Climate Mitigation and Adaptation News

February 29, 2023

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Opportunities, Tools, & Resources

Last Chance to Submit a Proposal for the 14th Annual California Climate & Energy (CCEC) Forum!


Do you want to present at the 14th Annual California Climate & Energy Collaborative Forum? The event is taking place in Santa Rosa, CA from June 13th - 14th and the Call For Session Proposals (CFSP) is open now, but closes soon! Submit your proposal by Thursday, February 23rd! We hope to see you in Santa Rosa this summer!


More proposal guidance and information on how to submit a proposal is available here.


Submit a Proposal for the 2023 California Adaptation Forum


The 2023 California Adaptation Forum is now accepting session proposals to help shape a dynamic program! CAF organizers hope to feature a dynamic and diverse program that is responsive to the needs of California’s growing community of climate leaders; one that provides tangible and meaningful opportunities for participants to connect, learn, strategize, and build mutual support. If you have a session idea be sure to submit by Friday, March 10th!


Submit a proposal here.


Join CRCRC's Building Decarbonization Working Group


CRCRC currently facilitates a Building Decarbonization Working Group and you are able to join! This working group focuses on the equitable dispersal of information and resources pertaining to building decarbonization and electrification throughout the Capital Region.


These sessions will provide an opportunity for attendees to coordinate and collaborate with members of other organizations on upcoming projects and learn from the experts advancing decarbonization efforts throughout the region.


If you are interested in joining a working group please complete this interest form!

Upcoming Events

Climate Change Adaptation Checklist for Climate Smart Projects: A Tool for Natural Resource Agencies

March 15, 2023 | 12:00 - 1:00 PM


Climate change is impacting fish, wildlife, and their habitats across all ecosystems in the United States. Natural resource agencies are at the frontline of addressing climate change in fish and wildlife management, but climate change adaptation is just one of many management priorities within an agency. The scale of the problem and urgency needed to address it can feel overwhelming, especially when agency staff tasked with managing projects and assessing hazard risk potentials may not have in-depth knowledge of climate change impacts or the solutions needed to achieve adaptation outcomes in fish and wildlife management. 


Register for this event here.


California Climate Policy Summit 2023

April 11, 2023 | 8:30 AM - 6:00 PM


California is still grappling with prolonged drought, life-threatening heatwaves, and devastating wildfires. Our century-old power grid is failing under the stress of the climate crisis, leaving millions of people vulnerable to power outages during climate disasters. And air pollution from fossil fuels is poisoning far too many of our communities. All the while, fossil fuel interests are fighting tooth and nail to reverse our hard-fought progress. 


Against this backdrop, the second annual California Climate Policy Summit will bring together elected and business leaders, policy experts, activists, and environmental justice advocates to build support for climate policy commensurate with what science demands. The Summit will take place on April 11, 2023, at the Holiday Inn Downtown-Arena (300 J Street) in Sacramento, followed by a lobby day at state legislative offices on April 12. 


More information on this event 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!

News

Local

After Woodland leads the way, region looks to build more year-round affordable housing for farmworkers

Sacramento News & Review


When Tonia Ochoa, an agricultural worker in Woodland, arrived in the United States from Colima, Mexico with her two children, she took the first apartment she could find.

The building was old, the living conditions were poor, and the gas, water and electricity frequently didn’t function properly. Her home was a constant source of stress. The rent ate up half of her $1,800 monthly income and people hung around outside all hours of the night in her densely populated neighborhood, making her feel unsafe when she had to leave for work in the early morning hours. She endured the stress of her living conditions for three years. Read this full article here.


Floods, fires, droughts show California needs bigger safety net for farmworkers, advocates say

CapRadio


Torrential rains and floods submerged whole towns and killed more than 20 people in parts of California in January. They also caused thousands of farmworkers to lose weeks of pay because the flooded fields and orchards were surrounded by treacherous, watery and muddy roads. The steep storm-related losses — along with recent revelations that some farmworkers are living in substandard conditions — are bolstering advocates’ argument that California should expand its safety net to help its agricultural workforce survive such setbacks. Read this full article here.

