Climate Mitigation and Adaptation News

April 25, 2023

Welcoming in new and returning CRCRC leadership

CRCRC recently welcomed our new leadership team! Below is an updated roster for our Executive and Steering Committees.

Executive Committee:

• Grace Kaufman, Valley Vision
• Paul Helliker, San Juan Water District

Steering Committee:

• Adam Robin, Yuba Water Agency
• Angel Green, Placer County
• Brianna Moland, SMAQMD
• Carolyn Tran, Breathe California
• Carrie Whitlock, City of Elk Grove
• Colleen McCormick, SMUD
• Harriet Ross, The Delta Stewardship Council
• Ilonka Zlatar, 350 Sacramento
• Jennifer Venema, City of Sacramento
• Jessica Sanders, The Sacramento Tree Foundation
• Josh Maddox, CSU Sacramento
• Kathryn Canepa, Civic Thread
• Kerry Loux, City of Davis
• Kristen Wraithwall, Yolo County
• Nicole Sears, Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District
• Renee DeVere-Oki, Sacramento Area Council of Governments
• Ryan Ojakian, Regional Water Authority
• Spencer Bowen, The City of Woodland

Thank you all for your ongoing leadership. We look forward to working with you all throughout the year!

Registration for the 2023 California Adaptation Forum is

Open Now!

CAF is back...live and in person! With Early-Bird Registration open, join us, and so many of California’s adaptation community, in Pomona, CA, July 31 - August 2nd, 2023. We can't wait to join in the knowledge exchange, innovation, and mutual support to accelerate climate adaptation efforts and create equitable and resilient communities throughout the state. #CAF2023

Additional information on rates and registration logistics is available here.

Loving Earth Project - Interactive Exhibit Closing Soon!

Open until April 29, 2023 at 6:00 PM

The internationally acclaimed Loving Earth Project visits historic Old Sacramento just in time for Earth Day! This project is a collection of beautifully crafted fabric panels from environmental artists around the world. You can also submit a panel highlighting a climate change issue important to you. Add your own personal touch to this interactive exhibit, and send your work to join the exhibit when it returns to its starting point in the UK.

Sacramento’s chapter of the Quaker Arts Networks is spearheading this April exhibition to bring education and awareness about the pressing need for change. Each fabric panel highlights a different issue important to the makers and allows them to “express their love and concern for a world endangered by climate change”. This exhibit is a call to action, a love letter to our earth, and a showcase of positive change already taking place. 

More information on this event available here.

Sustainable Purchasing - Best Practices and Key Learnings from Empower Procurement

May 15, 2023 | 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

The Empower Procurement program (funded by the California Energy Commission) identifies opportunities to amplify sustainability outcomes through the increased adoption of clean technologies, with a focus on Distributed Energy Resources (DER). This webinar will share key takeaways from the program, and discuss the procurement barriers observed while working with public institutions faced with increasingly ambitious sustainability goals. Prospect Silicon Valley (ProspectSV) will also provide an overview of the support they offer including Technical Assistance for decarbonizing buildings and fleets, Peer Forums, and available guidance resources.

Register for this event here.

2023 California Climate & Energy Forum

June 13th - 14th, 2023

By attending the Forum, you will have the opportunity to hear directly from community leaders, decision-makers, and technical experts on emerging trends and recent developments facing the adaptation field while learning about tangible approaches and strategies to put new knowledge to use. In addition to the cutting-edge projects, research, strategies, tools, and resources showcased and discussed in the sessions, the opportunities to network are invaluable — so much so that for some attendees, this is the primary reason they attend the Forum.

Additional information on rates and registration logistics is available here.

Does your organization have updates you would like to share with the rest of the CRCRC? Share them through this newsletter!

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!

California Local Government Climate Activity Survey

The Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment (CLEE) at UC Berkeley and the Institute for Local Government (ILG) are surveying California local governments' on their climate activity. The survey is designed to collect information on climate plans, actions and opportunities, and barriers to progress. Local government staff with expertise and/or resources related to climate planning will be best suited to fill out the Climate Activity Survey on behalf of their jurisdiction or agency.

Results from the survey will inform targeted policy and program recommendations that reflect the unique opportunities and challenges faced by California's cities, counties, and special districts. Your participation in the survey supports these efforts and will help shape the development of climate planning resources to aid local governments. Please submit a response by Friday, April 28th. If you have questions about the survey, you can reach out to Hanna Payne at CLEE (hanna.payne@berkeley.edu).

Click here to take the survey.

Join CRCRC's Building Decarbonization Working Group!

