Learning Sessions

San Diego Regional Coastal Resilience Roadmap

June 28, 2023

This webinar featured the launch of the San Diego Regional Coastal Resilience Roadmap, a strategic plan aiming to facilitate accelerated action for coastal resilience projects and investments that prioritize benefits to underserved communities in the San Diego region. Participants learned about the Roadmap’s key principles, goals, and actions, as well as the roadmap development process and recommendations for replicating a similar process in other regions throughout California.

Advancing Equitable Climate Resilience Planning in California – A Status Report on SB-379 Implementation

June 21, 2023

The intent behind SB-379 (Jackson), signed by Governor Brown in 2015, was to institutionalize climate change preparedness by mandating updates of municipal general plans. Cities and counties were given six years to prepare; the deadline for compliance was January 1, 2022. Unfortunately, only half of California’s municipalities complied with SB-379 by the deadline. Nonetheless, did SB-379 advance California’s ability to handle climate impacts? This webinar shed light on this question and featured key findings from the recent report by Farallon Strategies and Climate Resolve, Ounce of Prevention; Advancing Equitable Climate Resilience Planning in California; status report on implementation of Senate Bill 379 (2015).

Building an Inclusive and Equitable Adaptation Movement: A series of Learning Seminars

July – September 2021

ARCCA’s summer learning seminar series – “Building an Inclusive and Equitable Adaptation Movement” – focused on the intersection of equity and adaptation. This series featured voices from underrepresented communities historically left out of climate conversations and highlight community-led initiatives to advance climate equity and build community resilience. The content shared was mostly useful for adaptation practitioners and local government officials, but all are welcome to attend.

Wildfire Resilience: Returning to Our Roots

November 5, 2020

Following years of devastating wildfires, California is in the midst of another record-breaking wildfire season that has enveloped the state in smoke, pushed our firefighting capacity to its limits, and taken the lives of dozens of Californians. What’s fueling these fires and where do we go from here? How can we learn from Indigenous practices and past emergency response and recovery efforts? What will it take for us to build wildfire resilience both equitably and rapidly? In this webinar, co-hosted by ARCCA and the California Adaptation Forum, we explored these questions and more.

Realities of the Triple Pandemic: Racialized Violence, COVID-19 and Climate Change

August 24, 2020

“We make a grave mistake every time we invoke the history of oppression to diminish the reality of racism’s present. Progress is real, but the narrative of progress seduces us into inaction. If we believe, simply, that it gets better, there is no incentive to do the work to ensure that it does.” ― Mychal Denzel Smith, Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching: A Young Black Man’s Education. This is our current reality so what is our collective responsibility? How do we move from “we’ve been here before and never left” or “here we are again” to moving beyond small shifts and wins that catalyze transformative change? This webinar centered around an authentic dialogue with Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) grassroots leaders sharing calls to action, key learnings and case studies of equitable adaptation to help participants begin to better understand how: 1) Racism is an ongoing issue that has and continues to radiate throughout the climate change field, and how status quo responses only exacerbate risks and disparities; 2) Racism and the disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 and climate change share the same root causes, and uprooting these systemic issues require systems change; and 3) Adaptation practitioners must go beyond integrating equity into individual processes and instead develop partnerships that shift power and leadership to communities to drive a cultural shift that puts equity, anti-racism, and climate resilience front and center.

Community Resilience in the Context of Climate Change and COVID-19

June 2, 2020

This Learning Session featured a state panel discussion on community resilience in the context of climate change and COVID-19, which also included brief discussions related to ongoing and systemic racial injustice. Panelists included Secretary Wade Crowfoot (California Natural Resources Agency), Director Kate Gordon (Governor’s Office of Planning and Research), Director Louise Bedsworth (Strategic Growth Council), and Dr. Mark Starr (California Department of Public Health).

Centering Equity in Climate Adaptation and Resilience

November 25, 2019

For this Learning Session, Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN) and Greenlining Institute led a conversation about how the climate advocacy community can support equitable climate resilience, the ability of communities to adapt and thrive in the face of impacts from climate change, as advocates nationwide are pushed to think beyond climate mitigation.

Killer Heat in California

October 29, 2019

Extreme heat is becoming increasingly frequent and increasingly intense in the US and around the world. This ARCCA Learning Session with the Union of Concerned Scientists reviewed their new Killer Heat analysis to examine the future of extreme heat in California, from how its frequency will change to what those changes mean for people and infrastructure in the state. In addition, we will highlight policies and solutions that will be needed in order to limit the potential harms of future extreme heat.

Resilience Planning in Response to SB-379

October 3, 2019

By 2022, the State of California expects jurisdictions to have addressed climate change adaptation in the Safety Elements of their General Plans. Specifically, SB-379 requires cities and counties to identify the risks climate change poses to the local jurisdiction and the populations they serve, a set of adaptation and resilience goals and objectives, and a set of feasible implementation measures aimed at adapting and building resilience to the impacts of climate change. This webinar focused on what is required of jurisdictions, potential strategies that can be used to comply with SB-379, and real-world examples of how jurisdictions can meet these requirements without feeling like they are taking on yet another project and adding more to their already extensive workload.

