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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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!

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)

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

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)

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)

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) 

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)

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)

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/