In This Issue:
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News from Resilient Virginia
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National and International News
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Partnering for Resiliency - Join us - Let's move Resiliency Planning into the mainstream conversation!
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Partnering with Universities for Greater Resilience |
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As the number of extreme weather events has increased, the need for resiliency planning has grown. That is why we are actively developing partnerships with universities; local, regional, and state governments; businesses; and community organizations. Collectively, we can facilitate more effective and efficient resiliency planning for communities across Virginia.
Resilient Virginia has partnered with multiple universities to provide student interns with hands-on experience in the resiliency field. These interns have enhanced our community outreach efforts, event organization, and topical research and writing; as well as provided an analysis of community comprehensive plans and hazard mitigation plans.
We have two upcoming collaborations that we are excited about:
- Sara Moreno, a UVA student intern, will be working full-time to help organize and build out our online Resource Hub to bring resiliency resources of particular interest and use for Virginia communities into one easy-to-navigate location.
- Dr. Jennifer Hoffman, Professor of Practice at Virginia Tech's Center for Leadership in Global Sustainability's XMNR program, is working with us to design an Adaptation assignment for her students. Students participating in this month-long assignment will be introduced to the concept of resiliency collaboratives, hear from experts in the field who have started successful collaboratives, and research what influence a collaborative would have in Central and Southwest Virginia.
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Resilient Virginia would like to welcome Curtis Brown as the newest member of our Board of Directors. Curtis is co-founder of the Institute for Diversity and Inclusion in Emergency Management (I-DIEM), a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing diversity in the field of emergency management and promoting the application of equitable practices to improve disaster outcomes for vulnerable communities. Curtis received a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from Radford University, a Master of Public Administration from Virginia Tech, and a Master of Arts in Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness from Virginia Commonwealth University. He is a graduate of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) National Emergency Management Executive Academy and the Executive Leaders Program through the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security. He is a Certified Emergency Manager through the International Association of Emergency Managers.
We look forward to working with Curtis and appreciate the knowledge and experience he is bringing to Resilient Virginia. |
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Informing, Educating, and Activating |
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As a sponsor of Earth Day Roanoke, Resilient Virginia staff spent a beautiful Saturday, April 23rd, meeting new people and letting them know what we do. We met many people who were interested in learning more about resiliency, found out what aspects of resiliency are most important to the public - tied for first were "Make homes, schools, and businesses more energy efficient" and "Install more solar and wind systems" - and we learned about other fine organizations out there working on making Southwest Virginia a vibrant place to call home for years to come. Thank you to everyone who stopped by and talked with us! |
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We will be hosting our 2022 Annual Meeting during the last week of June in Charlottesville, VA. Join us for lunch and a discussion on the Intersection of Climate Mitigation and Adaptation. More details forthcoming.
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We are halfway into the Spring 2022 Resiliency Academy and have had two successful and well-attended sessions in March and April.
Registration is still open for the final two sessions in the series, to be held virtually in May and June.
