Do you need help assessing future conditions specific to your community?

While climate change is a global phenomenon, the impacts for each area are locally unique. Our climate change scientists can help you understand the likely future conditions specific to your community.

At the Geos Institute, our staff scientists prepare local climate change projections based on the best available climate change science, presented at scales that are appropriate for local decision making. We provide maps, graphs, reports, in person presentations, and dynamic online presentations that are easy to read and understand by anyone in your community.

Do you need help identifying your community's vulnerabilities to extreme and unexpected events?

Climate change is already affecting our communities through increasingly frequent and severe droughts, floods, extreme storms, sea level rise, and heat waves. And it is expected to worsen over the next few decades, even if we drastically reduce emissions today. While climate change is a global phenomenon, the impacts are local.

In addition to reducing emissions to prevent catastrophic impacts to future generations, we need to prepare communities for severe impacts by building resiliency at the local level.

One of the first steps in creating a resilient community is identifying what resources and populations are most vulnerable to climate change. Water supply, for instance, is often highly vulnerable to climate change in areas that rely on snowpack for water storage, and in areas where precipitation is expected to become less predictable over time. Most communities have existing stressors, such as poverty, unemployment, or pollution that can increase the vulnerability of certain populations and resources. These stressors also need to be considered.

Are you looking for a collaborative approach to building community resilience?

Building on experience gained through working with communities over the past 7 years, we have developed the ClimateWise program to provide a framework that communities can follow to create Whole Community Solutions in adapting to a changing climate.

Our ClimateWise team works directly with communities to help them understand their local vulnerabilities and to develop increased resilience. We guide our client communities step-by-step through the ClimateWise program to ensure that they protect their most valued resources in the most collaborative, efficient, and cost-effective manner possible.

The ClimateWise planning program starts with local climate change projections and a cross-sector vulnerability assessment. Once vulnerabilities are assessed and impacts prioritized, we guide participants in the development of strategies that increase their community’s resilience across all sectors and populations. The development of collaborative and cross-sector strategies leads to a whole suite of synergies – cost savings, new partnerships, complementary efforts, and less community conflict.