November 2023

2023 CIRCA Summit: A Climate Resilience

Roadmap for Connecticut 

December 1, 9:15 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Join the Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation for a one day conference at UConn School of Law in Hartford on Dec. 1, 2023 to learn about the Resilient Connecticut program, updates on projects including the Environmental Justice Mapping Tool and the Resilience Roadmap policy recommendations for Connecticut. The conference will feature panel discussions with state and nationally known experts in climate resilience focusing on topics including the interdisciplinary nature of climate challenges, need for economic and workforce development, and focus on equity in advancing climate solutions. Register and check back regularly for the conference agenda and speaker information HERE.

CIRCA Renewable Energy Discussion and Q&A

November 9, 3:30 - 4:30 p.m.

CIRCA and UConn Law are hosting a discussion and Q&A with Sammy Roth, the LA Times climate columnist and editor of Boiling Point:  Boiling Point

Connecticut often adopts California policy with respect to renewable energy mandates and policies. The discussion will center on the challenges facing California and the west in its renewable energy transition followed by a Q&A.

Google Meet joining info:

Video call link: https://meet.google.com/tmb-jwhy-xos

Or dial: ‪(US) +1 402-410-2204 PIN: ‪158 809 911#

More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/tmb-jwhy-xos?pin=2806117297466

CIRCA Climate Resilience Zoning Library

CIRCA is launching a new tool, a Climate Resilient Zoning Library.  As climate change threatens people and the environment, municipalities can implement strategic land use planning and zoning regulations to improve local climate adaptation and resilience. The factsheets in the library will cover explanations of policies and how they apply to climate resilience with examples of towns where they have been adopted. More factsheets will be added throughout the coming weeks. Click Here for more information.

Grants

Rockfall Foundation Invites Applications for Environmental Grants

November 9, 2023

The Rockfall Foundation in Middletown, Connecticut, invites applications for its 2024 Annual Environmental Grant Program. Grants will be awarded to support projects that support the environment in the Lower Connecticut River Valley through preservation, conservation, restoration, or education and increase public knowledge of and respect for its natural resources. Projects that demonstrate new and imaginative ways to achieve this are encouraged. Organizations or projects must be based in one of the focus towns of Chester, Clinton, Cromwell, Deep River, Durham, East Haddam, East Hampton, Essex, Haddam, Killingworth, Lyme, Middlefield, Middletown, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, Portland, or Westbrook. Grants typically range from $1,000 to $5,000 but may be requested for up to $15,000. The available pool for all grant awards in 2024 is $30,000. Eligible applicants include organizations certified as 501(c)(3) nonprofits, towns, religious institutions, and schools. To comply with this requirement, prospective applicants may partner with a 501(c)(3) or a municipality as co-applicants.

Transformational Habitat Restoration and

Coastal Resilience Grants

Proposal Deadline: November 17, 2023

$240 million in funding is available for habitat restoration and coastal resilience through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act. Projects selected through this funding opportunity will have a transformative impact for coastal communities and tribes across the country. They will help sustain our nation’s fisheries, make significant strides in the recovery of threatened and endangered species, and help protect coastal communities and ecosystems from the impacts of climate change. They will support efforts such as reconnecting rivers to their historic floodplains, out planting corals to rebuild reefs, building living shorelines that protect coasts from erosion and sea level rise, and more.

Applicant Webinars

A pre-recorded applicant webinar is available for download in the “For Applicants” section below.

Restore America’s Estuaries Announces RFA for the Long Island Sound Community Impact Fund

Letter of Intent Due: December 1, 2023

Full Proposal Due: March 15, 2024

The Long Island Sound Community Impact Fund (LISCIF) is a partnership between Restore America’s Estuaries, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Long Island Sound Study (LISS). Funding for LISCIF is provided by EPA through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and will help meet the goals of the Justice40 initiative which calls for 40% of certain Federal investments to flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution. The purpose of LISCIF is to build capacity for organizations located in communities affected by disproportionate environmental and human health risks. Additionally, the Fund seeks to provide technical assistance for organizations in historically underserved areas and support proposals which ultimately improve access to the Long Island Sound, while reducing overall environmental health risks. Eligible projects and activities will be community driven and address challenges/risks faced by communities experiencing environmental justice issues.   Prospective applicants should read the RFA in totality before applying.

