#climate adaptation

[reasonsforhope]

Pictured: Luis Cassiano is the founder of Teto Verde Favela, a nonprofit that teaches favela residents in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, how to build their own green roofs as a way to beat the heat. He's photographed at his house, which has a green roof.

Article

"Cassiano is the founder of Teto Verde Favela, a nonprofit that teaches favela residents how to build their own green roofs as a way to beat the heat without overloading electrical grids or spending money on fans and air conditioners. He came across the concept over a decade ago while researching how to make his own home bearable during a particularly scorching summer in Rio.

A method that's been around for thousands of years and that was perfected in Germany in the 1960s and 1970s, green roofs weren't uncommon in more affluent neighborhoods when Cassiano first heard about them. But in Rio's more than 1,000 low-income favelas, their high cost and heavy weight meant they weren't even considered a possibility.

That is, until Cassiano decided to team up with a civil engineer who was looking at green roofs as part of his doctoral thesis to figure out a way to make them both safe and affordable for favela residents. Over the next 10 years, his nonprofit was born and green roofs started popping up around the Parque Arará community, on everything from homes and day care centers, to bus stops and food trucks.

When Gomes da Silva heard the story of Teto Verde Favela, he decided then and there that he wanted his home to be the group's next project, not just to cool his own home, but to spread the word to his neighbors about how green roofs could benefit their community and others like it.

Pictured: Jessica Tapre repairs a green roof in a bus stop in Benfica, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Relief for a heat island

Like many low-income urban communities, Parque Arará is considered a heat island, an area without greenery that is more likely to suffer from extreme heat. A 2015 study from the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro showed a 36-degree difference in land surface temperatures between the city's warmest neighborhoods and nearby vegetated areas. It also found that land surface temperatures in Rio's heat islands had increased by 3 degrees over the previous decade.

That kind of extreme heat can weigh heavily on human health, causing increased rates of dehydration and heat stroke; exacerbating chronic health conditions, like respiratory disorders; impacting brain function; and, ultimately, leading to death.

But with green roofs, less heat is absorbed than with other low-cost roofing materials common in favelas, such as asbestos tiles and corrugated steel sheets, which conduct extreme heat. The sustainable infrastructure also allows for evapotranspiration, a process in which plant roots absorb water and release it as vapor through their leaves, cooling the air in a similar way as sweating does for humans.

The plant-covered roofs can also dampen noise pollution, improve building energy efficiency, prevent flooding by reducing storm water runoff and ease anxiety.

"Just being able to see the greenery is good for mental health," says Marcelo Kozmhinsky, an agronomic engineer in Recife who specializes in sustainable landscaping. "Green roofs have so many positive effects on overall well-being and can be built to so many different specifications. There really are endless possibilities.""

Pictured: Summer heat has been known to melt water tanks during the summer in Rio, which runs from December to March. Pictured is the water tank at Luis Cassiano's house. He covered the tank with bidim, a lightweight material conducive for plantings that will keep things cool.

A lightweight solution

But the several layers required for traditional green roofs — each with its own purpose, like insulation or drainage — can make them quite heavy.

For favelas like Parque Arará, that can be a problem.

"When the elite build, they plan," says Cassiano. "They already consider putting green roofs on new buildings, and old buildings are built to code. But not in the favela. Everything here is low-cost and goes up any way it can."

Without the oversight of engineers or architects, and made with everything from wood scraps and daub, to bricks and cinder blocks, construction in favelas can't necessarily bear the weight of all the layers of a conventional green roof.

That's where the bidim comes in. Lightweight and conducive to plant growth — the roofs are hydroponic, so no soil is needed — it was the perfect material to make green roofs possible in Parque Arará. (Cassiano reiterates that safety comes first with any green roof he helps build. An engineer or architect is always consulted before Teto Verde Favela starts a project.)

And it was cheap. Because of the bidim and the vinyl sheets used as waterproof screening (as opposed to the traditional asphalt blanket), Cassiano's green roofs cost just 5 Brazilian reais, or $1, per square foot. A conventional green roof can cost as much as 53 Brazilian reais, or $11, for the same amount of space.

