries submitted individual commitments towards reducing GHG emissions before the Paris meetings. Top polluters such as China, the United States, and India have all made pledges to voluntarily curb emissions and pursue renewable energy technologies. Concerns remain as these plans are not legally binding and some estimates indicate that even with these cuts, temperatures may still rise 2.7°C by 2100.

Other significant challenges include:

– The question of whether or not any agreement will be legally binding under international law, as well as how effective any deal can be without the support of every single country.

– The 2 degree limit is too high for some COP21 delegates. Countries comprising the Climate Vulnerable Forum that are most at risk from the impacts of climate change have argued strongly for any Paris deal to focus on the tougher limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius, which would require countries to cut emissions to zero and adopt 100% renewable energy sources by 2050.

– It is not clear how well any new policies or technologies will be financed.

There are however, reasons to be hopeful. Over 20 years of negotiations have led to this moment. The draft agreement calls for both mitigation and adaptation responses by every party; for example, the proposed plan prioritizes the conservation of forests and open spaces to enhance carbon storage potential and additional ecosystem services, such as clean water, healthy economies, and overall resilience. Mitigation is clearly important as countries seek to curb emissions, and adaptation continues to be important as the world is already committed to the climatic changes associated with past emissions. While the world waits to see if COP21 will produce the climate compact we need, consider taking some steps yourself to reduce your carbon footprint and become a climate-informed global citizen.

[i] For insight into why the 2 degree limit is so important, check out this video by SkyNews, along with its series on the consequences of a 3 degree, 4 degree, or even 5 degree temperature increase, which becomes more likely should countries fail to act.

White House FACT SHEET: Actions to Build Resilience to Climate Change Impacts in Vulnerable Communities

2015-07-09T09:47:00.000-07:00

Press Release July 9, 2015

With cities, states and tribes already confronting the costly impacts of climate change, the Obama Administration is committed to ensuring that communities develop smart strategies and partnerships for building climate resilience. As part of his Climate Action Plan, the President established the State, Local, and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience (Task Force) in 2013 to help the Federal Government respond to the needs of communities nationwide that are dealing with the impacts of climate change. The Task Force recommendations emphasized the importance of supporting communities that are likely to be disproportionately affected, including those that already face economic- or health-related challenges. The Third U.S. National Climate Assessment also noted that socioeconomic disparities can exacerbate the vulnerability of certain populations, including low-income, tribal, and some communities of color, due to in part to limited capacity and resources necessary to prepare and adapt.

Today, the White House is releasing a progress report highlighting some of the key actions taken by the Administration that support the Task Force’s recommendations, which were compiled and delivered to the President in November 2014. Building on this progress, the White House is also announcing a series of new actions focused on enhancing resilience in the communities most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change that includes over $25 million in private and public investments.

NEW ACTIONS AND INVESTMENTS TO BUILD RESILIENCE

TO CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS

Launching a Resilience AmeriCorps Pilot Program. The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), the Department of Energy (DOE), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are partnering with The Rockefeller Foundation and Cities of Service to launch Resilience AmeriCorps, a pilot program that will recruit, train, and embed AmeriCorps VISTA members in up to 12 communities in 2015. The 2-year pilot program responds to a recommendation made by the Task Force to assist vulnerable communities that lack the capacity to address climate-resilience planning and implementation. The AmeriCorps VISTA members will increase civic engagement and community resilience in low-income areas, and help those communities develop plans for becoming more resilient to any number of shocks and stresses, including better preparations for extreme weather events. On July 15 at 2pm EDT, the White House will hold a Google+ Hangout to discuss the important role that community service can play in helping vulnerable communities become more resilient in the face of a changing climate. The event will feature speakers from the Administration, The Rockefeller Foundation, Cities of Service, and community leaders engaged in building on-the-ground resilience. Members of the public are encouraged to ask the participants questions during the livestreamed conversation using the Twitter handle #ActOnClimate.

Helping Tribes Prepare for Climate Impacts. The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs is announcing $11.8 million in Tribal Climate Preparedness Grants to support tribes in planning for the impacts of climate change. This funding will support over 104 awards that address tribal efforts for training, technical assistance, and capacity building needs. In addition, today at the White House Tribal Youth Gathering, more than 90 tribal youth leaders will have an opportunity to have a dialogue with federal officials on issues of importance to tribal youth at a session, entitled “Our Natural Resources and Climate Change.” Also today, the EPA is announcing that it will expand the Local Environmental Observers (LEO) network to tribal colleges and universities and engage hundreds of Alaska Native and American Indian students in sharing observations about the impacts of climate change in their communities.