Ecosystem Services: Green Infrastructure Utilized May 12 • 1:00–2:30 PM Infrastructure and Buildings: Progress Report
June 9 • 1:00–2:30 PM |
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A Note to all Members: Recordings of Sessions 1 and 2 are available to watch on the Member Site (even if you did not register). If you would like links to the slides for these sessions, please let Trish know - Trish@ResilientVirginia.org. |
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We would like to take a moment to recognize our government organization members. We appreciate your support and collaboration! City of Norfolk City of Richmond, Office of Sustainability City of Roanoke Town of Chase City Town of Rocky Mount Virginia Beach Office of Emergency Management Albemarle County Hampton Roads Planning District Commission Northern Virginia Regional Commission Southside Planning District Commission |
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Charlottesville to Complete Climate Action Plan by End of 2022 |
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On April 18th, members of Charlottesville's Environmental Sustainability and Facilities Development department and the Climate Protection Program briefed City Council members on the city's current climate initiatives. Charlottesville is working toward developing a Climate Action Plan to be completed by the end of this year. Charlottesville has had an active climate program since 2007. In 2017, the city joined the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, reaffirming its commitment to reducing greenhouse gases and preparing for climate change. In 2019, Charlottesville adopted a community-wide goal of reducing emissions by 45% by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. After years of delay, the formalization of a Climate Action Plan moves the city forward in taking concrete steps to mitigating carbon emissions and addressing the impacts of climate change. |
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The City of Charlottesville has two survey opportunities for community members regarding this initiative. |
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Richmond Seeks Input on ‘Climate Equity’ Plan
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After two years of planning and public engagement, Richmond introduced its draft Climate Equity Action Plan 2030 with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. Community residents are invited to weigh in on the plan that includes 49 strategies across 5 different pathways. |
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Community residents can participate in the survey in English or Spanish at Richmond's RVA green 2050 website. |
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UVA ERI Climate Restoration Initiative Publishes Findings |
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In 2020, University of Virginia Environmental Resilience Institute formed the Climate Restoration Initiative - a coordinated research initiative focused on negative emissions in Virginia. The goal of The Initiative is to produce recommendations on pathways to negative emissions in Virginia and create mapping tools to inform state and community decision-making. The Initiative has recently published a report on their findings - "Leading the Way on Climate Restoration: Environmental and Economic Opportunities for Virginia". The report states that "Virginia can achieve net-zero energy-related greenhouse gas emissions by decarbonizing the electric power sector, transitioning to electric vehicles and carbon-neutral transportation fuels, expanding electrification of the building sector, and deploying BECCS and potentially DAC to offset any remaining emissions".
We would like to thank Jonah Fogel, Resilient Virginia Board Member, and the rest of the UVA ERI team for their hard work on the Climate Restoration Initiative. Your findings will help our communities become more resilient. |
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Solar Fund for Appalachia Awards First Grant
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In April, the Appalachian Solar Finance Fund (SFF) awarded its first $44,690 grant to help a nonprofit go solar. The Appalachian Solar Finance Fund is a project to jump-start public, nonprofit, and commercial solar projects in coal-impacted communities of Central Appalachia. They hosted a webinar on Thursday, April 21st, where members of the SFF Executive Committee discussed the fund’s purpose and structure, and how to apply for funding support. SFF team members also shared news about the Southwest Virginia Solar Workforce Accelerator, a related partnership between the SFF and community and technical colleges to create an apprenticeship-to-jobs pipeline in the region’s solar industry.
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Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR2022) |
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As global systems become more interconnected, their vulnerability to disasters increases. Even if a community is not directly impacted by an event, cascading consequences can be devastating. The Global Assessment Report (GAR2022) released by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) reveals that between 350 and 500 medium- to large-scale disasters took place every year over the past two decades. This number is projected to reach 560 a year by 2030. This will have tremendous impacts on communities around the world. The report highlights that:
- Without increased action to build resilience to systemic risk, we cannot achieve genuine sustainable development; and
- The best defense against future shocks is to transform systems now, to build resilience by addressing climate change and to reduce the vulnerability, exposure, and inequality that drive disasters.
Download the full report here. |
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IPCC Finalizes Third Part of the Sixth Assessment Report: Climate Change 2022, Mitigation of Climate Change |
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Published on April 4, 2022, the Working Group III contribution to the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) assesses literature on the scientific, technological, environmental, economic and social aspects of mitigation of climate change.
World Resources Institute has summarized the 6 key findings from this report:
- Global GHG emissions have continued to rise, but in pathways that limit warming to 1.5 degrees C, they peak before 2025.
- There's no room for building new fossil fuel infrastructure.
- We need rapid transformations across all systems to avoid the worse climate impacts.
- Changes in lifestyles and behaviors have a significant role to play in mitigating climate change.
- Limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees C will be impossible without carbon removal.
- Climate finance for mitigation must be 3 to 6 times higher by 2030 to limit warming to below 2 degrees C.
