1.11 Climate Adaptation and Community Resilience: District/School has planned and prepared for extreme weather, adaptation to changing climatic conditions, and has fostered strong community connections.

About

Global warming refers to the warming of the Earth, but it is so much more than just a little heat. The average temperature rise changes the climate in many ways, all of which are dangerous to our way of life. With the warming climate, air currents are shifting, and weather is becoming increasingly extreme and unpredictable. Each year, summers get hotter, and winters get colder. According to data reported by the Copernicus Climate Change Service, the last 8 years have been the hottest on record, and each year it gets worse (Kottasová, 2023). Heat waves throughout the country cause heat strokes and exhaustion, threatening the health of every community member. This summer (2024) in Minnesota, it has been raining practically nonstop, dams have broken, and communities have been harmed by flooding. A meteorologist can explain the science behind these extreme weather events, but the bottom line is that it’s dangerous, and we need to prepare for increasingly extreme weather and climate conditions.

Vision and Benefits

By preparing for extreme weather such as tornadoes, floods, and extreme heat and cold, we can ensure the safety of our communities. Increasing vegetation on school campuses helps reduce both flooding and extreme heat; other simple construction choices can also help minimize the effects of extreme weather events. As the weather continues to become more extreme, it’s even more imperative to take precautions to minimize damage to our communities during these events. 

Who's Doing It?

Implement Best Practice Actions in a Project

Select Best Practice Actions (BPAs) to work on and complete

Review the list of actions that can be taken to shift your district or school toward improved Climate Adaptation and Community Resilience. Start by documenting practices already in place at the school. Choose the practices that best suit the school's opportunities and other considerations. (You may wish to use the datasheet for this best practice to support your planning once available.)

A. Planning

1. • Plan a Community Resilience Hub.
     “Community Resilience Hub: Create a plan for a new resilience hub that describes community services to be provided throughout the year, as well as specific services provided during disruption and into recovery after natural hazard events.” [Gold Leaf CP2]

1. • Create a climate resilience plan.
     “Climate Resilience Plans: Adopt a new or newly updated climate adaptation/resilience plan that is used for local/tribal comprehensive planning, policymaking, and budgeting. Document how underserved communities were part of the planning effort.” [Gold Leaf CP4]

     1. Conduct an Assessment of Climate Hazards and Vulnerabilities:
        Conduct an assessment of climate hazards and vulnerabilities, including for vulnerable and underserved demographic groups within the community; Identify important assets and key adaptation/resilience opportunities. [Cities 29.2]

     2. Create and Adopt a Climate Adaptation/Resilience Plan:
        Create and adopt a climate adaptation/resilience plan that is used for comprehensive planning, policy-making, and budgeting, using public engagement processes that must involve proactive outreach and meaningful participation of vulnerable and underserved demographic groups to identify and develop strategies and implementation actions that will equitably increase the resilience of the community’s residents to the impacts of climate change. [Cities 29.2]

     3. Acknowledge Diversity:
        Hold meetings in diverse and accessible locations, provide translators and interpreters, childcare, stipends, and/or meals for residents during community engagement meetings; include an Indigenous Land Acknowledgment at the beginning of the plan or within the sustainability section. [Cities 29.2]

     4. Spend Funds on Equitable Improvements:
        Based on the direction provided by an assessment of climate vulnerabilities and/or a climate adaptation/resilience plan, spend funds on tangible improvements that can be demonstrated to provide equitable adaptation and increased community resilience for vulnerable and underserved demographic groups and the community overall. [Cities 29.2]

     5. Review the County/City Hazard Mitigation Plan:
        In consultation with the county, every two years review the county (or city if there is one) Hazard Mitigation Plan and identify who is responsible for city preparedness, emergency response, and recovery efforts for each hazard. Routinely participate in updating the County/City Plan to include equitable actions for climate adaptation and community resilience. [Cities 29.1]

     6. Address Diverse Populations in Emergency Services:
        Address how all diverse populations in a jurisdiction are served by emergency communication, evacuation and sheltering, mitigation and prevention, planning, and preparedness. Develop targeted emergency communications in appropriate languages (or get access to existing versions) for each population of non-English speakers in your community for each hazard. [Cities 29.1]

   • Create a New Safe Shelter and Plan:

“Safe Shelter: Designate a new safe shelter with a plan that arranges for adequate provisions and backup power sufficient to meet daily run-time requirements as a shelter for one week or longer during utility grid failure.” [Gold Leaf CP1]

1. • 1. In consultation with the county, designate appropriate and accessible facilities -- available to the public and trusted by the underserved communities who will need to use them -- as a community safe shelter for each hazard, as applicable. Arrange for adequate provisions (including food and potable water) and backup power sufficient to meet minimum daily run-time requirements as a shelter for one week or longer during utility grid failure; develop coordinated strategies with private sector emergency facilities and essential services that require backup power during widespread outages and disasters; document agreed-upon procedures and backup power sources. [Cities 29.1]

B. Overall Performance and Impact

B.1 Establish a Performance Monitoring Practice with Baseline

• Looking at performance metrics for this best practice that are used at the school and other potential metrics, establish a baseline reference year and a regular practice (at least yearly) to monitor the performance of this best practice.

