Extreme heat is a serious challenge facing California⁠, with many cities set to experience Phoenix-like temperatures in the coming decades⁠. But we have solutions that can be implemented today to cool our communities, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and improve public health and equity. Join the Los Angeles Regional Collaborative for Climate Action & Sustainability (LARC) and the Capital Region Climate Readiness Collaborative (CRCRC) for a conversation focused on social solutions and social infrastructure (including trees!) to support equity and community resilience. This is the second of a two-part series⁠—the first webinar (resources from which can be found here) took place on April 18th, 2022, and focused on extreme heat interventions, implementation strategies, and funding. View the agenda for this event here.

Note: This event is open to the public! You do not need to be a member of LARC or CRCRC to attend and participate.

Due to multiple requests to extend this deadline, and to ensure that all of those who are interested in submitting a proposal are able to do so, CCEC extended the deadline to submit a proposal by one week. If you are interested in helping to shape the 13th Annual CCEC Forum, please submit your proposal by the today, May 4th!

The theme for the 13th Annual CCEC Forum is Accelerating Climate Action & Advancing Justice. CCEC is accepting submissions for breakout sessions, implementation workshops, posters, and mobile workshops (tours)! Find more information on proposal guidance here. Information on the forum program is available here.

The Cost-Effectiveness Explorer is an online, no-cost tool from the Statewide Codes and Standards Program. The Explorer helps local jurisdictions evaluate cost-effectiveness results, create policies, and forecast impacts. If your jurisdiction is interested in how they can utilize the Explorer to explore reach code options, please sign up for an introductory 15-minute video call here. We currently support policy creation for existing residential buildings, both through prescriptive and flexible paths, and will be expanding to offer policies for new residential and nonresidential buildings soon.

If you have any questions, please contact Jasmine Krause at jasmine@policystudio.co.

If you or anyone at your organization has updates you would like to have promoted through this newsletter, utilize this form to submit them to be included in this newsletter! This can include any updates, upcoming projects, or opportunities for collaboration that you would like to share with the broader CRCRC network!

The "Central Coast Carbon Sequestration & Offset Webinar Series" is a collaborative effort that invites numerous partners to learn more about carbon sequestration and offsets. The series will include 5 sessions aimed at introducing potential stakeholders to carbon sequestration and offset market principles, explaining regulatory market drivers, dynamics, barriers and opportunities, and facilitating dialogue on sequestration and offset supply and demand, foster connections and projects, and addressing barriers. Local agencies across SLO, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties are actively seeking ways to learn more about carbon sequestration and offsets and opportunities to support local projects.

Join the California Coastal Resilience Network as they host the California State Coastal Conservancy for a special workshop to set the stage for their work over the next 5 years. The Coastal Conservancy is interested in hearing your thoughts on priorities related to equitable coastal access, restoration and protection, and climate resilience.

This workshop will inform the Coastal Conservancy’s Strategic Plan update for 2023-2027 as well as priorities for project funding. The Conservancy is anticipating significant funding over the next 5-10 years and your ideas can help shape how these funds will be invested. For more information on the update, please visit scc.ca.gov/plan.

Are you interested in developing new land use projects and plans that are low-carbon, climate resilient, and supportive of public health and equity? Join the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District (SMAQMD) for a training session on the latest iteration of the California Emissions Estimator Model (CalEEMod)! CalEEMod models the environmental impacts of new land use developments by quantifying their emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants. The newest version brings a web-based platform, expanded features and capabilities, improved usability, and new modules on climate adaptation and health and equity. These updates enable CalEEMod to deliver enhanced analysis of GHG and criteria pollutant emissions and support local governments to better address climate change, public health, and equity.

The late-season burst of snow and moisture that blanketed Northern California in April helped make a small dent in drought conditions, experts said, but the majority of the state is still far below where it needs to be as it heads toward the hot, dry months of summer. Several storms arrived weeks after the final snow survey of the season on April 1, in which state officials reported that statewide snowpack had dwindled to just 38% of average for the date after a bone-dry start to the year. Read this full article here.

The Metropolitan Water District recently imposed a series of first-ever restrictions. Some suppliers in Los Angeles, Ventura and San Bernardino counties will limit watering of lawns to once a week to ease the burden on the drought-stricken state aqueduct. Read this full article here.

What began as a promising winter fizzled out in early 2022, leading to the driest January and February recorded across California and Nevada since record keeping began. Closer to home, Tahoe City, which has weather records dating back to 1910, set a record for the driest January through March. On March 31, 2022, the National Weather Service (NWS) drought monitor noted that 40 percent of California and 36 percent of Nevada is suffering from extreme drought, with severe drought conditions evident in the Lake Tahoe Basin. The NWS is predicting drier than normal conditions are likely this spring and warmer than normal conditions are highly likely this summer. Read this full article here.

Little snow remains in California, officials say - another sign the state could face a dry and dangerous summer. The California Department of Water Resources announced Friday that the amount of statewide snowpack had fallen to just 38 percent of the average for that date. Read this full article here.

The drought-monitoring period, which began on the morning of April 12 and ended early April 19, featured a powerful spring storm delivering significant, late-season snow from the Cascades and Sierra Nevada to the northern Plains. Farther south, drought conditions worsened across portions of the central and southern Plains and the Southwest, amid windy, dry conditions. Read this full article here.

Cal/OSHA reminds employers to protect outdoor workers from heat illness and exposure to harmful wildfire smoke, and is hosting a webinar and training sessions to help employers plan for and prevent these hazards. “When it comes to preventing heat illness and exposure to harmful wildfire smoke, employers with outdoor workers should not wait to review their procedures and they should ensure their training is effective as soon as possible,” said Cal/OSHA Chief Jeff Killip. Read this full article here.

Fires are burning more frequently and at a greater intensity than ever before in the American River Parkway area, according to a new report from an environmental group. A report from April 2022 by the Sacramento Sierra Club says that in six years, the Sacramento Fire Department responded to 536 fires along the parkway. The number of fires in the region increased rapidly in recent years, up to 156 in 2021 – three times as many as in 2019. Read this full article here.

Until just a couple of centuries ago, inland California was a lush tapestry of wetlands and floodplains that nourished a thriving ecosystem of fish. But as the state — and its vast agriculture industry — has grown, its waterways have been modified drastically. Rivers have been drained, fields dried out, levees and dams constructed. These engineering feats, coupled with extreme drought, have decimated natural habitats. Today, a shocking 83 percent of native fish species in the state are in decline. But specialists are helping the Chinook Salmon rebound by working with California rice farmers to recreate the natural floodplains in which the fish used to thrive. Read this full article here.

As Western states continue to experience intensifying drought conditions, Governor Gavin Newsom recently visited Lake Oroville to highlight efforts to advance long-term water resilience and bolster the state’s drought response. Though storms recently returned to Northern California, the small amounts of rain and snowfall expected will not make a significant dent in the water deficit the state faces. “With the climate crisis threatening communities across the West, we must double down on our work to build water resilience in our communities for the long haul,” said Governor Newsom. “All of us must do our part to tackle the intensifying drought conditions felt across the state. Read the full article here.

The war in Ukraine has made getting more fossil fuels to Europe a top priority of the Biden Administration, in order to wean European Union members off Russian energy. But this comes as both Europe and the U.S. are behind on their goals to quickly reduce carbon emissions to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. Read the full article here.

From Indigenous women bringing solar power to rural Belize to efforts to make tourism more sustainable and eco-friendly, there are thousands of small-scale, community driven initiatives making a huge difference in people’s lives and contributing to efforts to curb global warming. Read the full article here.

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 Capital Region.

CRCRC is a program of CivicWell.