Even without rigorous federal policy, cities and communities are taking meaningful steps to protect the climate. Cities will continue to set transportation, building, and power standards that substantially lower emissions. Kate Meis, Executive Director of the Local Government Commission, discussed the importance of local leadership and activism. "You can work with communities at the local level to develop solutions and innovations in a way that you can't at the federal level." She described a number of activities going on throughout California cities, including one of particular pride, CivicSpark, an initiative of the state and the AmeriCorps program. Each year the program's 68 Fellows contribute more than 65,000 hours at the local level to help California communities respond to climate change and water issues. "This program is training future environmental stewards, which is where we need to go," Meis said. "Instead of dwelling on what happened in the election, we need to focus on what we are doing now... and moving forward." ( Nexus Media)

The ripples from a new American president are far-reaching, but never before has the arrival of a White House administration placed the livability of Earth at stake. Donald Trump's climate denialism could prove to be a lasting imprint of his presidency. Trump wants the US to exit the Paris deal, potentially setting off a cataclysmic domino effect where other countries also drop out or ease off efforts to decarbonize. The 2C limit, which was already a stern challenge, now appears perilous. Bitterly contested fossil fuel projects such as the Keystone and the Dakota Access pipeline, would likely be waved through, with Trump promising to "lift the Obama-Clinton roadblocks to allow these vital energy infrastructure projects to go ahead". ( Guardian)

Donald Trump has made it clear that one of his top priorities is to dismantle the climate change regulations that President Obama has put in place over the past eight years. But the details of how he tries to do this matter enormously, and anyone interested in climate policy should pay close attention to the nuances here. ( Vox)

Social infrastructure is critical to explaining why communities of identical socio-economic characteristics had vastly different mortality and recovery rates during heat waves and natural disasters like Hurricane Sandy. Places with active commercial corridors, a variety of public spaces, local institutions, sidewalks, and community organizations fared well in disasters, while more socially barren places did not. Just as the temperature of a heat wave or the thickness of a levee, it's the strength of a neighborhood that determines who lives and who dies in a disaster. Building against climate change can either support vibrant neighborhood conditions or undermine them via hard infrastructure that erodes neighborhood connectivity. ( Wired)

Photo: Scott Stephens

An unprecedented 40-year experiment in a 40,000-acre valley of Yosemite National Park strongly supports the strategy of managing wildfires with minimal suppression and almost no preemptive, prescribed burns. This strategy has helped the Illilouette Creek basin become more resistant to catastrophic fire, with more diverse vegetation and forest structure, and increased stream flow, soil moisture, and water storage. Even in drought years, the basin retained more water than similar areas, resulting in more stream flow in the Upper Merced River, when other rivers showed the same or decreased flow. If the results are confirmed by other studies, they could alter forest management. ( YubaNet)

The drought is not over: Even if we have a wet winter, groundwater depletion will remain an issue for years, as will ecosystem recovery. UC Davis professor Jay Lund, and former presenter at a CRC Quarterly Meeting, shares several lessons that we should learn from the drought, including a prime need for common state water accounting and analysis across agencies. He also notes that forests are probably the environmental areas most affected by the drought, with millions of tree deaths that will change forests in the decades to come, while economic damages for agriculture were limited due to the availability of groundwater, water trading, cooperation among local agencies and good global prices for California's agricultural products. ( SacBee)

Global increases in temperature have already impacted every aspect of life on Earth from genes to entire ecosystems, with increasingly worrying consequences for humans. A staggering 80 percent of ecological processes that form the foundation for healthy marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems already show signs of distress and response to climate change, such as alterations in the genetic diversity of animal populations, skewed predator-prey relationships, shifts in sex ratio of fish and reptile species. Impacts to humans include increased pests and disease outbreaks, reduced productivity in fisheries, and decreasing agriculture yields. These changes may also compromise the capacity of ecosystems to mitigate and adapt to climate change, such as by regulating local climate and reducing risks from hazards such as floods and sea-level rise. Too many changes can scale up into ecological regime shifts, where one ecosystem state shifts to an alternative state, such as from tundra to boreal. ( Link)

Photo: Diane Cook and Len Jenshel, National Geographic

San Francisco will require that most new buildings incorporate solar, green roofs, or both on 15 to 30 percent of roof space. The ordinance builds on an April bill requiring new residential and commercial buildings 10 stories or shorter to install solar panels or a solar heating system. Green roofs reduce stormwater runoff, improve air quality, reduce building energy costs, and help to mitigate the urban heat island effect. Combining solar and green roofs can be mutually beneficial, as solar panels can shade vegetation, reducing the need for watering, while green roofs can lower temperatures, improving solar efficiency. Around the world, France mandates at least partial coverage of green roof or solar on all new construction. In 2009, Toronto mandated green roofs on industrial and residential buildings. Germany's green roof industry has been legislated and supported by the government since the 1970s. ( National Geographic)

Charleston is one of a growing number of coastal cities in red states adapting for climate change - one that other low-elevation cities should be watching. In December 2015, Charleston adopted the "Sea Level Rise Strategy," its first comprehensive plan for climate adaptation. Recommendations include improving stormwater drainage systems, enacting special building standards for flood hazards, steering public facilities and infrastructure outside of hazard areas, acquiring wetlands and other open space, and writing ordinances to limit new development in flood-prone areas - a controversial proposition in pro-growth Charleston. ( Next City)

It cost Los Angeles $57 million to replace 4,500 miles of sodium-vapor streetlights with LEDs, but the new technology saves the city $9 million a year in electricity costs. It also frees up electric capacity to install as many as 100 new electric vehicle charging stations, 30 of which will be in place by the end of 2016. The project falls under LA's Sustainable City pLAn, which sets an overall goal of 1,000 charging stations by 2017. ( Wired)  

This report from ICLEI and the Statewide Energy Efficiency Collaborative (SEEC) presents a comprehensive picture of local government climate leadership in California, including measurable local emissions trends, targets, planning efforts, and energy and climate actions. The report also presents in-depth profiles of local and regional agencies pursuing goals like public health and economic development through climate action. The findings confirm that local governments are making a significant contribution to the State's climate goals. ( Link)

The White House launched new climate resilience programs, including the Resilience Dialogues, an online consultation service that will connect cities with climate science experts to provide customized technical assistance for risk assessment and resilience planning. In addition, the White House also released a report highlighting opportunities for federal agencies and stakeholders to address climate resilience, focused on advancing and applying science-based information and tools, integrating climate resilience into federal agency mission and operations, and supporting community efforts. The report identifies the need to increase climate-resilient design and construction, which a coalition of 97 academic institutions and associations has pledged to support by teaching students resilient design principles. ( Report)

If you did not have enough time to write a full session proposal, you can submit an abstract for an Oral Presentation or Poster Presentation to be presented to your colleagues at the National Adaptation Forum. You can also submit an online decision making tool for our Tools Cafe at this time. Deadline December 16, 2016. ( Link)

USDA is seeking proposals for cutting-edge projects for the competitive Conservation Innovation Grants program. Projects will spark the development and adoption of innovative conservation technologies and approaches in areas like conservation finance, data analytics, and precision conservation to benefit producers on private agricultural and forest lands. For example, The Climate Trust launched a Working Lands Carbon Fund to serve as a revolving source of financing for conservation projects that reduce GHG emissions and sequester carbon on working lands.  Deadline Jan. 9, 2017. ( Grants.gov, USDA) 

EPA's Environmental Justice Small Grants program provides financial assistance to community-based organizations and local and tribal governments working on projects to address environmental and public health concerns. Grants will support activities designed to empower and educate affected communities and to identify ways to address environmental and public health concerns at the local level. Approximately 40 one-year projects will be awarded at up to $30,000 each. Deadline: January 31, 2017. ( EPA)

This program seeks to develop nation-wide community stewardship and restoration of coastal, wetland, and riparian ecosystems across the country, preserving them for future generations and enhancing habitat for local wildlife. Projects seek to address water quality issues in priority watersheds, pollution from stormwater run-off, and degraded shorelines caused by development. Funding priorities include on-the-ground wetland, riparian, and in-stream restoration, measurable ecological, educational, and community benefits, and the engagement of a diverse group of community partners. Deadline: January 31, 2017. ( NFWF)

Participants will learn about CAL FIRE's Urban and Community Forestry California Climate Investments grant offerings for 2016/2017. Types of eligible projects, eligible applicants, the application process, project rating criteria, and grant administration will be discussed. ( Register)

Latino communities are disproportionately impacted by climate change - which is why Latino support and action are crucial to ensuring we get the climate solutions we need. At the National Latino Climate Leadership Forum on June 17, Latino leaders from across the country discussed ways to build engagement and craft effective messaging that resonates with Latino audiences. Combining those learnings with demographic research, ecoAmerica is releasing a communications guide, Let's Talk Climate: Messages to Motivate U.S. Latinos, offering key words, phrases, and narratives for successfully engaging Latinos on climate. View the National Latino Climate Leadership Forum Recommendations Report or attend the webinar for a detailed overview of the guide and to receive early access. ( Register)

The CRC is a program of the Local Government Commission.