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November 2019
The Resilience Roundup highlights announcements, events, and funding opportunities along with links to the previous month's local, state, and national resilience news. 
Learn more about CIRCA at circa.uconn.edu
and the Resilient Connecticut Project at resilientconnecticut.uconn.edu
Resilient Connecticut Updates
November 12, 2019 - Resilient Connecticut Climate Adaptation Summit
9:00am - 4:00pm
Fairfield University, Barone Campus Center, Oak Room

Please join CIRCA for the first annual Resilient Connecticut Summit. Commissioner Katie Dykes from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection will provide a welcome and Shaun O’Rourke, Rhode Island Chief Resiliency Officer will give a keynote address. Participants will hear about the structure and progress for the Resilient Connecticut project and provide feedback on key planning and technical elements. Breakout sessions will focus on “Developing Capacity and Building Resilience Tools for Connecticut."
Announcements
Legislative Connecticut Coastal Caucus Meets About Resilience Planning

CIRCA gave a presentation in Hartford to the Legislative Connecticut Coastal Caucus on Monday, October 28th. The Caucus facilitates collaboration between the Executive and Legislative branches, as well as between legislators most impacted by issues along Connecticut's coastline. A video of this presentation is linked below and a recent news article about the event can be read here .
Governor's Council on Climate Change: Notice of Request for Public Input
On September 3, 2019, Governor Ned Lamont signed Executive Order No. 3 (E.O.3), strengthening Connecticut’s commitment to transition to a decarbonized economy and enhance the state’s resiliency to the impacts of climate change. E.O.3 reestablishes and expands the work of the  Governor’s Council on Climate Change  (GC3) to include adaptation and resiliency. The Council recently released a Notice of Request for Public Input on E.O.3. Comments should be submitted to:  DEEP.ClimateChange@ct.gov .  
Please submit comments by November 8, 2019 at 5:00 PM EST.
Product Available - Developing Location-Based Communication and Public Engagement Strategies to Build Resilient Coastal Communities
T his CIRCA funded research grant project invited residents from Fairfield and Bridgeport to share their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors needed to build a resilient coastal community. Surveys and focus groups helped to assess communication and engagement strategies from two ongoing resilience projects in these different Connecticut coastal municipalities. Results help advance knowledge about human factors that promote individual and collective actions for building community resilience against the threat of flooding, erosion, and sea-level rise.  
Product Available - Municipal Assistance for FEMA's Community Rating System
 
In response to the rising interest in the National Flood Insurance Program’s Community Rating System (CRS), CIRCA and CT DEEP partnered to support communities with CRS entry and class advancement.  Th e towns of Guilford, Newtown and Stratford received assistance from Milone & MacBroom with open space mapping, outreach activities, or preparation of documentation for CRS entry. A link to the report describing activities can be found below.
Product Available - Fenwick Hepburn Dune and Marsh Preservation Project
 
The Hepburn Dune and Marsh Preservation Project implemented living shoreline strategies at a site on the coast of Long Island Sound, located just east of the Katherine Hepburn Estate in the Old Saybrook Borough of Fenwick. A conceptual design for shoreline stabilization uses beach nourishment, rock sills, placement of sand fill, and marsh plantings. This project builds on the results of the Old Saybrook Coastal Resilience Study, performed by GZA for the Town of Old Saybrook under a Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery Fund.
Product Available - Resilient Coastal Communities Under Wind & Flood Hazards
Many single family residential building designs prioritize the reduction of flood hazard exposure (via elevation), however a trade-off occurs when this design is simultaneously increasing the buildings' exposure to wind-related hazards. This project, funded by grants from CT Sea Grant and NOAA, seeked to improve the resiliency of coastal communities by better understanding this relationship.
Product Available - NHCOG: A Vision and Toolkit for Adaptation in the Northwest Hills
As a region of 21-towns, the Northwest Hills will experience a variety of impacts from climate change including changes to precipitation rates, shifts in seasons, increased high heat and high-ozone days, and extreme weather events. To address these concerns, the Northwest Hills Council of Governments (NHCOG) used CIRCA’s grant support to draft a report and create a web-hosted Rural Vision & Toolkit website.
Village Creek Norwalk GIS Based Storymap
 
Engineering firm Fuss & O'Neill recently released a GIS storymap focused on Norwalk's Village Creek and its surrounding wetlands. For years, this area has experienced dredging events, dock renovations, and more that have impacted the wetlands. In 2015 it was proposed to look into thin-layer deposition to help restore the marsh. This restoration study keeps in mind factors of sea level rise, vegetation growth, and more to keep Village Creek a thriving ecosystem in the era of climate change.
Events
November 6, 2019 - Climate Change: What to Expect in Greenwich
7:00pm
Greenwich Audubon (613 Riversville Road, Greenwich, CT)

Alexander Felson, CIRCA's Director of Resilience Design will walk the audience through a new resiliency study in Greenwich and provide information to get participants prepared for the effects of climate change. This talk is part of the Conservation Lecture Series in Greenwich.
November 4th-8th, 2019 - Gulf of Maine 2050 International Symposium

The Westin Harborview (157 High Street, Portland, ME)

