|Resilience & Climate Change Cooperative Project

Philip Berke, Director, Institute of Sustainable Coastal Communities

Finding Justice in the Low-Carbon Transition Symposium University of Kansas

April 28, 2016

Global Environmental Justice Challenges

Next 100 million: Where will they go?

More diverse population:Conflict or cooperation?

Ecosystem decline

Greenhouse gas emissions

Extreme event threats Unjust impacts

Vision:• Transformative research: What is future exposure due to triple threat? What is future social,

environmental and economic vulnerability? What factors influence adaptive capacity and better planning?

• Community Engagement: Foster citizen science and test participatory models. • High Impact Service Learning: Create workshops, studios, and capstones.

Resilience and Climate Change Cooperative Project (R3CP)

An Interdisciplinary research group:-20 faculty-10 grad students -30 undergrads

Houston: A Living LaboratoryHurricane Ike Path through the Houston Ship Channel

A common occurrence in

Houston

What & who will be affected?

Social vulnerability

R3CP Investigators: over $2 million

• NSF Partnership in International Research and Education: US/Holland, $200k award to TAMU-CS

• Texas Sea Grant: $300k, Risk Perception and Communication

• National Institute of Science and Technology: $1.2 million, Center for Excellence in Community Resilience.

• Department of Homeland Security: $600K, Coastal Resilience Center for Excellence

• In preparation: Two NSF proposals and one proposal to Gulf Research Program

Vision:• Transformative research: What is future exposure due to triple threat? What is future social,

environmental and economic vulnerability? What factors influence adaptive capacity and better planning?

• Community Engagement: Foster citizen science and test participatory models. • High Impact Service Learning: Create workshops, studios, and capstones.

Resilience and Climate Change Cooperative Project (R3CP)

Community engagement and service learning as cornerstone

Director | John Cooper

Community concerns

Connecting to community organizers

Manchester neighborhood

Furr H.S. | Green Institute with Ag program

Teachers | David Salazar, Juan Elizondo

Connecting to university resources

1 | Mapping Pooling & Ponding Water

1 | Mapping Pooling & Ponding Water

2 | Infrastructure Quality Survey

2 | Infrastrucutre Quality Survey

3 | Water Sampling

3 | Public Health Survey • Interviewed

members of the community to acquire their health data and make sure we are addressing the concerns of the community.

Vision:• Transformative research: What is future exposure due to triple threat? What is future social,

environmental and economic vulnerability? What factors influence adaptive capacity and better planning?

• Community Engagement: Foster citizen science and test participatory models. • High Impact Service Learning: Create workshops, studios, and capstones.

Resilience and Climate Change Cooperative Project (R3CP)

Landscape Architecture Mitigation Strategies

“Grey to Green”

TX-ASLA ‘Honor Award’ and ‘Merit Award’

Next Steps

Keeping the relationships• Creating Aggies• Open Lab @

High School

Translating R3CP to the Environmental Grand Challenge at Texas A&M

Strategies• Coordinate existing research strengths and

make strategic investments.

• Develop an engagement program that translates research to action.

• Enhance and expand experiential education.

Source: TAMU Grand Challenge: Natural and Built Environments (2013)

Environmental Grand Challenge: Administrative Structure

LeadLead Lead Lead

Global Grand Challenge Coordinator: Berke

Climate ChangeBiodiversity

Vice Provost: Benedik

Provost & Executive VP: Watson

Administrative Steering Committee Faculty Advisory Committee

Project ManagerEngagement Coordinator

Health and Community Resilience

Other