KLA Perspectives

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.