Performance Metrics to Consider:

• Track Infrastructure Continuity Metrics: Maintain a formal log targeting zero lost instructional days annually due to localized facility infrastructure failures during extreme weather events.

• Monitor Thermal and Air Quality Redundancy: Achieve a performance standard where indoor air filtration can maintain PM2.5 levels below EPA thresholds during regional wildfire smoke events, verifiable via real-time building monitoring systems.

• Measure Community Resilience Capacity: Quantify the district's emergency shelter capacity, ensuring facilities designated as resilience hubs can support a specific number of community members with backup power, heating/cooling, and potable water for a minimum of 72 hours. 

B.2 Track and Improve Performance

• Using the established baseline and performance monitoring practices, track performance improvements over time relative to baseline use. Where possible, identify the relationship between actions and overall impact improvements. 

B.3 Complete Performance Planning 

• Conduct an analysis of current performance and the impacts and set a strategic plan for how to transition the school over time to bold goals for ideal performance and identify the direct and indirect impacts considering environmental impacts, cost impacts, health, and educational benefits.
  
  

B.4  Implement Vision Backcasting

• Gather the green team and representatives from staff, students, the community, and resource organizations to imagine how improved [BP NAME] could help us reach our fully sustainable vision for the district and its schools. Make this scenario engaging with sketches or models. Engage youth. 

C. Building Redevelopment

1. • Modify a Building to Improve Function During Extreme Weather Events:
     “Building Weather Preparation: Newly modify/rebuild one public building or public infrastructure to improve flood resilience, prevent damage, and sustain function during extreme weather events.” [Gold Leaf CA6]

   • Protect Buildings Against Extreme Weather Events:
     Protect public buildings and natural/constructed infrastructure to reduce physical damage and sustain their function during extreme weather events. [Cities 29.5]

     1. Inventory Infrastructure:
        Inventory and/or map your sanitary sewer system, gray and green stormwater infrastructure, city roads and bridges, and municipal power lines. [Cities 29.5]

     2. Assess Sites for Vulnerabilities:
        Assess city-owned buildings and sites for vulnerabilities to extreme weather, and make investments to reduce or prevent damage and sustain function. [Cities 29.5]

     3. Modify and Invest in Infrastructure to Be More Resilient:
        Modify/rebuild infrastructure to make it more resilient; make investments in green and gray infrastructure that are strategically designed to fix areas prone to flash flooding, to resolve recent occurrences of combined sewer overflow, and/or to add meaningful system capacity for extreme rainfall events; invest in improvements that provide equitable community resilience; require preservation and function of existing wetlands in a given location for new developments. [Cities 29.5]

   • Adopt Development Standards for Buildings:
     Adopt development/design standards and programs that facilitate infill, redevelopment, and adaptable buildings. [Cities 5-5]

     1. Adopt design standards that address the downtown core and encourage compatible infill development; waive parking standards to recognize on-street & shared parking facilities; repurpose vacant/underutilized sites as green space, event space, play areas, outdoor siting and eating, transport/information areas, EV charging or make-ready infrastructure. Limit annexations or infrastructure extensions until infill and redevelopment goals are met; encourage building design such that structures can be adapted for different future uses. [Cities 5.5]

D. Trees

1. • Plant Climate Resilient Trees:
     “Resilient Trees: Plant and maintain at least 2-3 climate resilient trees for each public tree lost.” [Gold Leaf CA5]

   • Budget for Trees:
     Budget for and achieve resilient urban canopy and tree-planting goals. [Cities 16.3]

     1. Set Goals:
        Set a minimum number of trees planted each year, OR at least 2-3 trees planted for each tree lost. Aim for an overall tree canopy of at least 30% and/or a canopy above 60% for residential areas located in Environmental Justice areas of concern. Have in the tree canopy no more than 5% of any one species, 10% of any one genus, and 15% of any one family, and report a planting list that takes this guideline into account. [Cities 16.3]

     2. Budget for Goals:
        Include tree replacement money in the Pavement Management Program budget. [Cities 16.3]

E. Energy

1. • Have a Backup Energy System:
     “Backup Energy System: Newly install islanding capability and storage for a clean energy system in a publicly accessible building to provide back-up power that can sustain function during extreme weather events.” [Gold Leaf CA3]

