Guest post by Carley Petrone, KLA's Climate Analysis Manager

In today’s world, climate change is reshaping the realities that we once held true. With events like Hurricane Helene that devastated Western North Carolina, the deadliest U.S. hurricane since Katrina, the notion of a “climate haven” is proving to be increasingly uncertain.

In one week, Helene dumped 40 trillion gallons of water across the Southeast —or enough rainwater to fill 60 million Olympic-size swimming pools. Unfortunately, this event is not expected to be a one-time occurrence. With climate change, scientists expect storms to become more frequent and intense as rising ocean temperatures fuel stronger winds and warmer air holds more moisture, leading to heavier rainfall and increased flooding. 

The economic toll of natural disasters tells the same story. In 2022 alone, the cost of natural disasters exceeded $360 billion across the globe, including more than 40 weather events causing over $1 billion in damage. These numbers reiterate the urgent need for every community, regardless of geography, to invest in resilience and adaptation measures. Side note: Generally speaking, resilience indicates the ability to prepare for, recover from, and adapt to climate impacts and adaptation is described as “adjustments to how we live, work, and play to keep us safe from the impacts of climate change.” They are sometimes used interchangeably though there are distinct differences. For purposes of this article, we’re talking broader climate resilience.

The good news: every $1 invested in resilience and disaster preparedness saves $13 in economic impact, damage, and cleanup costs after the event, according to the Climate Resiliency Report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Allstate, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. Bottom line is it’s a smart investment whether you’re staring down more hurricanes, flooding, or extreme heat.  

Guest post by Tacy Lambiase, Climate Communications and Storytelling Manager

Last month, I had the opportunity to connect with many passionate, smart, and hardworking climate professionals at the 5th National Adaptation Forum in Baltimore. More than 800 people attended – a record turnout – to share their ideas, strategies, successes, and challenges with preparing our world for a rapidly changing climate.

The KLA and Climate Resilience Consulting (CRC) teams also had the chance to meet and network with many attendees at our interactive booth. (If you haven’t already, take our quick quiz to find out which adaptation strategy matches your personality!)

Couldn’t attend this year’s event? Check out the 2022 program; NAF will be posting videos and summaries of the main sessions later this month. We also talked about KLA's equity-centered approach to resilience planning and our work with clients from Cambridge, MA, to Clark County, NV, in a recent blog post.  And we compiled the KLA and CRC resources from NAF on this page. 

For local governments, engaging the community is key to achieving climate goals, and Earth Day is one of the best opportunities to get people to take action. That’s especially true right now when the recent headlines – like USA Today’s "'It's now or never': UN climate report shows globe is on 'track toward an unlivable world'"-- are driving awareness and, ideally, action.

The next few weeks are when people will be searching online for ways to "go green." It's when you have the chance to convert someone looking for a one-time litter or river clean up into a regular participant in your climate programs.

Earth Day can be a springboard for climate action in your community.

But you can't do this if people need a PhD to understand the challenges your community faces and where you're headed. Or if they have to navigate a typical local government website to find the most effective actions. Don’t lose the Earth Day momentum!

Summer is winding down, and National Preparedness Month is upon us.  It’s been a summer filled with headlines of devastating wildfires in California, heat waves around the globe and extreme rainfall and flooding events from the US to Japan. It’s clear that communities big and small should be thinking about the impacts they might face now and in the future with climate change.   

Among strategies to prepare for natural disasters, “resilience hubs” are gaining momentum as well as a reputation for fostering equity, neighborhood development and local community power.

In my latest podcast episode of SAS Talk with Kim, I spoke with Kristin Baja, Climate Resilience Officer at USDN and formerly with the City of Baltimore, about the concept, value and logistics of resilience hubs and more of USDN’s work on climate resilience.  

Earlier we wrote about KLA’s work with the City of Indianapolis to think outside the box for public engagement in developing their Sustainability and Resilience Plan. Part of the Thrive Indianapolis approach is a focus on several populations that are not typically engaged in a community planning process, including youth. 

Young people -- which we defined loosely as elementary through high school ages -- will, after all, be the ones living with the impacts of today’s decisions longer than the rest of us.

So Indianapolis pulled together the first Thrive Community Day in mid-August as an end-of-summer celebratory and educational event specifically designed to engage a younger audience. It was a hit. 

Many sustainability planning processes (and indeed planning processes in general) tout community engagement as the cornerstone of plan development. But we often see the same actors engaged time after time. These are often representatives and members of environmental nonprofits and super civic-minded citizens. While their opinions are important, ultimately the needs and perspectives of huge swaths of the community are not reflected in the final plans because they weren’t given the right opportunity to voice them.

That was not the approach Indianapolis wanted to take when they embarked on their Sustainability and Resilience planning process and brought the KLA Team in to manage it. The plan -- called Thrive Indianapolis -- brings together City agencies, community partners, and residents to chart a course for an Indianapolis that is equitable, healthier, and prepared for the challenges of the 21st century. It encompasses 8 “plan elements”:

• Built Environment
• Economy
• Energy
• Food & Urban Agriculture
• Natural Resources
• Public Health & Safety
• Transportation & Land Use
• Waste & Recycling

So it touches on everything -- and everyone -- from infrastructure to parks to jobs to food access to transportation options to safe streets to air and water quality. We’re still only halfway through the process, but so far the approach we’ve taken with the City and our partners to really shake up the standard community engagement game is showing results.

3 Unique Ways to Get Your Stakeholders + Community Involved in Emergency Preparedness and Climate Resilience

We’re in the middle of hurricane and wildfire seasons with other parts of the country battling heat waves and others recovering from flooding. And we’re weeks away from National Emergency Preparedness Month (September). Is your community ready if your number is up?

There are plenty of ways to engage community members and key stakeholders in your emergency preparedness and climate resilience planning.  We're taking a look at 3 -- a game, a survey tool and virtual reality -- that we think are the most fun and effective. 

Guest Post by Joyce Coffee of Climate Resilience Consulting.

Even as we work tirelessly and in the face of great obstacles to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, humans have already set in motion impacts from climate change -- many of which we’re witnessing in real time: more frequent and intense storms, flooding, sea level rise, drought and extreme weather events. Thus, communities around the world are embracing climate adaptation measures and plans to be resilient to what the future will bring -- and what the present is already delivering.

“I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.” With those words in June 2017 President Trump announced his intentions to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord -- and thrust Pittsburgh into the spotlight.