Great progress on Climate Ready America as we head into the holidays!
From the December 2022 Cornerstone Network Email
The past few months have been a whirlwind as we worked to bring our Climate Ready America system of climate services to fruition! And, because of that effort, I have much to report:
Support from Federal Agencies
In October, we worked with the NOAA Climate Program Office to host a gathering of federal climate resilience programs ahead of the National Adaptation Forum. In this half-day workshop, agencies helped identify the challenges of getting federal money to the ground where it is needed most.
To close out the day, we shared the details of Climate Ready America. Across the board the agency representatives agreed that Climate Ready America would help to more effectively deploy their climate programs and better understand emerging needs in communities.
After almost two years of working to develop this initiative from the ground up, we are energized by the strong support from the federal agencies. It reinforced that we understand what is needed and that Climate Ready America will meet that need.
Securing Funding
Since this workshop, we are continuing conversations with congressional offices, federal climate programs, and practitioners to find funding to get pilot Climate Innovation Centers launched in Indiana, Utah, Georgia, New Hampshire, and possibly Oregon.
Our team prepared comments to the Environmental Protection Agency asking for an investment of just 5% of the funding in their $27 billion dollar Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to build Climate Ready America. With this investment we could build a topflight climate services system that ensures all US communities can get the climate help they need no matter their size, location, or wealth for at least five years.
Other Progress
I have been honored to serve this past year on the Climate Resilience Subcommittee for FEMA’s National Advisory Council. The Council recently delivered its recommendations to Administrator Criswell and I am hopeful that they will help FEMA provide greater leadership in the effort to build a climate resilient nation.
We have also been meeting with the Office of Science and Technology Policy at the White House to help them develop recommendations for climate services. I recently participated in a listening session they hosted with climate service leaders to gather input for their recommendations. We are hopeful they will call a coordinated public/private climate services structure as the FEMA recommendations have.
You!
I wasn’t kidding when I said that it’s been a whirlwind of activity these past few months. Your financial support as we have done this work has made all the difference because most foundations and government funding programs do not support projects of this size and complexity. Thank you so much. We appreciate your partnership more than you can ever know.
Your ongoing support is needed if we are to maintain our momentum and build on the great progress we have made in 2022. Take a look at our end of year Look Ahead publication, which includes information about our plans for 2023 and how you can make a contribution to support those efforts. We appreciate all contributions and work hard to make the very best use of them.
Arsum is the Senior Adaptation and Coastal Resilience Specialist for the National Wildlife Federation’s Southcentral Region. In this role, she advances climate adaptation efforts, with a focus on nature-based approaches to address the impacts of climate change and extreme events across the Gulf region. She has authored and co-authored numerous publications on climate impact assessments and adaptation solutions. Additionally, she regularly participates in state-based coastal resilience and hazard mitigation planning across the Gulf, collaborating with regional and local stakeholders.
Frank is the former President of the Reinsurance Association of America. Frank currently serves on the Advisory Board of the OECD’s International Network for the Financial Management of Large-Scale Disasters, the RAND Center on Catastrophic Risk Management and Compensation, and the University of Cincinnati’s Carl H. Lindner III Center for Insurance and Risk Management Advisory Board.
Jim is a multilingual world traveler. Based in Bavaria during the 1970s, Jim spent most of this period in India, Afghanistan and Nepal, where he founded and operated a charitable medical clinic serving Tibetan Refugees. He settled in Oregon in 1983 on a forested ranch in the Umpqua National Forest.
Dr. Micah Hahn is an Associate Professor of Environmental Health in the Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies at the University of Alaska-Anchorage. She received her joint PhD in Epidemiology / Environment and Resources from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her MPH in Global Environmental Health from Emory University. Subsequently, she was a postdoctoral fellow for the CDC Climate and Health Program, and in this position worked collaboratively with the CDC Division of Vector-borne Diseases and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Her research focuses on understanding the health impacts of climate change and working with communities to develop locally-relevant adaptation and resilience-building strategies. Dr. Hahn is also on the Management Team of the Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center.
Michael is a former Founding Principal of Resilient Cities Catalyst, a global non-profit helping cities and their partners tackle their toughest challenges. He is currently the Executive Director of Climate Resilience Academy at the University of Miami.
Dr. Quintus Jett is a consultant, educator, and strategist for public causes. He has a doctorate in Organizations & Management from Stanford University, and a two-decade faculty career which spans schools, departments, and programs of business, engineering, liberal studies, divinity, and public and nonprofit management. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Dr. Jett launched a volunteer project in New Orleans, which enlisted residents, students from over a dozen colleges and universities, and hundreds of others to field map the city’s Gentilly district, Lower Ninth Ward, and New Orleans East. Dr. Jett is an innovator in higher education, bridging the divide between academic research and the other priorities of the modern university, including student access and diversity, community engagement, and providing foundations for life-long learning in today’s rapidly changing world.
Scott is Monfort Professor of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University. He has written about 100 publications in the peer-reviewed climate literature, is a former editor of the Journal of Climate, and served for five years as founding Science Chair of the North American Carbon Program.
Linda has many years of experience in disaster preparedness and resilience. She has been an elected official on the Linn County Iowa Board of Supervisors, Chair of the Metropolitan Planning Organization, the East Central Iowa Council of Governments, the statewide Mental Health Developmental Disability and the Linn County Board of Health. Langston is a former president of the National Association of Counties (2013-2014).
Ken works with families and organizations as a mediator, organizational consultant, trainer and facilitator. Along with his passion for helping people prepare for and reduce climate change, Ken also volunteers as a mediator through Mediation Works and is passionate about supporting youth through mentoring with Boys to Men of Southern Oregon.
Matthew is a retired high school teacher who was once honored as Oregon High School Social Studies Teacher of the Year. Before his teaching career he was in the restaurant business in Portland. He is also a lawyer who has been a member of the Oregon State Bar Association since 1980.
Andrea is the Resilience Policy Advisor for the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency. She works across state agencies and with local governments to increase the state’s resilience to the impacts of climate change.