| Sea Grant Climate Ready Great Lakes – Module 3 Tools and Information |
This module highlights tools that have been developed by NOAA, Sea Grant and other federal agencies to assist local communities with assessing climate change vulnerability, as well as planning to adapt to predicted climate change impacts. The module highlights tools developed by NOAA's Coastal Services Center, assists decision makers in selecting the tool most appropriate for their community, and prepares them to acquire and use the tools they select. |
Online Content
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General
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| Coastal Climate Adaptation Online Resource |
General information, case studies, adaptation planning, outreach materials, policies, risk assessments, training materials regarding climate change |
Online Content
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General |
| Climate Change Adaptation Task Force |
A division of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, with other partners, outlining recommendations to President Obama for how Federal Agency policies and programs can better prepare the United States to respond to the impacts of climate change. |
Online Content
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General |
| Pew Center on Global Climate Change |
The Pew Center on Global Climate Change brings together business leaders, policy makers, scientists, and other experts to bring a new approach to a complex and often controversial issue. Their approach is based on sound science, straight talk, and a belief that we can work together to protect the climate while sustaining economic growth. |
Online Content
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General |
| Pew Center Adaptation 101 |
Quick fact sheet about climate change adaptations |
Report
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General |
| The Heinz Center's "A Survey of Climate Change Adaptation Planning" |
Introductory survey report is designed to provide a “road map” to understanding impacts of climate change and how to begin incorporating these impacts into regional planning efforts |
Report
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General |
| US Dept of Interior Technical Guide to Adaptive Management |
Presents an operational definition of adaptive management, identify the conditions in which adaptive management should be considered, and describe the process of using adaptive management for managing natural resources. |
Guidebook
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General |
| Saginaw Bay Greenways Collaborative |
Group of local, state, and federal agencies, nonprofits, and concerned citizens united around the goal of developing a green infrastructure system in Saginaw, Bay and Mindland counties in MI. |
Online Content
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General |
| New Hampshire Energy and Climate Collaborative |
Example that includes both mitigation and adaptation in a climate action plan. |
Online Content
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General |
| Michigan Sea Grant - Preparing for Climate Change in the Great Lakes Region |
On June 27, 2008, 40 representatives from Great Lakes foundations, non-governmental organizations, agencies, and universities, convened in Flint, MI for a one-day workshop to identify policy changes that will enable Great Lakes communities to adapt to climate change and protect major ecosystems, and to identify strategies for implementing those policy changes. |
Report
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General |
| Clean Air - Cool Planet |
The group's mission is to help solve the global warming problem through civic engagement, education and effective policy. |
Online Content
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General |
| Making NOAA Climate Forecasts Useful to Farmers |
USDA ARS News Service. Scientists are researching ways to apply seasonal climate forecasts at the farm level by developing computer models for climate-related decision support. |
Online Content - Report
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Agriculture |
| A Unified Response to Climate Change |
USDA ARS News Service. Scientists are looking for ways that agriculture can help reduce greenhouse gases through improved tillage and fertilizer use and cropping systems that sequester more carbon in the soil and keep it out of the atmosphere. GRACEnet (Greenhouse Gas Reduction through Agricultural Carbon Enhancement Network) scientists are comparing traditional systems with alternatives, using regional approaches and the same protocols to test soils, measure plant growth, and keep track of weather conditions and greenhouse gas releases. |
Online Content - Report
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Agriculture |
| ARS Explores Ways to Keep Carbon in the Soil |
USDA ARS News Service. Scientists are testing out alternative ways of tilling the soil and rotating crops to see if they can help wheat farmers in Oregon sequester more carbon in the soil and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. |
Online Content - Report
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Agriculture |
| USA EPA Business resources |
US EPA action recommendations for business |
Online Content
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Business |
| LID for Big Box Retailers |
The purpose of this project is to provide large building and site footprint high volume retailers with strategies that integrate innovative and highly effective Low Impact Development (LID) stormwater management techniques into their site designs for regulatory compliance and natural resource protection at the local levels. |
Online Content
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Business |
Wisconsin's Changing Climate:
Impacts and Adaptation |
This report will serve as a resource for business, government, natural resource managers, public health officials and other decision makers as they take steps to preserve jobs, invest resources wisely, build resiliency and protect our built and natural environment in the face of a changing climate. |
Online Content - Report
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Conservation and Natural Resources |
| Climate Ready Estuaries 2009 Progress Report |