Expanding Investment in the National Disaster Resilience Competition. Today, in support of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) $1 billion National Disaster Resilience Competition (NDRC), The Rockefeller Foundation is committing $3.2 million in additional support to build capacity in jurisdictions across the country that are working to increase their resilience to future shocks and stresses. In June, HUD announced 40 states and local communities that will compete for funds awarded under the NDRC, which seeks to ensure that disaster recovery investments reflect the needs of low-income residents, contribute to stronger local economies, and provide amenities that improve the quality of life for all. The Rockefeller assistance is expected to include expertise from a range of technical experts, participation in Resilience Academies, and a Resilience Summit for funders and Federal agencies in the fall, which will be open to all NDRC-eligible communities. In addition, HUD will be offering a series of topical webinars, beginning July 30, for a broad audience of communities that will describe best practices and innovative tools that further investments in resilience. The full schedule can be found here.

Expanding Opportunities in America’s Cities. The Kresge Foundation is announcing an independent commitment to invest $10 million dollars over the next three years to support climate-resilience efforts in low-income communities through its Climate Resilience and Urban Opportunity Initiative. The foundation already has awarded over $2 million dollars in grants through this effort. Launched in 2014, the initiative is focused on strengthening the capacity of community-based nonprofit organizations to influence local and regional climate-resilience planning, policy development, and implementation to better reflect the priorities and needs of low-income people in U.S. cities.

Conducting a Climate Adaptation, Preparedness, and Resilience Seminar. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Exercise Division (NED) is working with the White House and federal agencies to design and conduct a seminar series focused on providing the knowledge and tools needed for communities to address local climate impacts and to develop locally relevant exercises supporting community resilience. The first pilot seminar will be conducted in coordination with Florida International University and community representatives in the Miami area in mid- August.

Developing Regional Sea-Level Rise and Climate Information. In response to the growing need for authoritative, place-based climate information to support preparedness planning and safeguard vulnerable communities, Federal agencies will work with the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) and the National Ocean Council (NOC) to develop, for the first time ever, a set of sea-level rise scenarios out to 2100 that combine national coverage with regional specificity, and that address not just sea-level rise itself, but also the associated coastal flood hazards that create risks for communities. This effort will launch in 2016, with an initial focus on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, and a commitment to engage coastal stakeholders in the scenario-development process. In addition, Federal agencies and the USGCRP will use locally-relevant climate-model projections to develop products that help decision makers better understand how temperature, precipitation, and other factors could change through the rest of this century. Tools resulting from these efforts will be made publicly available through the Climate Resilience Toolkit at toolkit.climate.gov.

Regional Energy Vulnerabilities & Resilience Solutions: DOE will soon release a report, “Climate Change and the U.S. Energy Sector: Regional Vulnerabilities and Resilience Solutions,” that will assist decision makers in their efforts to enhance energy-sector resilience to climate change by assessing vulnerabilities by region and providing illustrative examples of approaches for addressing these vulnerabilities. DOE is also developing a report on tribal energy-system vulnerabilities to climate change and extreme weather, which will be released later this year.

Increasing Energy Security in Native American Tribes. DOE is announcing that five Native American Tribes are receiving on-the-ground support from the Department’s Strategic Technical Assistance Response Team (START) Program. START is aimed at moving community- and commercial-scale energy projects closer to implementation by overcoming project development challenges and barriers, helping the tribes improve their energy security, combat climate change, and build a sustainable energy future. The 2015 projects include validating the economics of a proposed microgrid, helping to determine the best way to transport renewable energy to tribal consumers, and better understanding the economics of expanding the use of renewable energy on tribal lands. These projects would enable the Tribes to generate and store their own electricity while also enhancing community resilience by maintaining power in the event of a storm.

ADDITIONAL ACTIONS TO PRIORITIZE RESILIENCE IN FEDERAL PROGRAMS

Focusing on Environmental Justice. On June 23, The White House announced the Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice’s (IWG EJ) new Educate, Motivate and Innovate (EMI) Climate Justice Initiative. This initiative will focus on the next generation of climate-justice leaders and will expand collaborations with Minority-Serving Institutions, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions, and Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions. The inaugural EMI Climate Justice Leadership Training Workshop will be held in March 2016, focusing on the effects of climate change on communities, including those with minority, low-income, and/or tribal populations, and on understanding the relationships among climate change, human health, economic development, and environmental justice. The training workshop will also discuss how EJSCREEN - EPA’s new environmental justice screening tool - can help identify and better understand potential community vulnerabilities. EJSCREEN was recently released to the public and gives users powerful data and mapping capabilities to access environmental and demographic information at a high geographic resolution.