   • Improve Energy Resilience:
     Improve local energy resilience by reducing fuel poverty, installing distributed renewable energy systems, and developing microgrids that strengthen the energy system. [Cities 29-8]

     1. Ensure Equitable Delivery of Energy Savings:
        Ensure the innovative and equitable delivery of energy-saving and renewable energy programs to low-income residents (including mobile home owners, among others) through coordination with non-profit organizations, the local utility, and the State Energy Office. [Cities 29.8]

     2. Assess Opportunities to Improve Energy Resiliency:
        Assess opportunities to utilize city rights-of-way for innovative technology and systems, including distributed energy resource systems, to improve energy resiliency, in coordination with local utility companies. [Cities 29.8]

     3. Install Clean Energy:
        Install clean energy systems for buildings and facilities, including islanding capability (with storage) to provide a redundant backup power source that can sustain operations during extreme weather events. [Cities 29.8]

F. Urban Heat Relief

1. • Complete a Project to Decrease Heat:
     “Urban Heat Relief: In an area of environmental justice concern or high heat vulnerability, newly complete a project such as: cool pavements; shading structures for a park or transit corridor; cooling water features for heat relief in a park or playground; cool/green roof material; roadside vegetative cover including resilient species increased by at least 40%.” [Gold Leaf CA1]

     1. Identify Locations of Heat Vulnerability:
        Use observations and data to identify specific locations of heat vulnerability in the community (such as large areas of asphalt pavement, multi-family buildings with minimal shade, lack of boulevard tree canopy, high-traffic, heavily paved areas with lots of vehicle exhaust); identify and evaluate locations where improvements will contribute to equitable community resilience. [Cities 29.6]

     2. Assess Options to Reduce Urban Heat:
        Comprehensively assess options to reduce urban heat and improve air quality in advance of planned construction or maintenance of any kind. [Cities 29.6]

     3. Take Action:
        Take preventive action to complete at least one installation (such as cool/pervious pavements, higher-albedo coatings, increased roadside vegetation, including resilient tree species, or efficient timing/sensors for stoplights), and incorporate stormwater BMPs as applicable. [Cities 29.6]

   • Document a Heat Reduction Action:
     “Private Resilience Projects: Document a newly installed residential/commercial/industrial/non-profit project flood or heat risk reduction best practice to increase resilience using local/tribal/regional incentives.” [Gold Leaf CA4]

G. Water Systems, Drought and Flood Risk Prevention

1. • Reduce Flooding Costs through NFIP:
     Reduce flood damage and costs through the National Flood Insurance Program and its Community Rating System. [Cities 19.8]

     1. Enroll in NFIP
        Enroll in the National Flood Insurance Program (note: this requires an MNDNR-approved Floodplain Ordinance). [Cities 19.8] 

     2. Enroll in the FEMA Community Rating System (CRS)
        “FEMA Rating: Enroll in the FEMA Community Rating System and be recognized at a class rating of 6 through 1.” [Gold Leaf CP3]

     3. Identify Residents:
        Identify residents/businesses experiencing repeated flooding and develop resources for homeowners about purchasing flood insurance. [Cities 19.8]

     4. Update Policies:
        Do not allow fill (or no net-filling) within FEMA and locally defined floodplain areas. Update models of riverine/lake and/or localized flooding throughout the community. [Cities 19.8]

   • Complete a Flood Mitigation Project:
     “Flood Mitigation: Newly complete an improvement project of green and/or gray infrastructure strategically designed to reduce localized flooding in an area of environmental justice concern or high flood risk such as: fix specific intersections, underpasses, culverts, or other areas prone to flash flooding; resolve recent occurrences of combined sewer overflow; add meaningful system capacity for extreme rainfall events; conduct a buy-out of a property in a floodplain.” [Gold Leaf CA2]

   • Implement a Strategy to Minimize the Impacts of Drought:
     “Drought Tolerance: Newly implement a strategy to minimize the impacts of drought and/or recharge groundwater storage with projects such as: incentives to use water conserving fixtures, harvesting rainwater, reusing water, restricting the use of water for non-essential uses, infiltrating stormwater, etc.” [Gold Leaf CA7]

   • Implement a Strategy to Increase Public Water Systems Resilience:
     “Resilient Public Water Systems: Newly implement a strategy to reduce climate change risk and increase resilience for public water or wastewater operations or a specific asset (such as a lift station, headwork, water intake/distribution/storage, booster stations/pump, treatment plant, etc.).” [Gold Leaf CA8]

     1. Assess Risks:
        Use the CREAT risk assessment (or a similar tool) to help understand and adapt to extreme weather; take into account infrastructure stressors (such as age), updated precipitation data (Atlas 14), and climate change trends or projections. [Cities 29.7]

