This national analysis identifies the number of US homes at risk from chronic flooding over the coming decades due to sea level rise. It also shows the current property value, estimated population, and portion of the property tax base at risk. Information is available by state, community, and zip code.
Gulf TREE was created to fulfill the need for guidance in climate tool selection. Stakeholders such as natural resource managers and community planners who understood the importance of incorporating climate resiliency into their projects struggled to find the right tool - the daunting process can be time-consuming, overwhelming, and very confusing.
To ensure that Gulf TREE would be relevant, workshops across the Gulf Coast were held both before and after development of the website. During the workshops, potential users gave input on current climate challenges, what they looked for when selecting a tool, and specific features they would like in Gulf TREE. When development finished, they tested the website and gave additional feedback which was integrated before the website publicly rolled out.
Important Note:
Nature offers a powerful set of tools for addressing hazards like flooding and erosion. Nature-based solutions use natural systems, mimic natural processes, or work in tandem with traditional approaches to address these specific hazards. Communities across the country— along rivers or coasts, large or small, rural or urban— can incorporate nature-based solutions in local planning, zoning, regulations, and built projects to help reduce their exposure to flood and erosion impacts.
HEALTHIER ENVIRONMENTS
RainReady℠ is a trademarked initiative of the Center for Neighborhood Technology, a national nonprofit headquartered in Chicago. We help people manage flooding and drought in a time of climate change.
How does RainReady work?
Cities are on the front line of climate change. They can be an important part of the solution by offering energy-efficient living for our growing population—but they must also face the growing threat of heat waves and flooding. Our Climate-Smart Cities program helps cities nationwide create parks and conserve land to meet the climate challenge.
We help cities use parks and natural lands as “green infrastructure” serving four objectives:
The Maine Flood Resilience Checklist is a simple and practical self-assessment tool designed to assist communities evaluate how well prepared they are for existing and future flood hazards. It provides an integrated framework for examining local flood risk, assessing vulnerability of the natural, built, and social environments, and identifying specific opportunities to enhance your community’s flood resilience.
The Coastal Hazard Wheel is a universal coastal adaptation system to address all coastal challenges simultaneously. It can be used as a complete coastal language and aims to boost adaptation action and bridge the gap between scientists, policy-makers and the general public. It is based on a new coastal classification system and functions as a key for classifying a particular coastal location, determining its hazard profile, identifying relevant management options and communicating coastal information.
Hundreds of US mayors have signaled their intent to assume a leadership role in combating climate change following President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord. The challenge now for these local leaders is to go beyond the pledge and implement substantial climate action. STAR Communities developed the Climate Change Guide with support from local leaders and members of its technical and governance committees.
During June of 2014, the town of Bowdoinham, Maine approved a new Comprehensive Plan for the coming years. As part of this plan, they included a section on adapting to sea-level rise and more severe rainstorms caused by climate change. By looking at past sea-level rise in the region and IPCC reports, the town developed projections for how much sea-level would rise nearby. Bowdoinham estimates sea-level in the area will rise at least one foot by 2050 and two feet by 2100, although they mention these estimates may be conservative. The report details the quantities of roads, railroads, buildings, and land that would be inundated by such sea-level rise. They also predict how much inundation would occur during a 100-year storm if various rises in sea-level were to occur. Additionally, they note that extreme precipitation events in the future may be 20% more severe than current local storm drains have been built to effectively deal with. Finally, they propose a number of recommendations including community education, participation in the FEMA National Flood Insurance CRS Program, and increasing resiliency of crucial transportation infrastructure.
When it comes to implementing climate change solutions, local communities are powerfully positioned to create an undercurrent of momentum and ambitious pathways to change that our national and global leaders cannot easily ignore. Yet in many communities, there are significant gaps in climate literacy, political will, and awareness of tangible climate action opportunities. To bridge this gap, Climate Generation has developed a best practices guide that shares our model and method for hosting public convenings on climate change at the community level.