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Fall Resiliency Academy

Thank you to everyone who completed our Fall Resiliency Academy survey! The answers we received provided clear guidance on what you wanted to hear about.

We started off the Academy on September 29th with discussion on Investing in Resilience. This session included presentations on blended finance, how to "make a case" for federal funding, current funding opportunities, and an explanation of Moody's inclusion of climate mitigation considerations as part of their local government rating criteria.

The Academy continued on October 27th with a discussion on Building for Resilience. In this session, we focused on how communities can build for resilience, where they can find the funding to do so, and examples of how this is already being done.

The third virtual session will be November 17th, where we will discuss Mitigating Climate Impacts with Forests, Farms, and Fields. Confirmed speakers for this event include Tom Thompson, Associate Dean in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) and Director of CALS Global, Virginia Tech; Brent Wills, President on the Board of Directors for the Virginia Association for Biological Farming; and Andres Clarens, Associate Director, Environmental Resilience Institute at University of Virginia.

To learn more about the remaining Fall Resiliency Academy sessions and to register, visit our Resiliency Academy website.

Thank you to our Fall Resiliency Academy Sponsor!

Don't Let Virginia Fall Behind

Resilient Virginia’s mission is to make sure all communities get the help they need to prepare for the future. We don’t want any community to get left behind. It doesn’t matter if you’re on the coast, in the city, or in rural areas - your community deserves a chance at withstanding these changes.

The momentum has started - funding has started to flow from the Federal government; communities are starting to address risks and develop resiliency plans; environmental justice and climate equity are the focus of many initiatives. We don’t want this momentum to stop. So much great work is being done. Let’s make sure it continues!

If you agree that #VirginiaCan'tWait to help our communities plan and prepare for the future, we ask that you consider joining us as a Member,  becoming an Annual or Event Sponsor, or making a Donation. Please help us keep the momentum going!

Learn more about the various opportunities to help Virginia communities on our website.

Virginia Tech CLiGS Students Help With Shaping Our Collaborative Alliance

Resilient Virginia was fortunate to have two graduate students from Virginia Tech's Center for Leadership in Global Sustainability work with us the past few months on the shaping of our Collaborative Alliance. Their work has been invaluable and we appreciate all they have done for Resilient Virginia!

Please be on the look out as we will be sending out more information about the Alliance soon.

Environmental Justice in Lynchburg

Our Lynchburg Rising project is moving along. Unfortunately, we were not able to reach out the to community at Get Downtown because of hurricane Ian, but that has not stopped our progress. We have identified the 4 underserved Lynchburg neighborhoods where we will focus our engagement efforts, found community ambassadors for each neighborhood, and begun to schedule an event for each community. To learn more about Lynchburg Rising, visit our website.
 

Clean Energy Can Supercharge Virginia's Economy - If State Leaders Seize This Moment

The United States has entered a new era in the fight against climate change. President Biden recently signed the largest climate bill in US history, which includes major investments in energy efficient housing, solar and wind technologies, and the electric vehicle industry. Last year’s trillion-dollar infrastructure bill included significant funding for the nation’s electric grid, clean transportation infrastructure and carbon capture technology. And the White House has taken a series of executive actions designed to speed our nation’s transition to clean energy.

These federal investments direct millions in clean energy funding to state governments. But their economic impact will depend largely on the actions of states themselves.

Virginia could capitalize on this momentum and become a leader in clean energy industries of the future – creating hundreds of thousands of new, well-paying jobs. But for this to happen, state leadership must recognize the economic opportunities of this moment.

Read the entire op-ed piece, written by Chris Stone (Resilient Virginia Board Member), originally published in The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press on October 1, 2022.
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Virginia Tech Receives Record $80 Million Grant to Help Farmers Implement Climate-Smart Practices That Could Significantly Reduce Greenhouse Gases

Virginia Tech recently received a grant from the USDA to pilot a program that will pay producers to implement climate-smart practices on farms of all sizes and commodities, an initiative that could have significant impacts on curbing climate-changing gases. "The pilot program will pay producers $100 per acre or animal unit for voluntary adoption of climate-smart practices that deliver more than that amount in public environmental benefits. Unlike previous cost-sharing programs that put some of the financial burdens of adopting climate-smart practices on producers, this program pays producers more than the cost of implementation of these practices while also improving their bottom lines."

