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Climate-Safe Infrastructure: Building Resilience to Climate Change

When California invests public funds into infrastructure, we make a compact with the public that those projects, from bridges to schools to levees, will fulfill critical economic and public well-being needs over decades. Climate change threatens this compact by introducing change and uncertainty to the baselines these projects are designed to endure.  Extreme events such…

Climate Resilience Starts at Home

Californians have suffered a devastating year of climate change impacts, ranging from wildfires to deadly heat waves.  In communities where extreme heat is becoming the norm, rising energy costs threaten the health of children and seniors as families struggle to pay their utility bills.  Low-income Californians pay the highest percentage of their income on energy…

Climate change is here. Is California’s infrastructure ready for more weather extremes?

This past year has been one of extremes in California. In 2017, we experienced all-time temperature highs (statewide and regionally), a deadly heat wave, the most destructive and lethal wildfires in the state’s history, and the second wettest winter on record following a historic five year drought. The impacts have been staggering: many lives lost, thousands of properties destroyed, and costly infrastructure…

Indigenous knowledge is critical to understanding climate change

Originally published in The Seattle Times Good science is critical to our health, ability to live full lives and community well-being. We use science to advance medicine, enhance our use of natural resources, ensure our food supply and much more. That’s why more than a million people around the world joined the March for Science…

How to Use Systems Thinking to Solve Tough Resilience Problems and Get Stuff Done

The challenges government is tasked with solving have always been messy. With the explosion of big data and “smart” technologies, it seems to get messier every day. On the one hand, big data and new technologies are breaking down traditional government silos. But on the other hand, they have also illuminated the enormous complexity of…

Integrating Traditional Ecological Knowledge and World Renewal Ceremonies into Fire Adaptation: An Indigenous Stewardship Model

Originally posted on Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network The Karuk Tribe’s Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and belief systems are constructed and preserved in the form of stories, practices, performances and ongoing interactions with the natural world. Among such rituals include our World Renewal Ceremonies, which the Karuk Tribe has practiced since time immemorial. These ceremonies have been…

Untold History: The Survival of California’s Indians

Originally posted on KCET If you grew up in California, you probably learned most of what you know about the history of California Indians while you were in fourth grade. All that several generations of Californians learned of the state’s Native peoples can be summed up thusly: California was originally populated by people who did…

Recap: Youth Day and the 2017 Tribal Summit

Please note that this article will be updated in April to include adaptation-specific connections, best practices, and lessons learned.   In mid-November, the Native Waters on Arid Lands (NWAL) team hosted our third annual Tribal Summit. Approximately 120 people attended the 2017 Summit, traveling to Sparks, Nev. from communities, reservations, colleges and universities located across…

Wildfire Resilience in California

Climate change is intensifying weather events, including drought and heat waves, which accelerate wildfires. California is experiencing lower humidity and higher temperatures for longer periods of time during the year. The average fire season has increased by 78 days over the last four decades and in many areas of the State, fire season is occurring…