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Wildfire Smoke: A Guide for Public Health Officials
August 2019
From the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), this document offers state, local, and tribal public health officials updated guidance on communicating to the public about wildfire smoke health risks and protective measures. This guide provides recommendations on preparing for wildfire smoke season and reducing smoke exposure for the public and at-risk groups or vulnerable populations. The information provided as well as the associated factsheets on wildfire smoke protection can be useful for other health and air quality professionals as well as the general public.
Related Organizations: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Resource Category: Planning
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New York State Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (SB S6599)
July 18, 2019
Passed in July of 2019, New York State’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) (Senate Bill S6599) commits the state of New York to integrated climate adaptation planning and climate justice. In addition to aggressive climate mitigation goals - including zero GHG emissions by 2050 and 100% renewable electricity usage by 2040 - the Act aims to address adaptation and resilience across state programming, land use planning, and local government support.
Related Organizations: State of New York
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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Regional Resilience Toolkit: 5 Steps to Build Large Scale Resilience to Natural Disasters
July 2019
Developed by EPA and FEMA in partnership with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Association of Bay Area Governments in California, this toolkit provides a stepwise process for individual communities or coalitions of communities across a region to engage in partnership-building, planning, and other activities to build regional resilience. The goal of the toolkit is to facilitate the integration of various local planning processes, including hazard mitigation, climate adaptation, sustainability, and equity, into one overarching action plan for resilience that can result in improved implementation, funding, and measurement efforts for multiple hazards.
Related Organizations: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), California Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), Association of Bay Area Local Governments (ABAG)
Author or Affiliated User: Dana Brechwald
Resource Category: Planning
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City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii Multi-Hazard Pre-Disaster Mitigation Plan
2019
In 2019, the City and County of Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of Oahu adopted an updated Multi-Hazard Pre-Disaster Mitigation Plan approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The dual purposes of the plan are to protect people and structures from damage, and to minimize the city and county’s disaster response and recovery costs. The plan, prepared by the Department of Emergency Management, addresses the relationship among various types of hazards, evaluates the effects of climate change, and prioritizes mitigation policies, actions, and projects.
Resource Category: Planning
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Preserving Our Place — A Community Field Guide to Engagement, Resilience, and Resettlement: Community Regeneration in the Face of Environmental and Developmental Pressures
2019
In 2019, the Isle de Jean Charles Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Tribe (IDJC) collaborated with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to release a field guide, Preserving Our Place — A Community Field Guide to Engagement, Resilience, and Resettlement: Community Regeneration in the Face of Environmental and Developmental Pressures. IDJC is in the process of relocating from the Louisiana coast to a new community further inland due to significant land loss and flooding impacts. The field guide was developed to serve dual purposes: first, to document the community engagement process that IDJC has developed throughout its resettlement planning process; and second, to provide procedural guidance and lessons learned for communities that are also contemplating large-scale relocation. The field guide can be used by other tribal or frontline coastal communities that are considering potential larger-scale managed retreat or relocation strategies to adapt to climate change impacts like sea-level rise and other stressors and pressures, like environmental justice and encroaching development.
Related Organizations: National Academy of Sciences, Isle de Jean Charles Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Tribe
Resource Category: Solutions
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Playbook 1.0: How Cities Are Paying for Climate Resilience
July 2019
From the Innovation Network for Communities, this report discusses eight strategies city governments have used to finance climate resilience projects. These strategies were found common to eight different U.S. cities blazing the trail to fund large-scale climate resilience, especially addressing sea level rise and flooding. Other cities can use this information to adopt and build off of these strategies as they seek to fund their own adaptation projects.
Related Organizations: Innovation Network for Communities
Resource Category: Funding
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Hudson River Sustainable Shorelines Project
2019
The Hudson River Sustainable Shorelines Project developed science-based recommendations for shore zone management along the Hudson River in eastern New York. The Project and recommendations are focused on natural and nature-based shoreline protection against storm surge and sea level rise. Landowners, land managers, engineers, and other decision-makers can find guidance on permitting, natural shoreline engineering and design, and best management practices to meet adaptation needs (eg. flooding and erosion protection) while enhancing ecological functions of the Hudson’s shorelines.
Related Organizations: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)
Resource Category: Solutions
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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Community Heat Relief Plan
July 2019
The City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania addresses extreme heat and social disparities in its Beat the Heat Hunting Park Community Heat Relief Plan. The plan provides a roadmap of how to conduct an inclusive climate planning process through a community-based approach to combat urban heat emergencies. Beat the Heat was released in July 2019 by Philadelphia’s Office of Sustainability (OOS), in response to increased heat being identified as one of the main climate change threats in the city. OOS found that communities, where low-income residents and residents of color reside, are also most vulnerable to the heat. To cope with the heat disparities, OOS initiated the Beat the Heat pilot project in Hunting Park, which was identified as the most heat vulnerable neighborhood. The purpose of the project is to learn the causes of heat disparities and utilize a community-driven decision-making process to generate possible solutions for staying cool in the future. The plan is a collaborative work effort of city agencies, Hunting park organizations, residents, and community groups. Through the community engagement process, three priority areas were identified: 1. Staying cool and safe at home, 2. Staying cool and safe in public spaces, and 3. Greening and tree planting. The plan also provides a step-by-step Beat the Heat Toolkit for other urban communities to reduce social inequities and build climate resiliency.
Related Organizations: City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Resource Category: Planning
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State of Montana Executive Order 8-2019: Creating the Montana Climate Solutions Council and Joining the State of Montana to the U.S. Climate Alliance
July 1, 2019
On July 1, 2019, Montana Governor Steve Bullock signed Executive Order 8-2019, establishing the Montana Climate Solutions Council and committing the state to the U. S. Climate Alliance. The Executive Order directs the Council to work with state agencies to incorporate climate adaptation and resilience strategies into state plans and operations, and to put forth recommendations for reducing Montana’s contributions to greenhouse gas emissions. Notably, the EO requires that future state planning efforts include adaptation strategies and considerations for better preparing the state for climate-related risks and disasters, and that, where necessary, agencies prepare a Supplemental Climate Plan on adaptation and resilience for current and future state plans.
Related Organizations: State of Montana
Resource Category: Law and Governance
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Killer Heat in the United States
July 2019
The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) has evaluated how climate change will contribute to increasing incidence of dangerous high heat days across the U. S. This includes an analysis of the growing number of high heat days across various regions of the country, described under three climate change scenarios. The report also details the public health consequences of extreme heat and the populations that are particularly vulnerable to these threats. Policy recommendations are offered with adaptation measures that can be implemented at all levels of government to address rising temperatures.
Related Organizations: Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)
Authors or Affiliated Users: Kristina Dahl, Erika Spanger-Siegfried, Rachel Licker, Astrid Caldas, John Abatzoglou, Nicholas Mailloux, Rachel Cleetus, Shana Udvardy, Juan Declet-Barreto, Pamela Worth
Resource Category: Assessments