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Tetra Tech, Resilient Virginia Sponsor, Wins Six Climate Change and Environmental Industry Awards |
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We would like to recognize the extensive and powerful work TetraTech is doing. In March, they received six business achievement awards at the Environmental Industry Summit XX. They won awards for project work supporting climate resilience, greenhouse gas mitigation, and clean water amongst other things. Congratulations to TetraTech! We are thankful for their sponsorship of our organization! |
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Environmental Racism: A Tool for Exploring the Enduring Legacy of Redlining on Urban Environments |
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A resilient community is one that adapts and thrives despite changing environmental, economic, and social conditions. Our country's history of redlining has significantly hindered some communities, specifically communities of people of color, from becoming resilient. Research has shown that formerly redlined neighborhoods have more environmental hazards and fewer environmental amenities than other neighborhoods of the same city. The residents of these formerly redlined neighborhoods experience worse health conditions, including asthma and chronic disease. To build resilience, a community must address these inequities. Users can investigate these disparities in their community with a tool launched March 31st by RAND Corporation. This interactive tool can be used to compare levels of a broad variety of environmental factors within historical redlining map boundaries. Doing this will help users address inequities within their community, building a resilient future for all. |
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Virginia Coastal Resilience Web Explorer |
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At Session 2 of our Spring 2022 Resiliency Academy, Matt Dalon, Program Manager of the Virginia Coastal Resilience Master Plan with the Department of Conservation and Recreation, introduced the audience to the Virginia Coastal Resilience Web Explorer. This free tool allows users to interact with the Virginia Coastal Resilience Master Plan in many ways: - Explore potential coastal flood hazards by location;
- Look at the impacts of potential hazards to see where the greatest challenges lie;
- Understand how the impacts affect different communities across Virginia;
- View a database of resilience capacity building initiatives and projects.
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Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) Funding in Virginia 2022 |
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Does your community need funding for hazard mitigation projects? BRIC provides states, local communities, tribes, and territories funding for hazard mitigation projects - supporting them through capability- and capacity-building; encouraging and enabling innovation; promoting partnerships; enabling large projects; maintaining flexibility; and providing consistency. Applications are due November 10, 2022 at 5pm EST. For updates, you can sign up for email notifications from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management. |
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Resilient Events Calendar |
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This Spring, check out the many webinars, conferences, and community meetings that are happening in Virginia and around the nation.
A few of special interest:
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) are hosting a series of listening sessions to seek input on priorities and needs related to predicting water availability changes under drought conditions at national and regional scales. The series starts on May 5th with a discussion on groundwater drought prediction, followed by sessions on July 14th and September 8th.
FEMA Region 3 hosts Coffee Break webinars every other month to provide mitigation best practices and highlight the work happening at federal, regional, state, and community levels to reduce risk across the region. Their next webinar is May 18th and will discuss future conditions and hazard mitigation planning.
June 7-10, USGBC is hosting their annual event - USGBC Live. Attendance is virtual and in-person.
The White House Office of Public Engagement hosts Rural Stakeholders Briefings every Thursday afternoon at 3pm. These meetings are open to the public. |
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We believe our communities deserve a resilient future — one where we are adequately equipped to address extreme weather or high impact events and one where we can adapt and thrive despite changing climate, environmental, social, and economic conditions.
There is a lot to be done but we are committed to bring resiliency planning into the mainstream conversation in 2022. We are dedicated to pushing resiliency initiatives forward in all Virginia communities, rural and urban. Will you join us in this important work?
With your membership you have access to:
- Access to reliable, timely, and relevant information
- Discounts to all of our educational webinars and conferences where you will learn from expert speakers in the resiliency field
- Access to videos and slides from our previous academies and conference
- Subscription to the Resilient Virginia Member Brief
- An invitation to our listening sessions to contribute your ideas about programs that support our mission of accelerating resiliency planning.
We need all hands on deck! Please become a member today. |
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Continue your support throughout the year by using one or both of these online shopping sites that contribute to Resilient Virginia:
- Smile.Amazon.com — If Amazon is your online shopping choice, go to Smile.Amazon.com and designate Resilient Virginia and we will receive a donation with every purchase.
- GoodShop.com — Find lots of discounts and many participating stores for office supplies, general shopping, and special event gifts.
Feel free to send your suggestions for stories, as well as comments on existing stories. Contact: osso@resilientvirginia.org |
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