     2. Take Action:
        Implement low-cost strategies to reduce climate change risk and increase resilience for operations or a specific asset (such as a lift station, headwork, water intake/distribution/storage, booster stations/pump, or treatment plant). Invest in medium to high-cost strategies that reduce climate change risk and increase resilience for operations or a specific asset. [Cities 29.7]

   • Adopt Standards for Stormwater Practices:
     Adopt and implement guidelines or design standards/incentives for stormwater infiltration/reuse practices. [Cities 17.5]

     1. Implement Practices:
        Develop guidelines that use the updated precipitation data in Atlas 14 or better, future predicted precipitation.
        Install, require, and/or provide guidelines for rain gardens, rain barrels, parking lots (salt use reduction/alternatives, French drains, etc.), pervious pavement, green roofs, cisterns, neighborhood water storage, rainwater harvesting to supplant irrigation with drinking water, and other stormwater reuse.
        Achieve zero stormwater discharge in development projects.
        Have an ongoing retrofit program to reduce pollutant loads and stormwater volume from existing neighborhoods that requires one or more of the stormwater practices in this action. [Cities 17.5]

     2. Use Compost
        Promote/incentivize compost use in soils, green roofs, rain gardens, native plant landscapes, etc.; use MnDOT compost specification 3890 for soil amendments in parks, boulevards, stormwater installations; incorporate compost in all applicable projects to decrease pollutant levels and stormwater impacts. [Cities 17.5]

     3. Educate
        Support an educational/action-oriented landscaping for water quality program. [Cities 17.5]

H. Community

1. • Increase Social Connectedness:
     Increase social connectedness through engagement, capacity building, public investment, and opportunities for economically vulnerable residents to improve their economic prosperity and resilience to climate change. [Cities 29.3]

     1. Hold Meetings and Events
        Conduct community engagement events specifically targeted to vulnerable and underserved demographic groups in the community; hold meetings in diverse, accessible locations; and provide translators and interpreters, childcare, stipends, and/or meals for participants. [Cities 29.3]

     2. Take Advice and Input from the Community
        Document input regarding community-identified needs, strategies, and recommendations, and take follow-up actions to resolve problems/vulnerabilities brought to the city’s attention. [Cities 29.3]

     3. Implement Programs
        Implement a targeted training, job placement, and/or supportive services program specifically designed to meet the identified needs of economically vulnerable residents, improve their prosperity, and increase community resilience. [Cities 29.3]

     4. Engage with Underserved Communities
        Build local community power and leadership by engaging underserved neighborhoods and investing in grassroots development of community resilience hubs to support residents and coordinate the distribution of resources and services every day, during disruptions, and throughout recovery after natural hazard events. [Cities 29.3]

   • Encourage Action In the Community:
     Encourage private-sector action and incentivize investment in preventive approaches that reduce risk and minimize the impacts of extreme weather and a changing climate on human health and the built environment. [Cities 29.4]

• Educate and Inform: Develop public education materials/a campaign that encourages private building owners to take basic actions that will prevent damage from extreme weather (such as elevating equipment, installing appropriate devices/retrofits, flood-proofing basements, and protecting well-heads) and to install islanding capability with storage so their new or existing grid-connected renewable energy systems can provide backup power during grid outages. [Cities 29.4] 

I. Youth Club Actions

As part of school green teams, youth can be part of any best practice. Here are ideas for actions that may be particularly suitable for youth club leadership.

• Lead Campus Microclimate Mapping: Organize student-led teams to map campus surface temperatures during high-heat days using infrared thermometers, identifying priority zones for future tree-planting and shading initiatives.

• Manage Weather Readiness Campaigns: Direct youth clubs to design and execute peer-to-peer educational campaigns focusing on winter weather safety, heat hydration habits, and emergency preparedness kit assembly.

• Coordinate Community Resilience Audits: Facilitate student groups working alongside facilities managers to inventory local neighborhood needs, helping draft clear, multilingual informational materials regarding the school's role as an emergency shelter.

Submit Annual Review

The annual review for this best practice includes

• Confirming that Best Practice Actions are still active. (Eg. is equipment still installed and working? Are event or time based actions repeated each year?) 

• Amending the documentation with any changes

• Adding any lessons learned from the prior year to share with others.

To submit the annual review, send in the BP 1.5 Datasheet with updated calendar year in the update column to reflect which BPAs are still active.

GreenStep Advisor

• Contact mngreenstepschools@gmail.com for assistance

Online Resources:

• Gold Leaf Challenge Actions: https://greenstep.pca.state.mn.us/page/gold-leaf-challenge-actions-goals

• NOAA as a reference for the About and Vision section: https://www.noaa.gov/education/explainers/noaas-community-resilience-education-theory-of-change

• GreenStep Cities Best Practice 29: https://greenstep.pca.state.mn.us/bp-detail/81730