NOAA’s Climate Ready Workforce for Coastal and Great Lakes States, Tribes, and Territories Initiative

Letters of Intent Deadline: November 30, 2023

Full Proposals Deadline: February 13, 2024.

Sea Grant and the NOAA Climate Program Office, with support from the NOAA Office for Coastal Management, seek to establish programs aimed at at placing people across the country into good jobs that advance climate resilience and assisting employers in developing a 21st century workforce that is climate literate, informed by climate resilience, and skilled at addressing consequent challenges. NOAA will assist communities in coastal and Great Lakes states, territories and tribes so they may form partnerships that train workers and place them into jobs that enhance climate resilience. NOAA envisions making between 10-20 awards under this competition, at amounts ranging from $500,000-$10 million each. NOAA expects projects to range in duration from 24 months to 48 months, beginning no earlier than August 1, 2024. This opportunity is open to state, tribal, territorial and local governments, institutions of higher education, and non-profit organizations in coastal states or territories. Resources from NOAA’s Climate Program Office, Office for Coastal Management, and National Sea Grant Office and its partners will be available to provide technical assistance to applicants and recipients to support these innovative efforts. 

NEW: Seagrant 2023 Long Island Sound Resilience Planning and Updated Grant Writing Support Opportunities

A new LIS Resilience Planning Support Program in addition to a second round of the Long Island Sound Resilience Grant Writing Assistance Program are now available for municipalities and community organizations. These separate programs ( Track 1 and Track 2) are intended to assist with the development of sustainability and resilience focused projects that will impact a community or communities within or partially within the Long Island Sound coastal boundary.

Track 1: Long Island Sound Resilience Planning Support Program

Expression of Interest Deadline: December 15, 2023

Through the Track One Program, NYSG and CTSG will provide assistance to New York and Connecticut communities to help identify and develop sustainability and resilience focused projects. This program aims to help communities assess local climate risks, conceptualize project ideas, and conduct preliminary planning efforts/steps in order to be well positioned to access funding to design and implement successful sustainability and resilience focused projects. At the conclusion of the Track One Program, it is anticipated that awardees will be ready to seek funding for resilience-focused projects and can choose to utilize the Track Two Program. Receiving support through Track One is not a pre-qualification to receive support through Track Two. Click HERE for more information.

Track 2: Long Island Sound Resilience Grant Writing Assistance Program

Through the Track Two Program, NYSG and CTSG will provide grant preparation and writing capacity to New York and Connecticut communities that are pursuing funding for sustainability and resilience focused projects. This program aims to help communities develop successful sustainability and resilience focused project grant proposals and for municipalities and community organizations to develop capacity for navigating the funding landscape. Receiving support through Track One is not a pre-qualification to receive support through Track Two. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis until all the available funding has been allocated. Click HERE for more information.

Events

Mobilizing Power: Community Building for Environmental Justice

Mobilizing Power: Community Building for Environmental Justice is a gathering for promoting knowledge exchange and building power for collective action on environmental justice. It will be on November 11th from 9:30 a.m. – 4:00p.m. with a reception from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. Hosted by The Bailey College of the Environment at Wesleyan University, Wesleyan Sustainability Office, Save the Sound, Sunrise Wesleyan, Wesleyan Environmental Solidarity Network (ESN), Sustainable CT, The Rockfall Foundation, and CT DEEP.

NESSBE 2023: Northeast Summit for a Sustainable Built Environment

Frontline communities are now experiencing the greatest effects of Climate Change. These communities face both an increased energy cost burden and an associated increased health burden due to environmental pollution and housing conditions. The intention of this summit is to explore the means and solutions for meeting this challenge in the built environment, lifting up our most vulnerable communities, while improving the quality of life for all CT residents.

NESSBE organizers are the Connecticut Green Building Council (CTGBC) and the Connecticut Living Future Community.