Launching a Regional Climate-Change Impact Webinar Series. As announced on July 7, DOE is launching an eight-part webinar series today through its Minorities in Energy Initiative to discuss the regional impacts of climate change on minority and tribal communities. Through this series, experts will: explain relevant findings from the Third U.S. National Climate Assessment and recently released Quadrennial Energy Review, outline Federal energy-policy objectives as they relate to climate resilience for underserved communities, and discuss opportunities in renewable-energy and energy-efficiency sectors to foster a growing, next-generation workforce. This effort supports the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy’s Climate Education and Literacy Initiative, with the goal of ensuring that all students and citizens are climate-literate.

Making Climate-Smart Federal Investments. Through its “Circular A-11” guidance document, the White House Office of Management and Budget is directing all Federal agencies to consider climate preparedness and resilience objectives as part of their Fiscal Year 2017 budget requests for construction and maintenance of Federal facilities. For the first time, all funding requests in support of Federal facilities – from office buildings and hospitals to laboratories and warehouses – must align with climate preparedness and resilience goals.

Mainstreaming Resilience into Federal Programs. Federal agencies continue making progress in integrating climate change considerations throughout their programs and operations. Recent examples include:

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has established a resilience champion at the Senior Executive Service level who oversees the newly founded USACE Resilience Program. The Resilience Program Manager has assembled a team that is preparing an initial report describing existing resilience activities and next steps. The team is also developing a Resilience Strategy with milestones and a schedule to mainstream resilience in all agency activities.
On June 22, USDA announced a new Department-wide policy to integrate climate change adaptation planning, implementation actions, and performance metrics into USDA’s programs, policies, and operations. The new policy will help better position the Department to respond to the many climate stressors that have consequences for food production, yields of staple crops, and the health and resiliency of the nation’s forests and grasslands.
The Department of the Interior, Office of Insular Affairs, has hired a Climate Change Coordinator to strategically collaborate with other federal agencies, Insular Area governments, universities and non-governmental organizations to leverage federal initiatives and funding sources to strengthen and implement climate change adaptation plans in the insular areas.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is currently developing coursework and training programs on leadership for sustainability and climate preparedness and resilience. This training would equip current and future leaders with tools and knowledge to address the leadership challenges of climate preparedness and resilience.

Providing Data and Tools for Climate Preparedness. The Administration’s Climate Data Initiative (CDI) and Climate Resilience Toolkit (CRT), launched in 2014, have made hundreds of high-values datasets, tools, and case studies freely available to the public and decision makers. The recent releases of the “Energy” and “Transportation and Supply Chain” themes in June 2015 mark the completion of the initial focus areas of the CDI and CRT. Building on these early successes, content, tools, and functionalities will continue to be added as new themes – such as “Tribal Nations”– are developed. By the end of 2015, the CRT will include a new and improved “Climate Explorer,” new topical map layers that are relevant to decision makers and planners, and a mobile app. These efforts will be supported by an increase in targeted stakeholder-engagement opportunities.

Conference Alert: Species on the Move!

2015-07-07T13:40:00.002-07:00

A fabulous group of co-convenors is pulling together the Species on the Move conference to be held February 9-12 in Tasmania, Australia (that's February 8-11 for you USAers).

Here's the description straight from the organizers:

The global redistribution of our planets’ species is widely recognised as a fingerprint of climate change, however, the mechanisms that underpin such range shifts are poorly understood. Additionally, the pervasiveness of range shifts, from poles to the equator, and depths of oceans to tops of mountains, provides us with unique opportunity to advance our theory of biogeography, evolutionary ecology and macroecology.

Our move into the ‘anthropocene’ allows unprecedented opportunity to understand the mechanisms that drive species distributions across ecosystems and address the fundamental tenet of ecology: what lives where and why? However, such dramatic changes also pose significant challenges for sustainable management of our natural resources.

We see this conference targeting scientists and natural resource managers working in the disciplines of global change, biogeography and evolution, and relevant in contexts of natural resource management, biodiversity management and conservation, and theoretical ecology.

