Climate Adaptation Planning

front porch view while I work

There will be pages and pages of this stuff as my research team finalizes our grant deliverables to our community partner and granting agency. However, today I want to share a little of the introductory material and tone. Final products will leverage the last two years of research and citizen-engagement performed by the Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission (MPPDC) and its constituent county planning staff. Funded research conducted by Virginia Tech Urban Affairs and Planning faculty and graduate students builds upon the momentum of MPPDC work to produce a survey of best practices among various coastal communities. The resulting portfolio of adaptation planning strategies will include 1) practices we the authors find most suitable for our study area, as well as 2) a decision-matrix of all relevant best practices, designed specifically for the Middle Peninsula to engage citizen participants. The matrix is intended to place broad scholarly research in the hands of citizens who know their community best, empowering them to choose among recommendations to which they might not have otherwise been exposed. Here is an excerpt of my writing introducing climate adaptation planning to the reader:

Communities at every echelon of government and in every geographic sector are working to answer these questions: What planning strategies work to help communities adapt to the new geological and ecological disposition of our future planet? How does a local government best safeguard the future health, welfare and public safety of its citizens?  Such questions are even more pronounced for coastal communities, who face an extensive set of threats and hazards, including: hurricanes, coastal erosion, wetland deprivation, and floods. In addition, as the full effects of climate change become manifest, coastal communities will face a range of increasingly severe challenges. In response to their respective vulnerabilities, many localities have taken anticipatory adaptive actions to increase resilience to potential coastal hazards. All coastal communities stand to benefit by incorporating adaptation-oriented planning practices into their existing system of governance.  Each unique coastal community must employ a combination of best adaptation practices from other communities and stakeholder-empowered decision making to strengthen climate adaptation planning within its jurisdiction. 

Delayed!

I will keep this post brief, so I can keep rolling with the solution (instead of wallowing in the problem). 

I must attend to final grant deliverables -- in our case a series of short reports -- with John, Ted, and Yang. Conversation with my committee chair, John, yesterday made it clear that this work can't wait until after the bike trip. So.... now I write. And make plans to catch up with my Pacific Coast friends as soon as possible. Stay with me, folks! Your support means the world to me. Catch you on the flip-side...

Chapter Break

It is nearly midnight, and I expect to be at this for the rest of the night. I just started coffee brewing; I must finish before the movers get here at 9am. I didn't anticipate how melancholy I would be, packing up my place. I have spent a whole year here, and it is tough to say goodbye to my cute little apartment.

There is a lot of excitement to be had though, too. I have no idea what is coming next. I'm moving my possessions to storage, leaving for the coast, and figuring it out as I go! What could be more thrilling? Wish me luck. I will try to post some "after" pics of the clean/ empty apartment when I finish. Bissous!

Here We Go!

I keep wanting to say "It has been a crazy [day/week/month/semester]," but I can never decide which of those words is most appropriate. Fact is - I can't remember the last time life didn't feel crazy at the moment. I think it was sometime in 2008. For about two minutes.

But you only live once, and there is no sense succumbing to anxiety, sadness, bitterness, anger... you get the idea. I have been increasingly worried and stressed these past few weeks, but I just keep picking up the pace, looking for the eye of the storm. I have enjoyed the good fortune of a world-class graduate education at Virginia Tech, national conferences in New Orleans and Boston, the support of good friends and family, boundless joy in the "little things" and those ohmygoodness-once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that seem to happen to me more often than my fair share. On top of that, I am super excited about my new best friend, Ed. We seem to catalyze great energy in each other and inspire both excellence and stop-and-smell-the-roses sentiment. Good stuff.

Here's a quick list of where I'm at and what needs to be accomplished in the next couple days...

• Send out job apps - another round of about 8, so I can make this graduate education pay
• Edits and new game plan with my thesis/grant committee today - we are deciding whether to request a no-cost extension to our grant deliverables deadline, which is one week away
• Pack my apartment and move everything to storage; movers arrive tomorrow a.m. at 9:30, so I'm packing through the night tonight
• Meet with landlord and new tenant to get lease amended, do walk-through, negotiate my exit schedule, tomorrow or wednesday
• Buy a couple more camping items, ship some Fourth of July clothing to Minnesota
• rinse and repeat. j/k

Days like this I try to slow down enough to meditate, breathe, smile and then get to work and hit it hard. So here we go!