2023: Connecticut Conference of Municipalities

Each fall, more than 1,000 attendees, including local government leaders from across the state and companies providing the best in products and services to towns and cities, gather together for two days of informative workshops, interactive discussions, and networking opportunities.

Climate and Transportation Summit

Ebb and Flow: Water and Migration

June 10th, 2023

The fight to save the planet begins with the drive to safeguard our towns. Watch how to do that in this discussion with climate change experts Bruni Pizarro and CIRCA's Executive Director James O’Donnell. Moderated by John Dankosky, this panel breaks down big concepts like climate justice and migration patterns into the effects on sea levels and storm water across Connecticut’s cities and towns.

South Norwalk Needs to Elevate Streets for

Flood Preparedness, Experts Say

The Hour - October 4, 2023

Experts made their case for why three city streets should be raised by 3 feet as they led residents and city officials on a walk of some of the areas in South Norwalk that experience the worst flooding during storms. Over the past year, the Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation and consultant AECOM have studied South Norwalk’s flooding patterns and sea-level rise to determine how to combat future flooding events and create a flood resilient corridor. 

Connecticut Has a Problem with Water.

Is the State Under-Preparing for Storm Runoff?

CT Mirror - October 9, 2023

Raise your hand if you’ve heard this before: Connecticut has some really old infrastructure. And that includes drainage systems.They are plagued with narrow pipes, small culverts, shallow and small waterway passages under bridges, and overburdened river outlets into Long Island Sound. Often they can no longer accommodate what climate change has created — large volumes and rates of water from intense storms that are occurring more frequently and water incursions from sea level rise, often at the same time.

How Ready Is Your Town? UConn Researchers Help Coastal Towns Prepare for the Next Storm in a Changing Climate

UConn Today - October 23, 2023

Hurricane Sandy brought devastation to the East Coast on October 29, 2012. With the destabilizing effects of the climate crisis, coupled with sea level rise, these record-breaking disasters are quickly becoming normal occurrences. Communities need to build resilience quickly, and UConn researchers are working on a metric to help coastal areas prioritize which measures to focus on. Co-author and Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Wei Zhang says Sandy actually brought him to UConn. Following the storm, there was an effort to recruit researchers to focus on resilience and engineering for natural hazards, and with a background in bridge and offshore platform engineering, Zhang, who now leads the Damage Modeling and Disaster Mitigation Lab and is affiliated with theConnecticut Institute for Resilience & Climate Adaptation (CIRCA), came to UConn not realizing that storms as strong as Sandy were a risk for the Northeast.

World Breaches Key 1.5C Warming Mark for Record

Number of Days

BBC - October 7, 2023

The world is breaching a key warming threshold at a rate that has scientists concerned, a BBC analysis has found.On about a third of days in 2023, the average global temperature was at least 1.5C higher than pre-industrial levels. Staying below that marker long-term is widely considered crucial to avoid the most damaging impacts of climate change. But 2023 is "on track" to be the hottest year on record, and 2024 could be hotter.

Global Shift to Clean Energy Means Fossil Fuel Demand

Will Peak Soon, IEA Says

NPR - October 24, 2023

Demand for climate-warming fuels like coal, oil and natural gas will likely peak before 2030, evidence of the accelerating global shift to energy that doesn't emit greenhouse gasses, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA)'s World Energy Outlook. "The transition to clean energy is happening worldwide and it's unstoppable. It's not a question of 'if', it's just a matter of 'how soon' – and the sooner the better for all of us," said Fatih Birol, IEA executive director, in a statement. The agency represents countries that make up more than 80% of global energy consumption.

New York Throws Support Behind Offshore Wind with

Three Project Awards

Reuters - October 24, 2023

New York officials said the state has awarded conditional contracts to three offshore wind projects as part of a massive renewable energy procurement that will provide 12% of the state's power needs in 2030. The announcement, which the state billed as the nation's largest ever investment in offshore wind, comes less than two weeks after New York regulators rejected requests by three offshore wind developers to renegotiate their contracts because of soaring costs. In response, Governor Kathy Hochul pledged to support renewable energy projects to meet the state's climate change goals.