Program version 2

The 2023 California Adaptation Forum is proud to offer attendees 4 off-site tours and 18 partner-led events, including workshops, network meetings, and networking events, occurring on the first day of the forum – Monday, July 31st.

These events are organized among three time blocks – Morning, Afternoon 1, and Afternoon 2. You will have time to attend one event in each block. Registration for each special event is required in order to participate, however participation in any Monday event is not mandatory for the forum itself.

You can register for these events in the forum registration page. If you need to cancel or change any event registration information, please reach out to Tiela Combs at tcombs@civicwell.org.

10:15 – 11:45am

Climate impacts from sea level rise-driven coastal flooding, emergent groundwater, and extreme precipitation, co-occur and cause extensive disruptions up and down the California coast. Traditional adaptation planning often neglects to address the compounding nature of these hazards. In this World Café, participants are invited to share their experiences and knowledge as we collectively brainstorm equitable adaptation strategies that address the confluence of groundwater, sea level rise, and extreme precipitation. Following short presentations on emerging science, we will focus our discussion on East Palo Alto, CA – a San Francisco Bay Area neighborhood that experiences all these hazards today. Participants will leave this session learning from each other and identifying strategies that can support work already underway in East Palo Alto. Insights from the session will be shared in a white paper following the conference.

Caltrans’ Planning and Environmental Linkages (PEL) Study holistically integrates transportation, climate change, and related environmental, social, and economic challenges. Caltrans’ PEL process engaged stakeholders and public agencies to advance corridor-wide solutions that more than a decade of prior actions could not achieve. The need for a long term solution for the 21- mile-long SR 37 is both highly complex and urgent: it serves as a connection for disadvantaged communities to access jobs and housing but is poorly served by public transportation; it also crosses sensitive tidal marsh areas, biological preserves, and extensive farmlands. Much of the corridor is vulnerable to flood-related closures and is projected to become permanently submerged due to sea level rise by 2100. This session will explore the benefits of the SR 37 PEL process and how it could be applied to other infrastructure projects across the state facing a mix of transportation, equity, and climate change- related impacts.

Join us in conversation about challenges and considerations in pursuing a coordinated regional strategy for climate adaptation. The Bay Area Regional Collaborative (BARC) and the Bay Area Climate Adaptation Network (BayCAN) will share takeaways from a project to build system maps of the roles, responsibilities, and relationships of the San Francisco Bay Area’s regionally-focused agencies with each other, other layers of government, and local efforts in adapting to climate hazards. We also investigated the state of technical assistance from multiple perspectives. We see opportunities for partnership and collaboration to achieve a Regional Multi-Hazard Climate Adaptation Plan and Technical Assistance Program that equitably support on-the-ground efforts at the local, sub-regional and regional scales. Our opening panel will provide project background and context; then small working groups will delve into emerging themes and challenges of a regional approach: scaling up, equity, capacity, community participation, and technical assistance. There will be maps!

Afternoon Block 1

When registering for events in the afternoon, note that you will have time to attend only one event in each block. There will be a brief break in between Afternoon 1 & Afternoon 2 time blocks.

1:00 – 2:45 pm

Organizer

1460 East Holt Ave. Suite 1440, Pomona, CA, 91767

1:00pm – 2:30pm

Adaptation investments are expensive and last for decades, yet face many challenges. Infrastructure funding rarely includes resources for engagement or monitoring & evaluation. Data from modeling and satellites is not granular enough for project design decisions, so we risk building the wrong projects, in the wrong places, for the wrong reasons. Local government is under resourced, often unable to maintain the infrastructure we build.
The solution? Climate stewards. Join ISeeChange and University of California Climate Stewards to discuss how to cultivate community stewardship of public places. We will cover how cities and counties have used ISeeChange to engage their communities in collecting weather impact data, and how this ground-truthing resulted in millions of dollars of infrastructure being redirected to the right locations where real adaptation needs existed. We will then offer feedback on specific community engagement and data problems faced by participants.

Speakers

1:00pm – 2:30pm

Join us and experience the future of climate communications in this immersive, interactive workshop. Discover the extraordinary potential of Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR and AR) in inspiring tangible climate action. From Coastal Resilience to Urban Heat Islands, from Wildfires to Conservation and Education, these pioneering tools of engagement have already reached thousands, raised significant funds, and attracted widespread media attention. Immersive experiences have a unique power – they can forge emotional connections, stimulate cognitive processing, build self-efficacy, and leverage the potent force of social influence.

You’ll be among the first to try our latest AR tool dedicated to coastal resilience. Features including simultaneous viewing and live interaction with 3D models, annotations, and screen sharing, you’ll be fully equipped to collaboratively discover effective solutions to mitigate climate impacts on your coastal regions.