Scanning the Adaptation Field: Past, Present and Emerging Needs

July 23, 2019

The webinar highlighted the current state of the climate change adaptation field, a vision of what a mature, effective professional field might look like, and how everyone can help. The session also introduced efforts to build the psycho-social support infrastructure needed to take care of those who take care of us. Invited speakers will highlight the Rising to the Challenge, Together report and the Adaptive Mind project.

Wildfire Resilience in California: State of the Space

July 18, 2019

This webinar provided an overview of current State efforts aiming to build wildfire resilience, featuring Jennifer Montgomery, chair of the Governor’s Forest Management Task Force, and Nuin-Tara Key, Climate Resilience Program Director at the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research. Presentations covered the history and structure of the Forest Management Task Force, the 45-Day Report on Community Wildfire Prevention and Mitigation, wildfire-related initiatives of the Integrated Climate Adaptation and Resilience Program Technical Advisory Council, upcoming funding opportunities, and more.

Stakeholder Input: Wildfires, Health and Climate Change

July 10, 2019

This Listening Session webinar, led by the Climate Readinesss Institute at UC Berkeley, solicited input from stakeholders on how to protect the health of Californians from wildfires in a changing climate. Participants reviewed the DRAFT recommendations from that workshop and suggest additions, revisions, and clarifications. Recommendations will inform a UC Berkeley white paper that will be used in subsequent discussions with regional and statewide leaders on the top actions needed to reduce the health impacts of California wildfires.

Climate Ready Communities: Climate Resilience Support for California’s Small- to Mid-sized Communities

May 8, 2019

The Geos Institute presented the tools available through the Climate Ready Communities program, which offers a comprehensive, do-it-yourself guide free of charge as well as a suite of complementary services that are affordably priced and available to communities that want to move through the program faster or find that they need specific assistance at points along the way.

Hope for Our Coast: Conserving California’s Coastal Habitats in the Face of Sea Level Rise

August 21, 2018

The Nature Conservancy and the California State Coastal Conservancy’s recently completed statewide assessment: Conserving California’s Coastal Habitats: A Legacy and a Future with Sea Level Rise. This comprehensive assessment quantifies and maps the vulnerability of California’s coastal habitats, imperiled species, and conservation lands to sea level rise, as well as opportunities for conservation strategies to maintain coastal habitat area in the face of sea level rise and other stressors. This webinar discussed the vulnerability assessment, conservation strategies, and how the team is using the results to unite stakeholders around a vision of collective action to maintain California’s coastal habitats into the future.

Adaptation Clearinghouse Beta Test

April 18, 2018

This webinar provided a first look at the new California State Adaptation Clearinghouse, which aims to be a centralized source of information and resources to assist decision makers at the state, tribal, regional, and local levels when planning for and implementing climate adaptation efforts. The Adaptation Clearinghouse is a main component of the Integrated Climate and Adaptation Resiliency Program (ICARP).

Navigating Coastal Resilience Strategy Development

March 30, 2018

The Resilient Coastlines Project of Greater San Diego shared lessons learned on benefits and challenges of trigger policies being developed in local communities and insights from their legal risk analysis.

Cost-Benefit Analysis for SLR Adaptation Scenarios

March 21, 2018

The Resilient Coastlines Project of Greater San Diego road-tested the NOAA framework using two local city case studies. This webinar shared the lessons learned about applying this to a range of adaptation scenarios over time, how to communicate cost-benefit, and the City of Del Mar provided insight into how it was applied in their sea level rise planning processes.

 Safeguarding California Plan: 2018 Update

March 9, 2018

The State’s climate change adaptation strategy, called the Safeguarding California Plan, was updated in 2018 to lay out a roadmap of everything state agencies are doing and will do to protect communities, infrastructure, services, and the natural environment from climate change impacts. This webinar highlighted key takeaways from the 2018 update and feature speakers from the California Natural Resources Agency.

Towards Equitable Adaptation: Climate Justice Working Group

December 6, 2017

This webinar provided an overview of key climate justice and equity concepts, considerations, and strategies from the Climate Justice Working Group (CJWG)’s recommendations for including frontline communities in policy and funding decisions. Convened by Resources Legacy Fund, the CJWG is comprised of health equity and climate equity leaders from across California who are working together to ensure that the state addresses the needs of frontline communities in their adaptation plans. Its members developed recommendations to make Safeguarding California, California’s adaptation strategy, responsive to climate justice and climate equity concerns. In addition, the CJWG developed definitions of key concepts, including climate justice and climate vulnerability, as well as guiding principles and recommendations for California leaders to consider as they develop climate adaptation policies and funding decisions

Voluntary Resilience Standards

October 17, 2017

Resilient facilities and infrastructure are a crucial component of increasing community preparedness to natural and human-made hazards and climate risks. This learning session highlighted key findings of a new report, Voluntary Resilience Standards: An Assessment of the Emerging Market for Resilience in the Built Environment. The webinar and accompanying report can assist facilities and planners in understanding existing resources, inform state and local leaders as they draft policies to encourage the adoption of standards and resilient building techniques, and help develop the strategies of funders and program managers.