"It's about making something that has such important health and social benefits possible for everyone," says Ananda Stroke, an environmental engineering student at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro who volunteers with Teto Verde Favela. "Everyone deserves to have access to green roofs, especially people who live in heat islands. They're the ones who need them the most." ...

It hasn't been long since Cassiano and the volunteers helped put the green roof on his house, but he can already feel the difference. It's similar, says Gomes da Silva, to the green roof-covered moto-taxi stand where he sometimes waits for a ride.

"It used to be unbearable when it was really hot out," he says. "But now it's cool enough that I can relax. Now I can breathe again."

-via NPR, January 25, 2025

[hope-for-the-planet]

From the article:

Unlike the flat, lifeless surfaces of typical concrete seawalls, each BIOCAP tile is designed with shaded grooves, crevices and small, water-holding pockets. These textured features mimic natural shoreline conditions and create tiny homes for barnacles, oysters, sponges and other marine organisms that filter and improve water quality. The tile’s swirling surface patterns increase the overall surface area, offering more space for colonization. The shaded recesses are intended to help regulate temperature by providing cooler, more stable microenvironments. This thermal buffering can support marine life in the face of rising water temperatures and more frequent heat events driven by climate change. Another potential benefit of the tiles is reducing the impact of waves. When waves hit a natural shoreline, their energy is gradually absorbed by irregular surfaces, tide pools and vegetation. In contrast, when waves strike vertical concrete seawalls, the energy is reflected back into the water rather than absorbed. This wave reflection – the bouncing back of wave energy – can amplify wave action, increase erosion at the base of the wall and create more hazardous conditions during storms. The textured surfaces of the BIOCAP tiles are designed to help diffuse wave energy by mimicking the natural dissipation found on undisturbed shorelines.

[wachinyeya]

Vertical Greening Brings Nature to Urban ‘Heat Islands’ Quickly and Easily (LOOK) https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/vertical-greening-brings-nature-to-urban-heat-islands-quickly-and-easily-look/

[pale-blue-home]

🌾🍚🧬 A new strain of rice offers hope for drought-stricken communities in Chile! Chilean scientists are trialing the “Jaspe” rice strain, described as more environmentally conscious, “less-thirsty,” and “climate-smart.” Trials have also proven the strain to be high-yield with the right growing method, producing nearly ten times more than a conventional rice field!

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from RMI:

1. Batteries Become Everybody’s Best Friend

Battery prices continue to drop and their capacity continues to rise. The cost of electric vehicle (EV) batteries are now about 60 percent what they were just five years ago. And around the world, batteries have become key components in solar-plus-storage microgrids, giving people access to reliable power and saving the day for communities this past hurricane season.

2. Americans Get Cheaper (and Cleaner) Energy

State public utility commissions and rural electric co-operatives around the country are taking steps to deliver better service for their customers that also lowers their rates. At the same time, real momentum is building to prevent vertically integrated utilities from preferencing their coal assets when there are cleaner and cheaper alternatives available.

3. A Sustainable Shipping Future Gets Closer

More than 50 leaders across the marine shipping value chain — from e-fuel producers to vessel and cargo owners, to ports and equipment manufacturers — signed a Call to Action at the UN climate change conference (COP29) to accelerate the adoption of zero-emission fuels. The joint statement calls for faster and bolder action to increase the use of zero and near-zero emissions fuel, investment in zero-emissions vessels, and global development of green hydrogen infrastructure, leaving no country behind.

4. Corporations Fly Cleaner

In April, 20 corporations, including Netflix, JPMorgan Chase, Autodesk, and more, committed to purchase about 50 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), avoiding 500,000 tons of CO2 emissions — equivalent to the emissions of 3,000 fully loaded passenger flights from New York City to London. SAF is made with renewable or waste feedstocks and can be used in today’s aircraft without investments to upgrade existing fleets and infrastructure.

5. More and More Places Go From Coal to Clean

Around the world, coal-fired power plants are closing down as communities switch to clean energy. From Chile to the Philippines to Minnesota coal-to-clean projects are creating new jobs, improving local economic development, and generating clean electricity. In September, Britain became the first G7 nation to stop generating electricity from coal — it’s turning its last coal-fired power plant into a low-carbon energy hub. And in Indonesia, the president vowed to retire all coal plants within 15 years and install 75 gigawatts of renewable energy.

6. Methane Becomes More Visible, and Easier to Mitigate

Methane — a super-potent greenhouse gas — got much easier to track thanks to the launch of new methane tracking satellites over the past year. In March, the Environmental Defense Fund launched MethaneSAT, the first for a non-governmental organization, and the Carbon Mapper Coalition soon followed with the launch of Tanager-1. By scanning the planet many times each day and identifying major methane leaks from orbit, these new satellites will put pressure on big emitters to clean up.

7. EVs Speed By Historic Milestones

This past year was the first time any country had more fully electric cars than gas-powered cars on the roads. It’s no surprise that this happened in Norway where electric cars now make up more than 90 percent of new vehicle sales. And in October, the United States hit a milestone, with over 200,000 electric vehicle charging ports installed nationwide.

8. Consumers Continue to Shift to Energy-Efficient Heat Pumps for Heating and Cooling

Heat pumps have outsold gas furnaces consistently since 2021. And while shipments of heating and cooling equipment fell worldwide in 2023, likely due to broad economic headwinds, heat pumps held on to their market share through. And over the past 12 months, heat pumps outsold conventional furnaces by 27 percent. Shipments are expected to continue increasing as states roll out home efficiency and appliance rebate programs already funded by the Inflation Reduction Act – worth up to $10,000 per household in new incentives for heat pump installations. Link: Tracking the Heat Pump & Water Heater Market in the United States – RMI

9. China Reaches Its Renewable Energy Goal, Six Years Early

China added so much renewable energy capacity this year, that by July it had surpassed its goal of having 1,200 gigawatts (GW) of clean energy installed by 2030. Through September 2024, China installed some 161 GW of new solar capacity and 39 GW of new wind power, according to China’s National Energy Administration (NEA). China is deploying more solar, wind, and EVs than any other country, including the United States, which is — by comparison — projected to deploy a record 50 GW of solar modules by the end of 2024.

10. De-carbonizing Heavy Industry

For steel, cement, chemicals and other heavy industries, low-carbon technologies and climate-friendly solutions are not only increasingly available but growing more affordable. To speed this process, Third Derivative, RMI’s climate tech accelerator, launched the Industrial Innovation Cohorts to accelerate the decarbonization of steel, cement, and chemicals. Also on the rise: clean hydrogen hubs — powered by renewable energy — designed to supply green hydrogen to chemical, steel, and other heavy industries to help them shift to low-carbon production processes.

[notwiselybuttoowell]

As far as the eye can see is a hodge-podge of trees, vegetable plots and water tanks. Up close it may look like a gigantic allotment, but this unusual project actually stretches for 2,000 hectares (4,942 acres), a green belt that now completely rings the city of Ouagadougou.

The green belt began life many years ago in the 1970s, with the aim of building a protective wall against the encroaching desert that lies beyond the greenery, just a few steps away. In Burkina Faso, one-third of the territory – about 9 million hectares of productive land – is degraded, with an estimated average degradation rate of 360,000 hectares per year, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). “Burkina Faso is not a climatically favoured country, but the drought of the 1980s exacerbated the problem, leading to significant population movements toward less degraded areas,” explains Sidnoma Abdoul Aziz Traoré, an environmental economist and expert in land degradation at the Centre Universitaire de Ziniaré (CUZ). But the situation, he says, is not irreversible.

The initial goal of the green belt was to reforest 2,100 hectares at an annual rate of 100 hectares, and by 1986, the area where trees had been planted was 1,032 hectares. The project stuttered a little in later years, despite reaching 2,000 hectares. But new impetus has recently been given to the project, which seeks, beyond holding back the desert, to combat heat and promote urban agriculture to help feed a city that has doubled its population in just 14 years, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Demography (INSD). The deadly heatwave that hit the country last year, with the temperature in Burkina Faso exceeding 42.3C (108F) for three consecutive days, only hammered home the urgency of what is now a vital project for the city.

“The Sahel responds more quickly to climate change, and we are less prepared,” explains climatologist Kiswendsida Guigma at the Climate Centre of the Red Cross Federation in the Burkinabè capital. “When we analyse the situation on a large scale, we realise that the climate phenomenon has contributed to increasing heat. As a result, there are new initiatives like planting trees. People have realised that we need to cool the city, although we haven’t managed to do it on the necessary scale.”

“One of the objectives of the green belt is to lower the city’s temperature; that’s why we’re also planting trees,” says Moumini Sawadogo of the Burkinabé Red Cross, which financed a two-hectare garden as part of the belt, including the construction of two water wells and training in agroecology. Research has shown that “botanical gardens are the green spaces with the greatest capacity to lower city temperatures”, and that sites such as the Chelsea Physic Garden and Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in London, or the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore, reduced air temperatures during heatwaves in the city streets around them by an average of 5C.

[thoughtlessarse]

Affordable insurance in high-risk areas, heatwave-proof housing and different work schedules are among dozens of new measures. France is preparing for a future where global heating has risen to 4C above pre-industrial levels, sparking more wildfires and eroding its coastlines. The government unveiled its third national climate adaptation plan yesterday (10 March), outlining dozens of measures to protect citizens in a possible 4C by 2100 scenario. First shared by former Prime Minister Michel Barnier in October last year, the plan received almost 6,000 contributions during a public consultation, and has been developed with scientists and other experts. "Adapting is not giving up," Agnès Pannier-Runacher, France’s minister of ecological transition, biodiversity, forests, the sea and fisheries, made clear when announcing the plan on social media site X yesterday. “The government's policy rests on two legs: on the one hand, it continues to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, on the other, it adapts to the effects of climate change.” France is aiming to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, having already seen its emissions drop by 20 per cent since 2017, according to Pannier-Runacher. But even if net zero is achieved by mid-century, scientists still predict temperatures in the country will climb by at least 4C by 2100 due to the continued impacts of burning fossil fuels.

continue reading

I don't know how you'd plan for a 4C world. We can't even plan for the 1.5C we already have.

[probablyasocialecologist]

“Calling some landscapes ‘natural’ and others ‘artificial’ or ‘cultural’ ignores the fact that landscapes are never wholly one or the other,” observes landscape architect Anne Whiston Spirn. In my interviews with Dutch water experts, I often asked them to explain what they meant when they talked about nature. The question typically provoked laughs, then hedging. The Netherlands, they tried to explain, “doesn’t have nature.” As Evers put it: So we call our floodplains and rivers natural but of course, it’s all managed. And it’s all mapped out and it’s all needs to be within the boundaries. So the line on the map, which shows where we can have a bush or a tree, and the line where it needs to go into grasslands. That’s actually something that they maintain all throughout the floodplains. So, yeah, it’s quite controlled.  Many preferred to use the word as an adjective. One designer said, “So I think …when we talk about nature, what we really mostly talk about are different natural processes and characteristics and qualities that we want to protect, improve, enhance.”  By that logic, any project more green than a concrete dike can be justified as natural, from floodplain expansion to grazing pastures to beach nourishment. These are all “nature-based solutions” in the Dutch delta.

[xanderisrotting]

Behind the label: Reef-Safe Sunscreen

I’m starting a series on my blog where i debunk common labels that brands use to seem more eco-friendly and mislead the consumer. Today’s and the first issue is “Reef safe” sunscreen.

Regardless of your skin color, everyone should wear sunscreen in the sunnier months! Sadly, a lot of sunscreen contains harsh chemicals that can harm aquatic species. 25% of applied sunscreen end up in our waterways. Sunscreen companies are aware of this, and keen to more and more people’s propensity to shop green. Instead of changing their product, they just lie.

The term “reef safe” is not regulated, and this means any company is allowed to slap the label onto any product with no prerequisites. Some “reef safe” sunscreens still contain oxybenzone and octinoxate, the two chemicals that contribute to coral bleaching.

Even if a sunscreen is “reef free”, the coral reefs are only half of the species effected by sunscreens. Fish, aquatic mammals and algae are also affected by sunscreens. Harsh sunscreen chemicals can impair the growth of algae, and that greatly harms the entire food web.

Don’t ditch the sunscreen! Read the labels! Make sure even “reef safe” sunscreens do not contain harmful chemicals (listed in image above). Make sure the only active ingredients in your sunscreen are titanium dioxide (unless it’s spray), or zinc oxide. Even sunscreens without octinoxates and oxybenzones can still contain other harmful chemicals, like my sunscreen.

Moral of the story: “Reef safe” sunscreens are not actually as reef safe as they may say. It’s an unregulated label that can be put on any sunscreen, even if they can harm the ocean. Always read your labels, and make sure there are no ocean harming chemicals. the ocean isn’t just their home, it’s ours too.

[reasonsforhope]

"The existence and consumption of coffee has many advantages in human society, but perhaps the lesser reported advantage is what it can offer the environment.

There is arguably no other monocrop so capable of thriving in an intact, natural ecosystem, and in Ethiopia, where coffee is a major export, the adoption of climate-compatible and conservation strategies among coffee growers recently proved a major success, with over 5,000 acres of land reforested, 45% increases in household income, and a 70% increase in exported coffee.

Coffee is a major lifeblood of Ethiopia’s economy (we’re talking about a quarter of the whole), accounting for around half of the livelihood of 15 million people, 95% of whom are small landholding growers.

In the ecologically critical Ilu Ababor Zone of nation’s western region of Oromia, where Coffea arabica is native, Farm Africa led a project on sustainable agriculture among coffee growers inside 19 local forest management cooperatives totaling around 4,000 people between 2021 and 2024.

The results were better than a hot cup of coffee on a cold early morning, as the residents took to the skills, incentives, and even stakeholder meetings with great interest and dedication according to a report on the project entitled Coffee for Conservation.

Of the project aims regarding forest management and conservation, the objective was to instruct the landholders and growers in ways to get everything they needed from their forest homes without felling too many native trees.

For example, locals were shown how to cultivate fast-growing trees optimal for firewood in small plots, as well as methods on how to maximize the growth cycle of these fuel trees. Six tree nurseries were opened and staffed by around 60 people taught to sell seedlings for reforestation of native woodland in the area.

By the end of the project, over 300,000 seedlings had been planted over 5,000 acres of forest, and they enjoyed a five-year survival rate of 85%. Climate-smart practices such as cultivating bamboo for making the mats on which the coffee beans are dried, removed the need to truck in bamboo from other regions, while 66% of homes were able to be convinced to switch to energy-efficient wood stoves to reduce fuel consumption.

Most of the landholders growing coffee or managing the forest had plots for vegetable and fruit production to feed their families and those of their communities through trade. Percentages of these Ethiopians who adopted climate-smart farming techniques increased from 49% to 76%, while 10% more began growing fruit and vegetables. Income generated from the increased production amounted to around 280% more than what was made before the project, adjusted for inflation.

Coffee production, marketing, and returns, have all improved. 73% more coffee from the Ilu Ababor region is now export-quality than in 2021, and 44% meets the standards for specialty grade, which is up by 20% from 2021.

Connections with national financing intuitions have allowed some of the co-ops to buy proper equipment for drying and storage, as well as support by city marketing agencies who could work directly on behalf of the Ilu Ababor growers to carve out a space in the national and international markets.

“Prior to the project, our limited knowledge meant we had to sell our coffee to local traders at lower prices,” said Abde Musa, a member of the Abdi Bori forest management cooperative. “Now we’ve taken control and are the ones negotiating and determining the coffee prices.”

Co-op leaders received training in business management, quality control, and certification processes, which majorly improved their incomes. One of the 19 co-ops in particular grossed $58,500 on their coffee sales.

Project wide, incomes and access to financial services almost doubled, with the latter now reaching almost 100% of the community.

Lastly, deforestation plummeted in the area to just 0.08 acres a year.