Are you working on building decarbonization in California's Capital Region? Join CRCRC's Building Decarbonization Working Group! This group meets the fourth Thursday of each month from 3:00 - 4:00 PM and our next meeting is Thursday, April 27th! 

If you are looking for specific input/ guidance or have any updates related to recent building decarbonization efforts that you would like to share with other participants from the region you are encouraged to complete this interest form and join the working the working group!

California’s progress on protecting communities from

climate changes

Office of Gavin Newsom

Earlier this month California issued a progress report on actions over the past year to build climate resilience across the state. Taking the form of substantial projects and programs throughout the state, these actions help protect people from the impacts of climate change. Guided by the state’s Climate Adaptation Strategy, California is protecting the most vulnerable communities from accelerating climate threats and leading the way on adapting to climate extremes. Read this full briefing here.

Sacramento high temperatures soaring into 90s later this week

CBS Sacramento

Summer-like temperatures will persist in the region for the next few days, with highs in the low 80s earlier this week soaring to the low 90s on Thursday and Friday, according to the latest forecast. While the warm temperatures may be a welcome change for some, they can also pose risks to those who plan to venture out to local creeks and streams. The snow melt from higher elevations will cause local waterways to run high, fast, and dangerously cold, making them hazardous for swimming or wading. Read this full article here.

California’s snowpack is now One of the largest ever, bringing drought relief, flooding concerns

California Department of Water Resources

The Department of Water Resources (DWR) recently conducted the fourth snow survey of the season at Phillips Station. The manual survey recorded 126.5 inches of snow depth and a snow water equivalent of 54 inches, which is 221 percent of average for this location on April 3. The snow water equivalent measures the amount of water contained in the snowpack and is a key component of DWR’s water supply forecast. DWR’s electronic readings from 130 snow sensors placed throughout the state indicate the statewide snowpack’s snow water equivalent is 61.1 inches, or 237 percent of average for this date. Read this full article here.

California invests in desalination projects and research to help diversify local water supplies for communities – includes Fresno and Los Angeles counties and City of Fort Bragg

Sierra Sun Times

With California adapting to intense shifts between extreme wet and dry weather, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) has announced three projects that will receive support from DWR’s Water Desalination Grant Program, and an additional six projects that will receive funds through a partnership with the National Alliance for Water Innovation to advance desalination implementation and research. As a key strategy in the Governor’s California’s Water Supply Strategy, Adapting to a Hotter, Drier Future, desalination is the process of removing salts and minerals from brackish water and seawater to produce water suitable for consumption, irrigation and other supply needs. Today’s awarded projects directly support the State’s investment in desalination technology to help diversify local water supplies. Read this full article here.

Wildflower ‘super-blooms’ blanket California after winter of historic downpours

The Independent

California is experiencing a spring filled with wildflower superblooms after a winter of historic rainfall. Fields, hillsides and canyons across the state have been carpeted in a colourful riot of the tiny flowers in recent weeks. The blooms are so vibrant that they can be seen from space. New satellite images, published by Maxar Technologies, revealed vivid streaks of color across the regions of Palmdale, Santa Margarita and Antelope Valley. Read this full article here.

California Assemblymember Lisa Calderon announces, “Creating Climate-Resilient Communities” bill package – includes the ‘Cool Schools Bill’ to study indoor temperature range in public schools

Sierra Sun Times

Assemblymember Lisa Calderon (D-Whitter) has introduced more than half a dozen pieces of legislation aiming to provide and improve access to community resources in an effort to adapt to the effects of climate change. The bill package consists of seven pieces of legislation, Assembly Bills 384, 527, 586, 824, 1108, 1172, and 1195. These measures are seeking to create climate-resilient communities at the neighborhood-level across California. Read this full article here.

Assessing the U.S. climate in March 2023 (published April 10th, 2023)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Generally, temperatures were above average from the southern Plains to New England and in parts of the Great Lakes, with below-average temperatures from the northern Plains to the West Coast. Florida had its eighth-warmest March in the 129-year record. Conversely, Oregon ranked third coldest while California, Nevada, and North Dakota each ranked fifth coldest and Utah had its seventh-coldest March on record. Read this full article here.

In meeting with big economies, US announces more funds to fight climate change

EURACTIV

During a virtual meeting of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, Biden urged his counterparts to be ambitious in setting goals to reduce emissions and meet a target of limiting overall global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. “We’re at a moment of great peril but also great possibilities, serious possibilities. With the right commitment and follow-through from every nation … on this call, the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees can stay within reach,” Biden said. Read this 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.