The Resilience Roundup highlights announcements, events, and funding opportunities along with links to the previous month's local, state, and national resilience news.
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Resilient Connecticut Project Updates |
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2020 was a challenging year on many fronts. Like many organizations (and true to our resilience mission), CIRCA adapted to a changing work environment – following are some Institute highlights from the past year:
We look forward to sustaining partnerships while also building new working relationships for a more Resilient Connecticut in 2021.
Wishing you a healthy and bright new year!
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Resilient Connecticut Virtual Workshops
Please save the date and join the Resilient Connecticut team at the first Phase II regional workshops to be held in four Council of Governments (COGs) in New Haven and Fairfield Counties. The workshops will present preliminary Climate Change Vulnerability Index (CCVI) and Zones of Shared Risk (ZSR) findings. The inclusion of regional stakeholder input is an important component of shaping these tools, and ultimately identifying resilience pilot projects throughout the region. The workshop will include two information sessions on the CCVI and ZSR findings, each followed by small group collaboration exercises to discuss, refine, and to better understand these tools for future resilience planning efforts. For more information see the workshop announcement.
Please register for a workshop (depending on your region of interest) using the following links. All participants will receive information beforehand to prepare for these collaborative events.
Naugatuck Valley COG
January 22, 9:30 – 12:00
WestCOG
January 25, 9:30 – 12:00
South Central Regional COG
January 29, 9:30 – 12:00
MetroCOG
February 1, 9:30 - 12:00
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Governor’s Council on Climate Change Meeting
The Governor’s Council on Climate Change (GC3) will meet on January 15, 2021 from 9:00 - 11:00 am. The purpose of this meeting is to present the final GC3 Near-Term Recommendations Phase 1 report, Taking Action on Climate Change and Building a More Resilient Connecticut for All, following the close of the public comment period on the draft report on January 6. January 15 is the date in Executive Order 3 by which the Council was charged with delivering its first report to the Governor. The meeting agenda will include discussion on implementation of the near-term recommendations in 2021 and early 2022 as well as the continuation of the GC3 planning process.
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Univ. of Maryland webinar: Green and Grey Infrastructure
for Coastal Resilience
January 13, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Assessing Coastal Risks and Enhancing Resilience Seminar is a virtual webinar series held by Horn Point Laboratory at the Univ. of Maryland, Center for Environmental Science. Their January webinar focus is on green and grey infrastructure for coastal resilience: what works where?
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Resilient Cities! Webinar: Protecting Our History from Rising Water
January 14, 4:30 - 5:30 pm
Is flood-risk reduction compatible with saving a community's historic built environment? Using visuals from her work in Maryland and New Jersey, Philadelphia-based architect Dominique Hawkins will illustrate best practices for mitigating flood risk for historic properties. Panelist Lauren Schiszik, a historic preservation architect with Baltimore's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation, will describe how she and her colleagues work with the city's sustainability staff to advance two public policies: flood-risk reduction and preserving the legacy of historic neighborhoods, including Fels Point.
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Sierra Club Webinar: Fight Climate Change by Electrifying Your Home
January 14, 7:00 - 8:30 pm
Ongoing dependency on fossil fuels for everyday living is a major contributor to carbon-induced climate change. To supply sustainable energy, experts agree that two transitions must occur simultaneously, both of which are already underway: First, supply the electrical grid using cheaper, cleaner renewable solar and wind energy from distributed sources. Second, switch housing, transportation, and other energy intensive sectors from fossil fuel to clean electricity.
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NROC's Offshore Wind Transmission Webinar Series
January 29, February 5, and February 12, 10:00 am - 11:30 am
The Northeast Regional Ocean Council's (NROC) Ocean Planning Committee and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Ocean Council on the Ocean (MARCO), are hosting a webinar series to increase understanding and promote dialogue about offshore wind transmission planning in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. This series will provide an opportunity to hear from experts in the electricity transmission field about important issues including the cable installation process, the role of offshore wind in meeting state decarbonization goals, the need for transmission planning to meet potential electricity generation from offshore sources, the roles of regional organizations in operating the grid, and regulatory considerations for transmission planning. The webinars will also include panel discussions about potential interactions with habitat, protected species, and fisheries.
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February 2, 9:00 am – 10:30 am
In 2019, Connecticut's GC3 was tasked with addressing mitigation strategies to reduce greenhouse gases and identifying adaptation and resilience measures in the face of climate change impacts. First convening in January 2020, the GC3 and its Working Groups identified recommendations for mitigation and adaptation that will drive climate resilience initiatives in the State of Connecticut. In January 2021, the GC3 will submit an initial list of recommendations for action to Governor Lamont, and these recommendations will inform the basis for actions around climate issues in the State.
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Connecticut Sea Grant College Program Call for Preliminary Proposals
The Connecticut Sea Grant College Program (CTSG) has issued its call for preliminary proposals for the 2022-2024 Omnibus Funding Cycle for the funding period of Feb. 1, 2022 to Jan. 31, 2024. CTSG supports applied research in both natural and social sciences, education and outreach activities to achieve healthy coastal and marine ecosystems and consequent public benefits, focusing on Connecticut, Long Island Sound and its watershed. Applied projects with clear relevance to Connecticut’s marine and coastal resources will be given priority. Any investigator seeking support for this period must submit, as a single file, an electronic copy of their preliminary proposal by e-mail for receipt no later than 4:30 p.m. EST on Friday, Feb. 26, 2021.