Join leaders from across New England and the Maritime Provinces from November 4th-8th for this event that brings together environmental, economic, social and institutional perspectives on climate resilience in the Gulf of Maine. Participants will learn about how the Gulf of Maine is expected to change in the next 30 years, build a shared vision for regional resilience, and activate new collaborations for action. Registration closes on October 5th.
November 22, 2019 - Building Climate Resilience Into Infrastructure

7:15am - 11:45am
UMass Club (1 Beacon Street, Boston, MA)

The undeniable reality of climate change has forced planners of infrastructure projects to design for increased temperatures, wind and water in the near future and farther on. This forum presents speakers grappling with how to incorporate climate resilience into planning, financing and maintaining infrastructure systems.
November 22, 2019 - Connecticut Forum on the Climate Crisis

7:30pm
The Bushnell Performing Arts Center (166 Capitol Ave, Hartford, CT)

This Showcase sponsored by the Smart Seed Fund will focus on components of the climate crisis, and how Connecticut will be impacted. The panel of speakers will discuss public policy initiatives, technology innovations, conservation strategies, and more. This showcase will take a focus on the most promising innovations and strategies to combat climate change.
January 24, 2020 - The 2nd Annual Clinical Climate Change Conference
New York Academy of Medicine (125 5th Avenue, New York, NY) 

With the last year being the fourth warmest on record, it is critical that health care providers are prepared now to address the health effects of increased temperatures and extreme weather events. This conference is aimed at a broad audience of allied health professionals seeking to improve understanding, performance and patient outcomes.
Local & State News Clips
October 8, 2019 - State Makes $8M Available for Climate Change Grants ,
 Cape Cod Broadcasting Media

The Baker-Polito Administration will make $8 million available through the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program. The program provides communities with funding and technical support to identify hazards, develop strategies to improve resilience and implement priority actions to adapt to climate change.
October 14, 2019 - Stonington Attains Highest FEMA Award for Floodplain Management , The Westerly Sun

The Town of Stonington was awarded FEMA’s Class 7 Award through its Floodplain Management and Insurance Branch on September 30th. It is the top award given to communities participating in the National Flood Insurance Program; Stamford and New Haven are the only other municipalities to receive the award in Connecticut.
October 18, 2019 - Communities of Color are Rallying to Fight Climate Change , Hartford Courant

Climate change is already having disproportionate impacts on communities of color. Many communities across the country have already been displaced by flooding, sea level rise and drought, and many more will suffer if we do not take fast action to protect the planet and ourselves. An important component of this is to plan for vulnerable communities like the work CIRCA is doing to increase resilience and sustainability for towns and cities on our coasts and inland waterways.
October 21, 2019 - Significant Interest in Climate Crisis Adaptation Bond Money , Eco Rhode Island News

The State of Rhode Island is currently experiencing ocean surface temperatures that are heating up faster than any other in the contiguous United States, as well as rainfall, flooding, and erosion becoming more frequent and intense. To address the worsening conditions, voters approved $10 million to address the climate crisis through the 2018 Green Economy and Clean Water Bond. The money will be divided equally among new two funds: one to protect wastewater treatment facilities and another for preserving coastal and riverine areas.
National News Clips
October 9, 2019 - Sweeping Study Raises Questions About Who Benefits From Buyouts Of Flood-Prone Homes , NPR

A broad analysis of federal records finds that homeowners can pursue a buyout to relocate from a flood zone only if their local government has set up the program through FEMA. This study found that not all flood-prone communities are able to do so .
October 11, 2019 - State Commits $6 Million for Levees in South Lafourche, Houma Today

The state of Lousiana has set aside $6 million for the South Lafourche Levee District to improve the Larose to Golden Meadow levee system and close the remaining gaps. The levee system creates a 48-mile ring around the areas surrounding Bayou Lafourche, including Larose, Galliano, Cut off and just south of Golden Meadow.
October 16, 2019 - Climate Change Is Going to Transform Where and How We Build , Harvard Business Review

As fires, floods, and droughts increasingly threaten homes, businesses, and other institutions, climate risk has become financial risk. A recent paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research implies that homeowners and investors have been making location decisions without properly pricing the cost of potential peril. In light of this, there are five choices in order to invest in resilience: reinforce, rebuild, rebound, restrict, and retreat.
October 23, 2019 - Climate Change is Making El Niños More Intense, Study Finds , Yale Environment 360

Climate change is increasing the frequency of extreme El Niño events, leading to intensifying droughts, worsening floods, and shifting hurricane patterns, according to a  new study  published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
October 26, 2019 - House Democrats set to Introduce First-of-its-kind Climate Refugee Bill, Grist

Democrats in the House  of Representatives are set to introduce the first major piece of legislation to establish protections for migrants displaced by  climate change , ramping up a push for a long-overdue framework for how the United States should respond to a crisis already unfolding on its shores.
The Resilience Roundup highlights CIRCA's  presence in the news, provides links to recent local/state/national news articles related to resilience and adaptation, and announces upcoming events and seminars.
 
The Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation's (CIRCA) mission is to increase the resilience and sustainability of vulnerable communities along Connecticut's coast and inland waterways to the growing impacts of climate change and extreme weather on the natural, built, and human environment. The institute is located at the University of Connecticut's Avery Point campus and includes faculty from across the university. CIRCA is a partnership between UConn and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP).