Climate Science Alliance partners met at Mission Trails Regional Park on November 9th for the Alliance’s annual Business Meeting. Alliance partners meet all together twice per year – to check in on working group updates at the Business Meeting, and to announce and celebrate achievements at the Alliance Networking Meeting.
Working groups met for the first hour and then the group reconvened to share updates and identify opportunity to collaborate. Director Amber Pairis provided an overview of accomplishments for 2017 and highlighted the many collaborative projects and success stories from Alliance partners.
Keep an eye out for the 2017 Annual Report highlighting the growing connections with scientists, policy-makers, tribes, artists, youth and community members coming in January 2018.
The next All-Alliance meeting will be on March 6, 2018 as part of the inaugural San Diego Climate Summit. Learn more about the Summit and get your early bird ticket here.
Summary of work group activities listed below.
The Orange Team (Science Focused Partnerships) and the Blue Team (Climate Smart Conservation)
Megan Jennings led the group in reviewing several exciting research initiatives. The “San Diego County Ecosystems: The Ecological Impacts of Climate Change on a Biodiversity Hotspot” report by 17 climatologists and ecologists is nearing completion, featuring regionally-relevant science that highlights the uniqueness of San Diego and can be used to inform strategies that promote regional resiliency in our natural and built environments. This report will be included as part of the State of California's 4th Climate Change Assessment and unveiled at the inaugural 2018 San Diego Climate Summit, exploring the ecological impacts of climate change on a biodiversity hotspot. To learn more about the Summit, visit here.
The group also reviewed the Regional Research Needs List, a collaborative effort to identify the region's research priorities. The Alliance uses the list as a living document and an important starting place for communicating the specific needs of our region along with a starting place for leveraging resources/projects and collaborative efforts to seek funding.
The Green Team (Innovative Community Engagement)
Alex Warneke led the group in updating one another on project progress and achievements, as well as sharing goals for the future. Alliance staff have been working collaboratively with several entities to insert climate change messages, activities, and stories into existing curriculum. The group discussed achievements such as the numerous climate science consultations and trainings, increased contacts with youth through the Climate Kids initiative in San Diego and Baja, new collaborations between artists and scientists, and new projects such as the Climate Kids Traveling Trunk and the Climate Literacy Story Map.
The groups ended their session with reflective questions including: “How do you want to see the Alliance change/grow?” and “What direction or topics would you like to see the work groups take on in the future?” The answers to these questions help guide the Alliance and act as measurements of our achievements at the next Business meeting.
To join the Alliance, visit here.
View all photos from the meeting on our Facebook page here.