NOTE: If you would like to learn more about this program, join us at our November 17th Resiliency Academy Session. Tom Thompson, Director of CALS Global, will discuss the project's background, goals, partnerships and implementation plan.
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Electric School Bus Success in Rural Virginia: Louisa County Public Schools

After a successful year with two new electric school buses, Louisa County has added two more to their fleet. They received the first two electric buses in early 2021 through the Dominion Energy Electric School Bus Program. After a successful year, they sought funding for additional electric buses and recently received their third and fourth buses through an EPA grant.

Over the 2021-2022 school year, Louisa County Public Schools estimates they saved over $5000 in general maintenance and fuel for each bus in service and the buses would routinely return to the hub after they finished their routes with 55% - 70% charge remaining.
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More Than $4 Million in Federal Funds to Southwest Virginia

On October 17th, Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine announced that more than $4 million in funding would be coming to southwest Virginia for economic development and recreational opportunities. Projects receiving the funding include:
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Virginia Opens 30-Day Comment Period on Two Key Coastal Resilience Documents

The Department of Conservation and Recreation is seeking public comment on key documents for the state’s coastal resilience planning. Both documents were previously released without public comment. Comments may be left on the Virginia Townhall website Oct. 17 through Nov. 18.
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Observed Changes in Daily Precipitation Intensify: It's Raining Harder in the U.S.

When looking at the impacts of climate change, people typically look at extreme weather events, such as floods, heatwaves, and droughts. Northwestern University recently released a report on a study they did that looked at changes in non-extreme events which are more common. The study compared observed rainfall from two climatologically distinct time periods and across 17 different climate regions in the U.S. and what they found is what a lot of us have noticed lately - when it rains now, it rains more. "Increased precipitation intensities affect many sectors, including agriculture and infrastructure, as well as lead to increased risks of landslides and flooding. [Daniel] Horton [the study's senior author] hopes the study findings can be used by resource managers, policy makers and urban planners to design infrastructure that is more resilient to changing weather patterns."
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Biden-Harris Administrations Strengthens the Federal Government's Resilience to Climate Change Impacts

In February 2021, President Biden charged agencies to strengthen their climate adaptation efforts and in October of that same year, the agencies released climate adaptation plans that identified and addressed their more significant risks. Now a year in, 2022 Climate Adaptation Progress Reports show that the agencies have made significant progress in bolstering adaptation and increasing resilience. On October 6th, the Biden-Harris administration announced that more than 20 agencies have taken new actions to increase the federal government's resilience to climate impacts.
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    Deforestation Declining, but Too Slow to Meet Climate Goals

    With a loss of 26,000 square miles of forest in 2021 (unleashing 3.8 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions), the world saw a drop in global deforestation by just 6.3% - not enough to meet the world's goal of ending forest loss by 2030.

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    The USDA's Latest Investments in Climate-Smart Agriculture are Just a Start

    The USDA recently announced a $2.8 billion investment in 70 projects across the U.S. through the Climate Smart Commodities Program. This is a good start to mitigating the impacts of climate change through agricultural practices, but for it to truly succeed, the author argues that more funding needs to be available for the research and development of new practices.
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    Resilience for Compounding and Cascading Events

    This report explores strategies that would enable the nation to be better prepared for and respond to compounding and cascading disasters so that affected communities can not only rebuild, but do so in a manner that increases their resilience to future events.
     
    Download

    Principles for Resilient Infrastructure

    This report describes a set of principles, key actions, and guidelines to create national scale net resilience gain and improve the continuity of critical services such as energy, transport, water, wastewater, waste, and digital communications, which enable health, education, etc. to function effectively.
     
    Download

    Prepare for a Grant Application

    Are you interested in applying for funding from the EPA? If so, there are steps you can take to prepare now before the Notice of Funding Opportunity has been posted. The webpage offers writing tips, webinars and training sessions, as well as registration instructions.
     
    Learn More

    Resilient Events Calendar
     

    This Fall, check out the many webinars, conferences, and community meetings that are happening in Virginia and around the nation.

    A few of special interest:

    Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay is hosting their 2022 Chesapeake Watershed Forum November 4 - 6.

    FEMA Region 3's next Coffee Break Webinar is November 23rd. The topic of this session is "Utilizing University Partnerships in Hazard Mitigation Planning."

    Learn more about the National Flood Insurance Program, hosted by FEMA on November 15 and December 20.
    Calendar of Events
     

    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