Climate Mitigation and Adaptation News
May 20, 2015
A biweekly newsletter of the Climate Readiness Collaborative.
 

 

We were excited to attend the second annual National Adaptation Forum last week in St. Louis, Missouri. The conference drew over 800 participants from all 50 states as well as from other countries to share knowledge and build partnerships on this critical issue. California's four climate adaptation collaboratives were out in force, and we were able to meet with state officials to discuss how we could support and further the Governor's Executive Order on climate adaptation. We were inspired and energized as well to see that all over the U.S., from the Chesapeake Bay to the Klamath Yurok Tribe, people were hard at work to build resilience and protect their communities. 

 

The Capital Region Climate Readiness Collaborative is pleased to invite you to it's upcoming Quarterly Meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, June 9th. This meeting will focus on and explore how we can enhance our economic resiliency in the capital region. It will also feature a special presentation from The Nature Conservancy about Climate Action through Landscape Conservation. (Register)

News and Research
World's first solar road performing above expectations
Photo: SolaRoad
An experimental bike path that functions as a giant solar cell has generated over 3,000 kilowatt-hours since it opened in November 2014 in Krommenie, a village northwest of Amsterdam. The new technology has a yield of 70 kWh per square meter and could help to power street lights, traffic systems, and electric vehicles. (
HP)
California drought brings sound of silence to baked, barren farms

The Central Valley should be a hive of activity but in the state's fourth dry year farmers count their losses and laborers stand idle beneath cloudless skies. (Guardian)

Another co-benefit of electric vehicles: cooler cities

Emitting only 19.8 percent of the heat of a gasoline car, electric vehicles (EVs) can help reduce the urban heat island effect, according to a new study. Using Beijing as a model, researchers found that if the entire city had switched to EVs during the extremely hot summer of 2012, the urban heat island intensity would have been reduced by 1.7�F, thus also reducing the amount of electricity needed for air-conditioning by 14.44 million kWh. (CBS)

Climate change could intensify allergies

Photo: ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images

Sacramento already experiences a severe allergy season, but climate change could make it worse. According to scientists, two chemicals linked to climate change, nitrogen dioxide and ground-level ozone, both cause changes in allergens that increase their potency. Nitrogen dioxide is a component of vehicle exhaust, while ozone is a smog component formed from exhaust. (Time)

Climate change increasing Lyme disease in the US

Warming temperatures are expanding the geographic range of Lyme disease-carrying ticks as well as extending its lifecycle season, leading to an increase in cases of Lyme disease in the U.S and Canada. This study is the result of an extensive 19-year study on ticks, and suggests that public health outreach campaigns should also shift to earlier in the year. The challenge to predicting the exact range and timing of future tick territory is that most models are based only on temperature, and other climate variables may be a factor as well. (Scientific American)

The entire southwest is in a drought
Photo: Max Whittaker for The New York Times

In a region that has re-plumbed entire river systems to build cities and farms where they would not otherwise flourish, the drought is a historic challenge. Many scientists say this is the harbinger of the permanently drier and hotter West that global warming will deliver later this century; temperatures in the upper Rio Grande are already rising at twice the global average. The drought has exacerbated water rights disputes between states, but there are also signs of hope, with cities like Albuquerque successfully reducing water consumption by 25% while population grows by a third. (NY Times)

Meet Obama's Chief Resiliency Officer

Harriet Tregoning is the head of HUD's Office of Economic Resilience, formerly known as the Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities and works toward helping cities and counties improve quality of place, economic opportunity, fiscal stability, transportation choice, and affordability. Before joining HUD, Tregoning served with city and state governments to increase active transportation and smart growth. Here she shares her thoughts on what makes a resilient city or town and discusses HUD's National Disaster Resilience Competition. (Grist)

California drought: Eastern Sierra community lives with devastating reality of year-round fire season
Photo: Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group

Communities across the West are confronting a new reality -- a year-round fire season. Perhaps nowhere are the consequences as obvious as in Swall Meadows, where the 300 residents are now shoveling ash instead of snow. Drought and steadily rising temperatures have lengthened the fire season by an average of 70 days compared to 40 years ago, and the number of Sierra fires is projected to double by 2050 according to UC Merced scientists. (Contra Costa Times)

UCSF's Mission Bay campus a flagship for climate-ready hospitals
Photo: Hourann Bosci/Wikimedia Commons

Designed with climate disaster resilience, resource sustainability, and patient care in mind, Mission Bay is currently the best hospital in the country to showcase how hospitals can adapt to geographic-specific climate change. Dan Henroid, the director of nutrition and food services at UCSF who serves as a sustainability officer, says what the campus accomplished goes far beyond any typical "going green" call to action. And with the California drought draining the state dry on resources, the hospital's lauded methods are being put to the test. (Pacific Standard)

Funding Opportunities
Electricity Sector Vulnerability Studies and Adaptation Options to Promote Resilience in a Changing Climate

This grant funding opportunity will fund applied research and development projects that reduce the environmental and public health impacts of electricity generation and protect the electricity system from climate impacts. The studies supported by this solicitation should foster proactive adaptation efforts and management strategies to address climate variability, integrate consideration of resilience into energy system. Research should help support the implementation of adaptation strategies and development of decision-support tools that will enhance the resilience. Deadline: May 26, 2015, 3pm (CEC)

Regional Climate Impacts and Adaptation Studies for the Natural Gas System and Other Environmental Related Issues

Support research that addresses natural gas sector climate resilience policy, implementation, and management needs as articulated in the Energy Commission's 2014 Integrated Energy Policy Report, the Climate Change Research Plan, and Safeguarding California. Deadline: May 26, 2015, 3pm. (CEC)

Upcoming Events
2016 New Partners for Smart Growth Conference - Call for Session Proposals Open
May 18 - June 30

The Local Government Commission is conducting a formal Call for Session Proposals (CFSP) for the 2016 New Partners for Smart Growth Conference program. The CFSP process is open now through June 30. In order to submit a proposal and view instructions visit www.newpartners.org/cfsp. NEW this year, proposers will be able to collaborate with others on their submittal, using the online submittal system! The 15th Annual New Partners for Smart Growth Conference will be held February 11-13, 2016 at the Hilton Portland Hotel & Executive Tower in downtown Portland, OR. Visit www.NewPartners.org for more details on this exciting event!