 General Plan Guidelines Update

September 12, 2017

The California Governor’s Office of Planning and Research recently completed the first comprehensive update to the General Plan Guidelines since 2003. Legislative changes, guidance documents, a data mapping tool, and additional resources have been incorporated into the new Guidelines.

This webinar provided an overview of the new General Plan Guidelines, with a focus on adaptation, GHG emission reduction, and environmental justice. Presenters included Michael McCormick, Senior Planner, and Elizabeth Baca, Senior Health Advisor, from the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research.

For more information, visit http://www.opr.ca.gov/planning/general-plan/

Adaptation Clearinghouse: ARCCA User Needs Assessment

August 8, 2017

This workshop webinar aimed to familiarize ARCCA members and its affiliates with the State Adaptation Clearinghouse being developed according to the direction in SB-246, and to gather input on the development of the Clearinghouse.

 SB-379 Implementation

March 29, 2017

SB-379 requires local jurisdictions to address climate adaptation and resiliency strategies. This Learning Session of 2017 discussed the requirements and timeline for SB 379 implementation, as well as replicable strategies and good practices to integrate adaptation into local planning from Four Twenty Seven’s work with six cities in Alameda County. Participants also had the opportunity to learn about additional resources available to support their efforts.

Virtual Adaptation Tools Salon

November 15, 2016

This Learning Session featured three tools that can help guide and support your adaptation efforts: Cal-Adapt, the Adaptation Clearinghouse, and the Atlas. Cal-Adapt is an interactive website that showcases the wealth of innovative climate change research being produced by the scientific community in California. The Adaptation Clearinghouse is a web-based library that provides access to over 2000 climate adaptation resources including plans, policy recommendations, and laws. The Atlas curates a list of relevant, installed, and procurable solutions from innovative vendors from around the world to help cities more efficiently source project ideas.

Advancing the Climate-Health Connection

September 27, 2016

This Learning Session highlighted findings from the USGCRP’s scientific assessment on the impacts of climate change on human health in the United States. Expert panelists also engaged in a round-table discussion to dive deeper into the climate-health nexus, focusing on tangible strategies that can be implemented on the ground to reduce the public health risks presented by climate impacts, how adaptation efforts can better integrate health considerations, and how the health lens can be leveraged to better communicate about climate change.

Financing Infrastructure through Resilience Bonds

April 6, 2016

Cities across the United States and around the world are facing increasingly frequent severe weather events. Many local governments and public utilities are overexposed and underinsured for these risks. They are also coping with aging and failing infrastructure systems that increase the potential for catastrophic losses. This Learning Session featured re:focus partners’ Shalini Vajjhala and the new RE:bound report on leveraging catastrophe bonds as a mechanism for resilient infrastructure project finance.

Building Business Resilience

December 2, 2015

A growing number of major global companies are assessing the risks posed by climate change, but many still struggle to translate climate data into actions to improve resilience. This Learning Session featured Valley Vision’s Capital Region Business Resiliency Project,  Center for Climate and Energy Solutions’ new report, entitled “Weathering the Next Storm: A Closer Look at Business Resiliency,” and a case study of PG&E’s resiliency efforts.

The Ins and Outs of the LA Energy Atlas

November 16, 2015.

This Learning Session featured the new LA Energy Atlas, an interactive website that can be used to inform energy planning and research in Los Angeles and throughout California as the State works to achieve its ambitious energy goals, and as local regions work to create energy sustainability.

The Economic Risks of Climate Change in California

July 14, 2015

This Learning Session featured the Risky Business Project’s economic risk assessment of climate change in California. Participants learned about the advantages of taking a risk-based approach to climate change, how to best engage the business community in pursuit of shared goals, and how ARCCA member regional collaboratives are working together to advance climate adaptation.

The Resilience zone

April 30, 2014

This Learning Session featured Jeb Brugmann, Managing Partner of The Next Practice, on building “resilience zones,” diving into local area risk management, resilience upgrading, and effective communications between communities, governments, and the private sector.

Business and Risk Insurance

March 20, 2014

This Learning Session featured Cynthia McHale, Insurance Director at Ceres, and Mark Way, Senior Sustainability Manager at Swiss Re Group, in a conversation on promoting and expanding commitment from insurers to implement climate risk adaptation and mitigation strategies.