The US EPA Climate Ready Estuaries program works with the National Estuary Programs and other coastal managers to assess climate change vulnerabilities, develop and implement adaptation strategies, engage and educate stakeholders, and share the lessons learned with other coastal managers. |
Research Report
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Conservation and Natural Resources |
| Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Communities: Vulnerabilities to climate change and response to adaptation strategies |
This report explores explore responses of Great Lakes coastal wetland communities (wetland vegetation and associated wetland-dependent birds and fishes) to historical and projected water level changes, and human-directed adaptations to changing water levels – infrastructure (lake regulation and diking) and land use policy – to maintain ecosystem functions and values. |
Research Report
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Conservation and Natural Resources |
| NOAA: Laurentan Great Lakes Basin Climate Change Adaptation |
This report contains the results of Phase I, a synthesis of existing knowledge on training and information needs and preliminary data collection, funded by the NOAA Sea Grant Climate Engagement Project. Phase II will include comprehensive data collection and be funded by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and coordinated by Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve. Phase II results and recommendations will be compiled as a companion document to this report. |
Online Content - Report
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Conservation and Natural Resources |
| Why Climate Change Makes Riparian Restoration More Important than Ever: Recommendations for Practice and Research |
Reviews the potential role for riparian restoration to prepare ecological systems for the threats
posed by climate change. |
Online Research Report
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Conservation and Natural Resources |
| Managing wet weather with green infrastructure |
Links to examples of green infrastructure and design, and advocates preservation and restoration of natural landscape features such as forests, floodplains, and wetlands, as critical components of stormwater infrastructure. |
Online Content
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Conservation and Natural Resources, Stormwater Managers |
| Forestry and the Carbon Market Response to Stabilize Climate |
This paper investigates the potential contribution of forestry management in meeting a CO2 stabilization policy of 550 ppmv by 2100. |
Research Report
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Conservation and Natural Resources |
| Restoring the Great Lakes’ Coastal Future: Technical Guidance for the Design and Implementation of Climate-Smart Restoration Projects |
The purpose of this Restoring the Great Lakes’ Coastal Future (pdf) is to provide an initial suite of tools and methods to assist in the planning and implementation of climate-smart restoration by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its partners and grantees. The guidance is intended to be a living document that evolves in response to workshops, trainings, on-the-ground projects, and other stakeholder input. Some ways that habitat restoration efforts funded under NOAA and partner programs in the Great Lakes region could be vulnerable to climate change impacts include: |
Report
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Conservation and Natural Resources |
| Safeguarding Wildlife from Climate Change Web Conference Series |
A webinar series about planning for climate change in the wildlife and natural resource fields: pdfs available at http://training.fws.gov/csp/resources/climate_change/
information.html#pgweb |
Archived Seminar Series
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Conservation and Natural Resources |
| Adapting to Climate Change: A Planning Guide for State Coastal Managers |
Describes the steps that make up a planning process and measure that can be incorporated into an adaptation plan. |
Guidebook
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Conservation and Natural Resources, Government, Policymakers |
NWF: Climate Change and
Great Lakes Water Resources |
This report focuses on how climate change will impact water resources and policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change and to adapt to the unavoidable impacts on water resources. It also examines how the Great Lakes compact gives the region an opportunity to make these improvements in water resource policy and better protect the Great Lakes from the pressures of climate change. |
Report
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Conservation and Natural Resources, Policymakers |
| HSBC Eco-Schools Climate Initiative |
HSBC Bank and Eco-Schools International Programme initiative to reduce carbon emissions from schools and homes. The initiative requires that schools follow its 7-step methodology to receive a "green flag" and focus on the physical fabric of the school, school curricula, and school governance. |
Online Content
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Educators |
| PREPARING FOR THE CHANGING CLIMATE: A Northeast-Focused Needs Assessment |
In the Northeast, the impacts of a changing climate are clearly evident and well-documented. Leaders in the region recognize the need to be proactive in adapting to such changes, but do not yet have the resources and tools they require to do so successfully. This report presents a snapshot of the needs of local, regional and state governments in undertaking such climate preparedness efforts. The goal is to target assistance effectively, and to help our partners in this effort—policy-makers, NGOs and others—do the same. |
Online Content
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Educators |
| ICLEI Climate Action Handbook for Local Governments |
For ICLEI members only, a guidebook for local government planning for climate change. |
Guidebook
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Government, Policymakers |
| State and Local Climate and Energy Program website |
EPA website to help state and local governments understand, plan, and implement strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions within their jurisdictions. |