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Columbia University is sponsoring a virtual conference on June 29-July 1 titled, 'At What Point Managed Retreat? Resilience, Relocation and Climate Justice'. This conference will address a range of scientific, social, policy and governance issues around the topic of managed retreat. The conference, a major initiative of Columbia University's Earth Institute, will bring together stakeholders from the public, private and nonprofit sectors, together with academics, scientists, and community representatives, to help develop a common understanding of this complex issue, and move the needle toward equitable solutions. A major emphasis will be on issues of environmental justice, in recognition that the people most impacted by decisions around retreat have a key role in these conversations. Sessions and abstracts are due by January 15, 2021.
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Resilient Coastal Communities Report
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UConn Health Affairs Journal
UConn Health Center’s Health Affairs Journal Vol. 39, No. 12 focuses on the topic of climate and health. Several informative articles in this December edition include topics of climate health risk and inequity, using a climate lens for health policy, and the economic benefits of addressing health outcomes of climate change. Also included is an article about funded projects related to climate change and health and book reviews including one on food and climate. Health Affairs is a peer-reviewed journal with published articles available online.
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State and Regional News Clips |
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$2.8 Million in Grants Awarded in New England to Improve the Health of Long Island Sound
EPA - December 7, 2020
Long Island Sound Watershed, New York (December 7, 2020) – Top federal and state environmental officials from New England announced 24 grants totaling $2.8 million to local governments, nongovernmental organizations and community groups to improve Long Island Sound. The grants are matched by $2.3 million from the grantees resulting in $5.1 million in funding for conservation, including climate resilience in the Long Island Sound watershed.
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Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and District of Columbia Commit to Historic Program to Reduce Climate Pollution, Invest in Transportation
Ct.gov - December 21, 2020
(HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Ned Lamont of Connecticut, Governor Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, Governor Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island, and Mayor Muriel Bowser of the District of Columbia today signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) committing to a groundbreaking, multi-jurisdictional program that pursues systematic and substantial reductions in motor vehicle pollution – the largest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions –and re-invests $300 million each year across these jurisdictions in cleaner transit, modern infrastructure, and healthier communities.
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Stonington Project Will Test How Forests Can Adapt to Climate Change
The Day - December 26, 2020
Stonington — Connecticut Sea Grant and the Avalonia Land Conservancy have teamed up on a project that will use the 200-acre Hoffman Evergreen Preserve off Route 201 as a laboratory to see how land managers can help forests adapt to climate change. Trees in some sections of the preserve, which is owned by Avalonia and popular with hikers and bird watchers, had been damaged by storms and infestations of moths and other insects. That led Avalonia to hire Hull Forest Products last year to clear some of the damaged forest, leaving some open areas that will now be the subject of the demonstration project.
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Somerville Times - December 28, 2020
Eleven cities and towns across Greater Boston will soon be putting more than $1 million to work addressing climate change through local projects, thanks to a new round of grant funding. The program, “Accelerating Climate Resiliency,” gave more than $700,000 in the latest round of funding, part of a partnership between The Barr Foundation and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council.
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West Hartford: New Solar Array on Middle School to Save Taxpayers $250,000 While Cutting Carbon Output
Hartford Courant - December 28, 2020
A year after West Hartford installed solar panels on the roof of town hall, it has completed a larger project atop the King Philip Middle School that will produce about four times more power. Verogy, a Hartford-based solar energy company, this month finished installing an array of rooftop panels that will produce roughly enough energy to power the equivalent of 43 typical houses. West Hartford expects to save more than $250,000 on its power bills over the 20-year life of the project. Solar power projects on municipal roofs isn’t a new idea, but it’s been gaining popularity in Connecticut recently.
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Delaware Bay Communities Get New Defenses From Rising Seas
NJ Spotlight News - December 3, 2020
New Jersey’s efforts to defend its coasts from rising seas will take another step forward under a new plan to build breakwaters and restore marshland at the mouth of the Maurice River in Cumberland County. A team led by the American Littoral Society has been awarded $4.8 million in federal funds as part of a $12 million project to build some 6,600 feet of breakwaters and rock barriers that will resist storm surges while helping the shoreline to regenerate naturally after being battered by Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
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A Race Against Time to Rescue a Reef From Climate Change
New York Times - December 5, 2020
When Hurricane Delta hit Puerto Morelos, Mexico, in October, a team known as the Brigade waited anxiously for the sea to quiet. The group, an assortment of tour guides, diving instructors, park rangers, fishermen and researchers, needed to get in the water as soon as possible. The coral reef that protects their town — an undersea forest of living limestone branches that blunted the storm’s destructive power — had taken a beating. Now it was their turn to help the reef, and they didn’t have much time.
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Arkansas’ Plan on Climate Change Health Impacts, New Study
KNWAKFTA News - December 9, 2020
Johns Hopkins School of Public Health researchers looked at all 50 states and the District of Columbia and found many are unprepared for protecting residents when it comes to climate change health impacts. The new report titled, “Climate Change & Health: Assessing State Preparedness,” was released Wednesday, December 9, shows Arkansas as the “most vulnerable and more prepared” group coming in at 41st of 50 states and the District of Columbia. Overall, some states are prepared while other states have just begun. The researchers’ greatest concerns are for states mostly in the Southeast that are more/least prepared.
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Overview: Transforming Land and Sea for a More Sustainable World
Yale 360 - December 17, 2020
As the global population nears 8 billion, the human footprint can be seen in almost every corner of the Earth. Satellite and aerial images have captured much of this destruction, often in startling and unsettling images. But a new collection of striking satellite images show how countries are beginning to respond to the global environmental crisis by restoring ecosystems, expanding renewable energy, and building climate resiliency infrastructure.
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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).
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