Check out the conference here!

USDA Updates Departmental Climate Adaptation Policy

2015-06-22T13:30:00.000-07:00

Press Release

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced additional steps it is taking to integrate climate change adaptation into USDA's programs and operations. These efforts will help ensure taxpayer resources are invested wisely and that USDA services and operations remain effective under current and future climate conditions.

The effects of climate change are complex and far-reaching and it is clear that potential changes could have important impacts on the ability of USDA to fulfill its core mission. Under the updated USDA Policy Statement on Climate Change Adaptation (Departmental Regulation 1070-001), USDA recognizes that climate stressors have consequences for food production, yields of staple crops, forests and grasslands, and these, in turn, affect the economic well-being of individuals.

Climate change adaptation is a critical component of climate change and a complement to mitigation planning. Both are required to address the causes, consequences and potential benefits of climate change. USDA is taking a leadership role with climate adaptation planning to safeguard a resilient, healthy and prosperous Nation in the face of changing climate.

Under the changes announced today, USDA will:

Integrate climate change adaptation planning, implementing actions, and performance metrics into USDA programs, policies and operations to minimize climate risks and exploit new opportunities that climate change may bring;

Analyze how climate change is likely to affect its ability to achieve its mission, operations and policy and program objectives;

Identify appropriate key performance measures to evaluate progress in climate change adaptation;

Participate in adaptation implementation as part of a broader commitment to developing the next generation of regional climate solutions through USDA Regional Hubs for Risk Adaptation and Mitigation to Climate Change;

Incorporate climate-resilient decision-making into international development programs and investments of relevant USDA agencies; and

Develop and maintain an adaptation plan for managing the challenges and consider potential climate change impacts when undertaking long-term exercise, setting priorities for scientific research and developing performance measures.

Departmental Regulation 1070-001 implements sections of Executive Order 13653 and, where applicable, Executive Order 13677. It is consistent with the 2014-2018 USDA Strategic Plan and with guidance from the Council on Environmental Quality and the Federal Council on Climate Change Preparedness and Resilience. The regulation can be found at: www.usda.gov/oce/climate_change/adaptation.htm.

For more information on USDA's Climate Change activities, please visit: www.usda.gov/oce/climate_change/index.htm. This policy supersedes and replaces Department Regulation 1070-001 June 3, 2011.

California leads the adaptation charge, all while reducing GHG emissions

2015-05-08T10:33:00.000-07:00

By: Whitney Reynier

California is again making headlines – but this time, it’s not related (specifically) to the statewide drought.

On April 29, 2015, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. issued Executive Order B-30-15, which will reinforce and expand upon emissions reductions and climate change adaptation efforts underway across the state of the California. Read the full press release here, and check out these key highlights from the executive order:

Adaptation:

Mandated 3-year updates of California’s climate adaptation strategy, Safeguarding California.
Mandated implementation of Safeguarding California provisions, including:

Vulnerability assessment for key sectors
Clear identification and communication of risks associated with vulnerabilities, and priority actions needed to reduce those risks
Identification of a lead agency/group of agencies to head adaptation efforts in each sector. These leaders will prepare implementation plans by September 2015, and report back on actions taken in June 2016.

All state agencies will incorporate climate change into planning and investment decisions, with help from a technical advisory group that will be established by the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research.
California’s Five-Year Infrastructure Plan will incorporate future and current climate impacts into all infrastructure projects.
California will continue its climate change research program to improve understanding of climate change impacts and evaluate how best to plan for and adapt to such changes.

Greenhouse gas emissions:

Updated emission reduction targets: reduce emissions 40% below 1990 levels by 2030, which will put California on track to reduce emissions by 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.
All state agencies will implement measures to reduce GHG emissions to meet reductions targets.

EcoAdapt is helping several agencies address climate change in the Sierra Nevada, Southern California forests, and north-central coast.

Being Green at the National Adaptation Forum

2015-05-08T09:49:00.002-07:00

We're excited to see you all next week in St. Louis, MO for the 2nd National Adaptation Forum!

We want to make sure you not only have a great time at the Forum, but also that we keep it as "green" as possible!

IT IS EASY BEING GREEN

Bring your own travel mug or water bottle for all of your beverages at the Forum!

Walk or take public transportation to the event each day!

Make sure to recycle your paper, aluminum, glass, and plastic into the appropriate receptacles!

When serving yourself at meals, take only what you can eat to promote “zero waste.”