Organizer

1:00pm – 2:30pm

As human-centered researchers, designers, and planners, we know that understanding the experiences of others brings immeasurable value to our work. However, human-centricity is a distorted perspective of our world, and is at the root of some of our most pressing issues. Expanding our perspective is essential to planning and enacting impactful and equitable climate adaptation. We invite you to join this experiential learning session in cognitive perspective-taking at the level of person-to-person, and person-to-planet. We will first unpack the three types of empathy: Affective (feeling), Somatic (experiencing), and Cognitive (understanding), and practice deep listening with one another, working in pairs to tune in with curiosity. We’ll then extend our antennae to the complex impacts of climate change, sharing actionable tools to understand and integrate the perspectives of the greater living world into our decision-making frameworks, adaptation strategies, and daily interactions.

Organizer

1:00pm – 2:30pm

For many years, community organizations in California have pushed for greater accountability from polluters in the transportation, distribution, and logistics sector. CARB’s new Advanced Clean Fleets rule creates benchmarks for fleet and warehouse operators to comply with these demands. However, private companies are not always concerned with the real people affected by their sustainability goals.

This workshop will bring together community organizations and public sector representatives to discuss needs and challenges toward a just transition for logistics in the most impacted communities – those by the ports and along the 10/60 and 5 freeways. How can we ensure that electrification creates high-quality jobs, equitable access to wealth, and more livable cities for the most disinvested communities?

Participants are encouraged to come prepared to share their local challenges and solutions before we break into a facilitated discussion.

Organizer

  • Athena Tan, Plug In IE – Inland Empire Labor Institute, Research and Policy Coordinator

1:00pm – 2:45pm

Designing and implementing effective adaptation solutions requires understanding & using high-quality, local climate data. User-friendly tools can allow adaptation solution designers to identify regions most impacted by climate hazards and determine timing & location of adaptation actions. The California Energy Commission-funded Cal-Adapt enterprise is the state’s primary source for the latest downscaled climate data. The enterprise includes the Cal-Adapt: Analytics Engine, an effort producing analytical tools for users to easily perform tailored analyses for specific applications such as identifying vulnerable assets or generating time-series climate profiles. In this workshop, participants will learn about Cal-Adapt & the Analytics Engine, data & tools, and the iterative stakeholder engagement process through which tools were developed. Presentations will be followed by hands-on demonstrations and interactive working sessions where participants will see the tools in action.

Speakers

1:00pm – 2:45pm

The Inland SoCal Climate Collaborative (ISC3) welcomes its members, stakeholders from across the inland regions, and CAF attendees to a public convening on regionally responsive climate planning, best practices, and opportunities ahead. Attendees will hear from local leaders, learn about exciting efforts happening in the region, and have opportunities to connect and collaborate with climate-focused stakeholders. This dynamic meeting will offer a mix of speakers, fast pitch presentations, facilitated dialogues, and networking. The event will focus on topics and themes that uniquely affect the Inland Empire, Coachella Valley, Imperial Valley, and other nearby geographies around CAF 2023.

Organizer

  • Ari Simon, Inland SoCal Climate Collaborative (ISC3), Interim Lead

1:00pm – 2:45pm

1:00pm – 5:00pm

Note that this event spans afternoon blocks 1 & 2.

Are you an aspiring adaptation jedi seeking to protect communities, resources, and economies amid changing coastal conditions? Come trade stories about your challenges and strategies for effective and timely adaptation planning.

The Coastal Commission Local Government Sea Level Rise Working Group is working to identify new options for phased and regional approaches to adaptation planning. The Working Group will share its ideas and initiatives and invite all perspectives, examples and questions from California agencies, cities, counties, planners and regional planning organizations.

The session will begin with a 1-hour presentation and discussion of new approaches to coastal adaptation planning, followed by an opportunity for one-on-one and small group interaction with Commissioners, Commission staff, and officials and staff from coastal jurisdictions.

The session will conclude with a reception.

 

Organizer

  • Caelan McGee, California Coastal Commission Local Government Sea Level Rise Working Group

Afternoon Block 2

When registering for events in the afternoon, note that you will have time to attend only one event in each block. There will be a brief break in between Afternoon 1 & Afternoon 2 time blocks.