Precipitation Patterns, Supply Planning and Demand Curves: The Complexities of Assessing Water Supply Risks
Thursday, May 21, 10-11am PDT

This series is co-sponsored by the NOAA Sectoral Applications Research Program (SARP), US National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), Water Research Foundation, Water Environment Federation (WEF), Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF), American Water Works Association (AWWA), the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA) and EPA's Climate Ready Water Utility Initiative. (Register)

Climate-Proofing California's Urban Forests, One Community at a Time
Tuesday, May 26, 4:10-5:30pm
UC Davis Campus, 166 Hunt Hall

Open to the public, this weekly speaker series from the UC Davis Geography Graduate Group features Dr. Greg McPherson from the USDA. (UC Davis)

Webinar: Farm to Fork: Maximizing our Regional Food System
Wednesday, May 27, 11am

Learn about new initiatives and findings on the potential for developing new market channels to get locally grown fresh produce into schools, hospitals, and other institutions and customers, and to strengthen our regional food system. CRC-member Valley Vision will also share highlights from their regional convening "Farm to Fork: Maximizing our Regional Food System." Topics will include SACOG's new feasibility study for developing food aggregation, distribution, and processing facilities (food hubs) for locally grown produce in the Sacramento region. (Register)

Local policies to achieve zero net-energy buildings
Wednesday, June 3, 10-11:30am PDT

California has set goals to make new residential construction ZNE by 2020 and all new and 50% of existing commercial buildings ZNE by 2030, and local jurisdictions play a vital role in moving the market toward ZNE buildings. The San Diego Regional Energy Partnership and Center for Sustainable Energy invite city and county staff to attend a free webinar on policies that can help achieve zero net energy (ZNE) buildings. Staff from a range of Californian cities will discuss case studies, outreach and education, economic impacts, and lessons learned. (Register)

Water Hazards and Community Resilience
Thursday, June 4, 10-11am PDT

This series is co-sponsored by the NOAA Sectoral Applications Research Program (SARP), US National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), Water Research Foundation, Water Environment Federation (WEF), Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF), American Water Works Association (AWWA), the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA) and EPA's Climate Ready Water Utility Initiative. (Register

Capital Region Climate Readiness Collaborative - Quarterly Meeting
Tuesday, June 9, 9:00am-12:00pm
City of Sacramento - New City Hall - Conference Room 1119
915 I Street, Sacramento, CA 95814

The Capital Region Climate Readiness Collaborative is pleased to invite you to its upcoming Quarterly Meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, June 9th between 9:00am - 12:00pm.

 

This meeting will focus on and explore how we can enhance our economic resiliency in the capital region and include an update on Valley Vision's Business Resiliency Initiative. It will also feature a special presentation from The Nature Conservancy about Climate Action though Landscape Conservation as well as other presentations, updates, and discussions relevant to sustaining and enhancing our region's resiliency efforts. 

 

Registration for this event closes on Friday, June 5th. (Register)

Webinar Series: Building Social Resilience in Climate 

Wednesdays May 27-June 24, noon-1:10pm PDT

This webinar series will provide tools and resources to integrate social vulnerability into climate adaptation and help participants make connections between urban vulnerable communities and rural landscape changes. Water scarcity, water pollution, and flooding are all upstream climate impacts that will disproportionately affect those least able to adapt in downstream urban areas. In this opening webinar, join panelists from the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program and the Gullah/Geechee Nation in exploring the importance of understanding social vulnerability and resilience. The subsequent four sessions will dive deeper into some of the key practice areas for social vulnerability: community engagement, indicators for social vulnerability, conducting social vulnerability assessments, and strategic communications. (Register)

VERGE 2015

October 26-29, Fairmont Hotel, San Jose, CA

VERGE focuses on the technologies and systems that accelerate sustainability solutions across sectors in a climate-constrained world. It focuses on transformative but practical, scalable, solutions-oriented exchanges through six program tracks: distributed energy systems, next-gen buildings, resilient cities, food and water systems, sustainable mobility, and smarter supply chains. Participants come from a broad range of sectors and job functions, including buildings and facilities, fleets, IT, energy, sustainability, strategy, policymakers and the public sector. Save 10% on registration with our discount code V15LGC here: http://grn.bz/v15lgc
About the Capital Region Climate Readiness Collaborative

The Capital Region Climate Readiness Collaborative is a membership based collaborative network designed to promote greater climate change resilience planning coordination in the six-county Sacramento Region. The purpose of this collaborative network is to create a forum where leaders from government, academia, environmental and community groups, the business community, and labor can come together to exchange information, identify vulnerabilities and data gaps, leverage resources, and advance comprehensive solutions in an effort to create stronger, sustainable, and economically viable communities in the Sacramento Region.  If you are interested in learning more about the Climate Readiness Collaborative, joining the Collaborative, or being added to the list serve, visit: www.climatereadiness.info/