Online Content
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Government |
| Waste management recommendations |
US EPA action recommendations for: waste. The manufacture, distribution and use of products – as well as management of the resulting waste – all result in greenhouse gas emissions. Waste prevention and recycling reduce greenhouse gases associated with these activities by reducing methane emissions, saving energy, and increasing forest carbon sequestration. |
Online Content
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Government |
| "Endangerment" and "Cause or Contribute" Findings for Greenhouse Gases under the US Clean Air Act |
EPA announced two distinct findings: that greenhouse gases (GHGs) threaten the public health and welfare of the American people, and that GHG emissions from new motor vehicles and new motor vehicle engines contribute to that threat. |
Policy Resource
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Government |
| Coastal States Organization: The Role of Coastal Zone Management Programs in Adaptation to Climate Change Final Report of the CSO Climate Change Work Group |
This report explores the current and future roles of state coastal zone management programs in addressing climate change. CSO aims to inform Congress and federal agencies of the role of state coastal zone management programs in addressing climate change; inform CSO & NOAA’s efforts to reauthorize the Coastal Zone Management Act; inform federal agencies of key research, information, and policy needs; and provide for information exchange among coastal states and territories. |
Report
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Government |
| Center For Clean Air Policy Urban Leaders Adaptation Initiative: "Ask the Climate Question: Adapting to climate change impacts in urban regions" |
A resource for local governments as they face important infrastructure and land-use decisions that will affect adaptation efforts and to empower local communities as they develop and implement their own climate resiliency strategies. |
Report
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Government |
| Pew: What Federal Agencies are Doing |
The report content is organized by major Department within the Federal government (e.g., the Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, etc.) with the exception of the adaptation efforts led by the Executive Office of the President and related interagency initiatives, which are listed separately at the beginning of the report. For each Department, the report highlights specific adaptationinitiatives (such as a program office or strategic plan) that are in place at the Department level. These are followed by an overview of each agency or bureau within that Department and relevant adaptation activities, which are typically divided into: (1) initiatives and strategies, (2) programs and institutional mechanisms, and (3) tools and resources. |
Report
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Government |
| NAP executive summary: Informing Decisions in a Changing Climate |
Sets a framework and a set of strategies and methods for organizing and evaluating decision support activities related to climate change. Identifies six principles of effective decision support and recommends a strategy for implementing them in a national initiative to inform climate-related decisions. |
Research Summary
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Policymakers |
| NOAA’s Next Generation Strategic Plan - Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Team |
As part of Phase 2 data collection of the Next Generation Strategic Plan (NGSP) development, the NOAA Regional Collaboration Teams were asked to engage internal NOAA personnel and external stakeholders to provide specifi c regional responses to the main planning-driven questions. This information is intended to augment the overall national process of collecting data to be used in development of the plan. |
Strategic Plan
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Policymakers |
| Sustainability and General Plans: Examples of Policies to Address Climate Change (California Attorney General’s Office) |
Example of resources that may assist local governments in thinking about how sustainability and climate change fit into general planning and local land use regulation (based in CA) |
Report
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Policymakers |
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| Green Communities |
Helps communities in creating the planning framework to help reduce environmental impacts. |
Planning Tool
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Policymakers |
| Technical Guidance on Implementing the Stormwater Runoff Requirements for Federal Projects under Section 438 of the Energy Independence and Security Act |
Technical guidance for following new stormwater runoff requirements |
Report
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Stormwater Managers |
| National NEMO Network Programs |
Links to pages describing land and water management programs in MN, WI, IN, OH, PA, and NY. Programs are adapted to needs of states. Ohio focuses on green infrastructure to reduce flooding. |
Online Content
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Stormwater Managers |
| Chagrin River Watershed Parnters Low Impact Development |
LID is a design strategy that aims to minimize the impact of development on the local watershed. This website gives detailed information and examples to help developers and managers use this strategy. |
Online Content
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Stormwater Managers |
| Perceptions of climate change and willingness to save energy related to flood experience |
Study showing those who report experience of flooding express more concern over climate change, see it as less uncertain and feel more confident that their actions will have an effect on climate change. Importantly, these perceptual differences also translate into a greater willingness to save energy to mitigate climate change. Highlighting links between local weather events and climate change is therefore likely to be a useful strategy for increasing concern and action. |
Online Content - Research Report
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Stormwater Managers |