3:00pm – 4:30pm

This Fast Futures training by Institute for the Future is a 90-minute, introductory level learning experience that will teach you how to get started with your own foresight practice. Foresight is the ability to think effectively about how the future might be different so that you can prepare for challenges and start to make your community more future-ready. This session is for you if: 1) you’re curious about foresight, but don’t know anything about it yet. 2) you want to learn a few habits that can help you spot changes faster to adapt faster. 3) you’re excited to stretch your imagination. 4) you want to take away practical skills you can share with others. Application areas of this skill set include: using foresight as a tool for building community power in diverse communities, planning a future-ready region to make the most of funding sources like the Community Economic Resilience Fund & the Inflation Reduction Act, and more. For more about your hosts, go to www.iftf.org.
This course is for you if: 1) you’re curious about foresight, but don’t know anything about it yet. 2) you want to learn a few habits that can help you spot changes faster to adapt faster. 3) you’re excited to stretch your imagination. 4) you want to take away practical skills you can share with others.

Application areas of this skillset include: using foresight as a tool for building community power in diverse communities, planning a future-ready region to make the most of funding sources like the Community Economic Resilience Fund & the Inflation Reduction Act, and more.

For more about your hosts, go to www.iftf.org.

 

Organizer

3:00pm – 4:30pm

Planscape is the new decision support tool for planning to maximize wildfire resilience and ecological benefits. Planscape has been built by the CNRA, the USFS, The Wildfire Taskforce, Google.org and Spatial Informatics Group (SIG). During the workshop you’ll learn about the data and science behind Planscape, and see live demonstrations of how it can be used to explore data layers, define projects, weigh priorities and generate projects to optimize resilience and the many co-benefits. Workshop participants will be able to learn and explore Planscape on their own devices, provide feedback to the developers and ask questions from the presenters.

Speakers

  • Rob Lawson, Planscape, Head of Partnerships
  • Carrie Levine, Spatial Informatics Group, Domain Lead, Forests & Agriculture

3:00pm – 5:00pm

Information on climate change is one of our best resources for adaptation planning. Scientists have a strong understanding of climate trends, and have developed many impact models. Despite progress on both ends of the spectrum, decision support that combines climate trends and impact analyses for specific contexts is still in its infancy. This workshop will bring together an interdisciplinary group of scientists, agricultural and natural resources businesses, and state agencies to share existing decision support, discuss needs, and identify gaps, with particular focus on diverse and historically underserved populations. Participants will participate in breakout groups to share their experiences of making difficult decisions about adaptation in the face of uncertainty, discuss where the research and funding communities should focus their efforts to improve decision support, and join an informal network of practitioners and advisors to continue the conversations after the Forum.
Speakers
  • Tapan Pathak, UC Merced, Cooperative Extension Specialist
  • Andy Lyons, UC Ag and Natural Resources, Academic Coordinator

3:00pm – 5:00pm

The Mentorship Program is intended to provide an environment that fosters learning and promotes personal and professional growth for professionals in the climate adaptation sector.

As a Mentee, you will build lasting connections with climate adaptation leaders from across the state and receive one-on-one guidance and support from a seasoned professional in your field of interest during CAF.

As a Mentor, you would act as a valuable resource to facilitate learning and growth for early professionals by sharing your experiences, knowledge, and wisdom, and help your mentee navigate CAF in a way that supports and aligns with their professional goals and aspirations.

3:00pm – 6:00pm

Worse and more frequent extreme weather events are impacting the state every year, making up-to-date information on climate change imperative to driving sound policy and investment decisions. California’s Climate Change Assessments contribute to the scientific foundation for understanding climate-related vulnerability at the regional and local scale. Starting this year, California’s Fifth Climate Change Assessment will develop Regional Reports to strengthen the understanding of climate impacts at the local level and inform the development of resilience actions across the state. These reports will use the original research, data, and models produced throughout the Fifth Assessment to synthesize information that meets the needs of regions throughout the state. This session is an opportunity to provide input on the priority themes and approach for developing reports that prioritize community engagement and learn how to use Fifth Assessment resources for local and regional decision-making.
Speaker
  • Emely Anico, CA Strategic Growth Council, Strategic Engagement Specialist

3:00pm – 6:00pm

Using a combination of oral storytelling, artistic depictions, and music, Mycelium Youth Network will run an immersive in-person gaming experience based in our Gaming for Justice environmental justice universe. Depending on interest, 2 -3 teams of 6 to 7 will participate in a 2.5 to 3 hour-long campaign that will feature team-building challenges and storytelling puzzles as adventurers work to gather evidence and expose the evil secrets at the center of the manufacturing plant that is causing significant air pollution and lung health to the local community. The community must prove that the potion plant is the source of the pollution that is also directly increasing emissions and raising temperatures for local politicians to act. Adventurers must decide as a team how they will assist the town in gathering evidence and uncovering the dangerous secret lurking in the potion plant’s underground storage facility.
Organizer

3:00pm – 6:00pm