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Climate Mitigation and Adaptation News
August 31, 2023
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Stay up to date and follow the Capital Region Climate
Readiness Collaborative on social media!
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Opportunities & Resources | |
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Yolo County Climate Action and Adaptation Plan Survey
Do you live in Yolo County? The County wants to hear from you! Complete this ten-minute survey before September 22nd to share your thoughts on climate change and the actions the County should take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Survey participants will have the opportunity to be entered into a drawing for gift cards and other prizes! Learn more and take the survey here.
City of Sacramento Seeking Input on Strategy to Transition Existing Buildings to All Electric
The City of Sacramento is asking members of the public to provide input on its draft Existing Building Electrification Strategy, which will guide the transition of existing buildings to all electric by 2045. The Sacramento City Council in 2021 directed City staff to develop a strategy to achieve this goal with a focus on communities most impacted by climate change and to ensure equitable outcomes. You can find the full draft strategy and provide your direct input here.
2023 County Cooling Centers
As high temperatures impact Californians across the state, many regions will continue to experience triple-digit weather. The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) and its local partners encourage Californians to seek out cooling centers during this period of extreme heat. A list of cooling centers and resources offered by each of California's counties during extreme heat events can be found here.
Join CRCRC's Building Decarbonization Working Group!
Are you working on building decarbonization in California's Capital Region? Do you have information or resources you would like to share with others working in the field? Are you looking for input on something you have been working on? Complete this interest form to join CRCRC's Building Decarbonization Working Group! This group meets the fourth Thursday of each month from 3:00 - 4:00 PM.
Share an Update 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!
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Cleaner Air Partnership Technical Advisory Committee: Biomass Utilization in the Sacramento Region
September 1st, 9:30am - 11:00am
At tomorrow's virtual Cleaner Air Partnership Technical Advisory Committee (CAPTAC) meeting, experts will share their perspectives on the opportunities and challenges surrounding biomass utilization in the 6-county Sacramento region. CAP events are an opportunity to learn about important air quality topics affecting the 6-county Sacramento region. Thank you to the generous contributors to the Cleaner Air Partnership: Sac Metro Air District, Teichert, SMUD, Sutter Health, Sacramento Association of REALTORS, Placer County Air Pollution Control District, Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management District, PG&E, Healthy Air Alliance, the El Dorado County Air Quality Management District, CEMEX, Clarity and Nikola. More information on this event is available here.
Energy Savings Expo
September 16th, 10:00am - 2:00pm
Join the City of Elk Grove for the upcoming Home Energy Expo, EV Ride & Drive, and Electric Bike Test Drive! This event will provide attendees with the opportunity to talk tho experts about sustainable landscaping, water conservation, solar installation, home energy audits, and more! This expo will also feature an Electric Vehicle & Bike Ride and Drive Event where attendees will be able to take an EV test drive and enter for a chance to win an electric bike! More information on this event is available here.
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Sacramento Municipal Utility District Named Nation's Most Sustainable Utility in 2023 J.D. Power index
SMUD
SMUD ranked first in the 2023 J.D. Power Sustainability Index, a comprehensive evaluation of the nation’s largest electric utilities’ customer awareness, engagement and advocacy related to their local climate sustainability programs and goals. Drawing from established J.D. Power customer satisfaction and environmental metrics, the index includes 35 of the largest U.S. electric utility companies with 500,000 or more residential customers, serving as an industry benchmark to assess the utility's standing as a climate leader. Read this full brief here.
Sacramento Looks at Half-cent Sales Tax to Solve Transit, Housing, Climate Issues
Courthouse News Service
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg earlier this month unveiled a proposal for a countywide ballot initiative that, if passed, would raise almost $10 billion over 40 years to tackle transportation, housing and climate change. The measure — dubbed the “Climate, Clean Transportation, and Affordable Housing Act of 2024” — would impose a half-cent sales tax in Sacramento County, which has almost 1.6 million people. He suggested it go to the ballot in November 2024. Read this full article here.
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California Invests $757 Million to Create Affordable Housing and Clean Transportation
Office of Governor Gavin Newsom
Yesterday, Governor Newsom, along with the California Strategic Growth Council announced $757 million in funding to advance the building of affordable housing in jobs-rich, walkable neighborhoods. This investment will create more than 2,500 affordable homes, 150 new zero-emissions buses, over 50 miles of new bikeways, and improve miles of sidewalks in communities across the state. Once constructed, the projects will reduce 800,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to taking 178,000 gas-powered cars off California’s roads for one year. Read this full article here.
California and New York Could Miss Their 2030 Climate Targets. Could Permitting Reform Help?
Inside Climate News
California and New York, two national leaders in the effort to curb global warming, could both miss key 2030 climate targets, according to state officials. It’s a sign that even the states most aggressively pursuing plans to reduce carbon emissions and ramp up clean energy development are struggling to meet tough deadlines aimed at averting runaway climate change. The warnings also highlight the larger debate surrounding permitting reform, and whether governments should be doing more to speed up the approval of renewable energy projects to meet ambitious climate targets. Read this full article here.
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Federal Judge says California’s Capital City Can’t Clear Homeless Camps During Extreme Heat
AP News
Earlier this month a federal judge temporarily banned Sacramento from clearing homeless encampments for at least 14 days, citing the extreme heat forecast this month in California’s capital city. Judge Troy L. Nunley in the U.S. District Court for Eastern California issued the order last week after homeless advocates argued that the city disregarded its own protocol by pushing a vulnerable population out of shaded areas during blistering heat. Advocates said clearing the camps in such weather puts homeless people in “obvious danger.” Read this full article here.
Q&A: How Could New Paint Lower Sacramento Air Conditioning Bills and Fight Climate Change?
The Sacramento Bee
Sacramento’s consistent summer heat isn’t always beloved by residents. From high air conditioning bills during long stretches of triple-digit temperatures, to controversy over the safety of homeless residents living outside in the summer months, extreme heat conditions can be a public health risk — and they can be expensive to deal with. A new kind of ultra-reflective white paint, developed by researchers at Purdue University, might pose a solution. It reflects just over 98% of sunlight, and has the potential to cool rooftops and asphalt and even help slow down the effects of climate change. Read this full article here.
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Sacramento Region Could See Smoke from Northern Wildfires as Winds Pick Up
CapRadio
The Sacramento region is seeing hazy conditions and poorer air quality this week as strong winds push wildfire smoke from the north into the valley. Forecasters are expecting winds from the north of around 15-25 mph starting Tuesday night and into Wednesday evening. That will help funnel smoke from the dozens of lightning-caused wildfires burning along the California-Oregon border into the Sacramento Valley. Read this full article here
Where are Wildfires Burning in Northern California? See Our Live-updating Map
The Sacramento Bee
Several fires are burning parts of Northern California, including Humboldt and Trinity counties, all of which started mid to late August. Coupled with the fires in southern Oregon, smoke has been pushed to the northern Sacramento Valley, affecting the air quality in the area. Spare the Air is forecasting moderate air quality in the Sacramento region from Monday to Thursday. The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for the Valley between Tuesday evening and Wednesday evening. The weather service says the highest threat is on the west side of the Sacramento Valley for foothills west of the Interstate 5 corridor. Read more here.
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Do you have a job listing that you would like to share? Please feel free to share your job openings through this form to be included in future issues of the CRCRC newsletter!
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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. | | | | |