State

Thousands without power as California storms bring rain, snow and cold

Reuters


Nearly 85,000 households and businesses were without power in the Los Angeles area earlier this month, as storms continued to pummel parts of California, bringing snow to higher elevations and dumping rain and hail in the flatlands. Interstate 5, the largest highway leading north out of the city, remained closed at the steep grade known as the Grapevine due to heavy snow, while several more southern points of the freeway in and around Los Angeles were closed due to flooding, the California Department of Transportation said. Read this full article here.


Opinion: Snow, rain, wind and cold in California? Here’s some good news about this week’s winter storms

LA Times


The National Weather Service’s map of warnings and advisories on Wednesday looked like the aftermath of letting a toddler loose with your painting supplies. High wind and winter storm warnings, forecasting wind gusts up to 60 miles an hour and more than half a foot of snowfall in 12 hours, stretched across the U.S., from Texas to Montana and from California to Michigan. The storms are the result of interactions between a large low-pressure zone in the upper atmosphere and a warm front stretching from Galveston, Texas, to New York City. Read this full article here.

Flooding

Governor Newsom Signs Order to Build Water Resilience Amid Climate-Driven Extreme Weather

Office of Governor Gavin Newsom


Earlier this month Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order to protect the state’s water supplies from the impacts of climate-driven extremes in weather. After years of prolonged drought, recent storms resulted in the wettest three-week period on record in California. The storms have been followed by an unseasonably dry February, however, and the state could see a return to warm and dry conditions during the remaining weeks of the wet season – just as heavy rains in fall 2021 gave way to the driest January-February-March period in over 100 years. Read this full article here.


Cold winter storm brings wind, rain to Sacramento, snow across Northern California

The Sacramento Bee


A powerful and cold winter storm pounded Northern California earlier this month, bringing fierce winds along with rain and low-elevation snow to parts of the region. The storm made its presence felt across Sacramento, pelting the region in rain as winds gusted to 50 mph in some locations. Farther north, snow was reported to be sticking to the ground in Redding. And in the mountains, whiteout and slippery conditions shut down Interstate 80 and Highway 50. Read this full article here.

Drought

6 Ways California is Capturing & Storing Water from Storms

Office of Governor Gavin Newsom


California is continuing to leverage recent actions and a historic $8.6 billion investment to ensure that water from storms is captured and conserved to help preserve supplies for communities, wildlife and the environment, and water users if dry conditions return – actions aligned with California’s Water Supply Strategy. Read this full article here.


DWR Awards $46 Million to Help Communities Statewide Improve Water Supply Reliability, Groundwater Recharge and Water Use Efficiency

California Department of Water Resources


The Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced earlier this month grant awards to nine projects in six counties through the Urban Community Drought Relief Grant program. The $46 million in financial assistance will provide critical support to implement drought relief projects that build long-term drought and climate resilience in communities across the State, and help advance efforts outlined in Governor Newsom’s strategy to adapt California’s water supply for a hotter and drier future. Read this full article here.

Wildfire

Frequent wildfires more likely to hit low-income communities, new report finds

CapRadio


new report authored by Stanford and University of North Carolina researchers found that areas experiencing frequent wildfires tend to be low-income. California’s fire hazard maps look at environmental factors that increase the likelihood of a fire when evaluating at-risk areas. The communities found in the “high-hazard” places identified by the tool are often wealthier. But when looking at areas that face frequent wildfires, this report offers a different perspective. Read this full article here.


Energy Safety Adopts 2023-2025 Wildfire Mitigation Plan Guidelines for California’s Electrical Corporations

Office of Energy Infrastructure


The Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety (Energy Safety) today adopted its 2023-2025 Wildfire Mitigation Plan (WMP) Guidelines following public input. The guidelines build upon three years of Energy Safety’s WMP evaluation and assessment expertise and advance a commitment to reduce utility-caused catastrophic wildfire to the next level. 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.
CRCRC is a program of CivicWell.