There’s so much good news to read in the report on the project’s success beyond the headline data, like the Abdi Bori co-op’s incredible rise which saw coffee revenue increase by a multiple of 20 from 2018 to 2023, or Solomon Mekonnen’s story of turning his land into a forest farm that produces export-grade coffee, firewood, and organic honey, or the tremendous involvement of women at all levels of the education and participation.

It’s a document that captures the very real phenomenon that African problems are best solved with African solutions."

-via Good News Network, May 17, 2025

[hope-for-the-planet]

From the article:

“The act of restoring and maintaining naulas has also rekindled long-lost community interest in sustainable construction and water harvesting practices.” People see firsthand how keeping the catchment area clean, taking care of local broadleaf forests and digging contour trenches can fill their naulas and keep them water secure,” he says. Other Himalayan states like Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh have also shown an interest in reviving their traditional water harvesting structures. Reviving springs has the potential to transform more than just the lives of Himalayan communities for whom springs are an important source of drinking water: Reports suggest that these springs contribute substantially to the base flow of large Himalayan rivers, and reviving them could, in the long term, improve the hydrology of the densely populated river basins of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Yamuna. 

[wachinyeya]

This Hurricane-Proof Florida Development Easily Endured Helene, Ian, and Idalia–Proving Climate Designs Work https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/this-hurricane-proof-florida-development-easily-endured-helene-ian-and-idalia-proving-climate-designs-work/

[ecosystemscenes]

Heavy spring rain physically breaks down exposed soil leading to soil erosion. Year-round ground cover protects the soil surface and enhances infiltration. Supplemental tile drainage increases infiltration and flow of water to reduce ponding. Drainage from this field with perennial grasses runs clear after days of saturating rains. 

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this Grist story:

Deep in the bowels of .gov web addresses sits a site that houses the climate adaptation plans for more than two dozen federal agencies. They outline everything from the Smithsonian protecting the National Museum of American History from flooding to the Department of Defense “incorporat[ing] climate considerations into wargames.”

The fact that these documents remain available — including on the recently updated Environmental Protection Agency site — stands in stark contrast to President Donald Trump’s broader purge of climate-related programming from the federal government. Even the rest of the sustainability.gov website where they reside has largely been wiped clean since Trump’s inauguration.

“I don’t know if leaving [them] up was intentional,” said Elizabeth Losos, an executive in residence at Duke University, who provided technical support for the plans. She said it could be an oversight and the plans will be taken down eventually. Or it could be a sign that some within the administration want to tackle issues related to natural disaster and climate preparedness.

“There are folks there who know that if you screw this up too much it comes back and bites you,” Losos said. She also said she believes that “they aren’t nearly as hostile to climate adaptation and resiliency as they are climate mitigation.”

The White House did not respond to multiple requests for comment, including one sent to the Council on Environmental Quality, which spearheaded the plans. Grist also reached out to all 30 government entities that produced the documents. Only a handful responded, though they avoided referencing “climate change.”

“The [State] Department will continue to plan for and seek to mitigate disruptions to its critical operations from a range of possible disruptions, including natural hazards,” said one agency spokesperson in an email. Another wrote that the “EPA takes very seriously how natural hazards and disasters can affect human health and the environment.” Neither agency responded to follow up questions.

The Tennessee Valley Authority, a federally owned electric utility, directly addressed the future of its plan, confirming that “no changes to the current plan have been identified.” Press secretary Charlotte Taylor dismissed questions about the Department of Interior’s plan by email, writing, “A leftist blog’s interpretation of the federal government’s actions is not a matter of concern.” 

[cascadia-stack-blog]

Our THIRD Climate Resilience Circle. Portland, Oregon. Are you experiencing anxiety, grief, or stress going through life in this current war-torn, climate crisis, social mess that is 2024?

The Circle is a safe space to be in community with peers struggling like you. We listen some folx share, and we learn together how to deepen our personal resilience to continue to show up for your responsibilities.

It's hard to keep going when we see the shit storm that is going on in the world. We know. We feel that way too.

Learn about Cascadia Stack here

Get registered for the next Circle, Feb 18th