Below are some resources developed by CREW and other organizations to help you prepare your home and community for climate change. We have divided resources into categories based on what they offer, and have further labelled most resources as either 'Basic' (simpler; faster) or 'Detailed' (higher time commitment; more data required). Click on each category below to learn more.
Gather data to inform assessment and planning
Prepare your family for extreme weather events
Assess your neighborhood’s climate vulnerability
Develop a strategy to build local resilience
Facilitate a resilience planning workshop
Gather data to inform assessment and planning:
Basic:
EPA’s Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool (CREAT) Climate Scenarios Projection Map - tool that allows users to easily access and compare climate change projections for different scenarios, incorporating heat, storms, water issues, wastewater/storm water for the United States. This tool simply requires visitors to select from a menu of pre-installed map settings, and does not require users to have knowledge of data or mapping.
Vox Media's Weather 2050 Tool - allows users to see how weather—temperature and precipitation—in their cities will change over the next 30 years.
Climate Impact Lab's Climate Impact Map - allows users to see how temperatures will change on a county-by-county level in various climate change scenarios.
Detailed:
U.S. Global Change Research Program’s Partnership for Resilience and Preparedness (PREP) - national database that integrates socioeconomic data, past climate data, and projected climate trends into a user-friendly interface that can be used to generate maps or reports. Note that this tool is new and many features are still in development.
Headwaters Economic’s Populations at Risk Tool - tool to create and compare maps, excel documents, and reports of current socioeconomic data for different areas in the U.S.
Climate Central’s Risk Finder - interactive online map to show local projections for sea level rise and flood risks, as well as social vulnerabilities, for coastal cities and towns across the United States.
Northeast Climate Adaption Science Center’s MA Fish and Wildlife Climate Action Tool - An online resource that shows the impact of climate change on fish and wildlife populations across the State of Massachusetts, as well as tools to help explore adaptation strategies and actions.
Prepare your family for extreme weather events:
Basic:
Planet Ready’s Emergency Plan - checklist and resources to develop a comprehensive family emergency preparedness plan. This is a good resource if you are looking for something relatively short and simple.
Climate Change Adaptation’s The Resilient House - tool to help homeowners understand their home’s potential vulnerabilities to weather extremes, as well as how to prepare for these threats.
Detailed:
FEMA’s Family Emergency Communication Planning Document - step-by-step instructions for creating an emergency communication plan for your family.
FEMA’s Family Emergency Communication Plan Wallet Cards - wallet-sized cards to carry important communication information in the case of an emergency.
FEMA’s Protect Critical Documents and Valuables Checklist - checklist of important documents and valuables to protect and access before and after emergencies.
Note: Visit FEMA's emergency preparedness website here to explore more resources related to preparing your home and family for extreme weather events and other hazards.
Assess your neighborhood’s climate vulnerability:
Basic:
Rooted in Resilience’s Local Resilience Assessment - worksheet tool to help municipalities, communities, and individuals break down climate resilience into component parts that can be individually evaluated. This tool offers a simpler, shorter alternative to the VAST and CRiSTAL tools described below..
Community Resilience Organizations' (CROs) Community Resilience Self-Assessment Tool - user-friendly worksheet tool to help community teams assess resilience across four sectors: basic needs & services, environment & natural systems, physical infrastructure, and community connections & capacity.
Detailed:
U.S. Department of Transportation’s Vulnerability Assessment Scoring Tool (VAST) - spreadsheet tool to help municipalities, communities, and individuals assess climate vulnerability in a comprehensive, detailed manner. Note that this tool requires significant investment of time and data collection to complete. For a less intensive assessment, see the Local Resilience Assessment, above.
International Institute for Sustainable Development’s Community-based Risk Screening Tool (CRiSTAL) - Free downloadable computer program to help municipalities, communities, and individuals assess climate vulnerability in a comprehensive, detailed manner. Note that this tool may not run on all browsers. For a less intensive assessment, see the Local Resilience Assessment, above.
Develop a strategy to build local resilience:
Basic:
Rooted in Resilience’s Creating Your Plan for Change - worksheet to help communities develop a local strategy to build neighborhood climate resilience.
Rooted in Resilience’s Climate Risk and Job Opportunity Assessment - worksheet to help communities and businesses think through how climate action might create job opportunities.
Detailed:
U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit’s Prioritize & Plan steps and accompanying spreadsheet - provides clear, succinct steps to help a team evaluate and document costs and benefits of different potential projects and actions identified through a vulnerability assessment process.
Facilitate a resilience planning workshop:
Basic:
CREW’s Stakeholder Scenario Workshop - brief powerpoint introduction and accompanying materials to host a stakeholder decision-making scenario workshop where participants must decide how to address flood vulnerability in a rural, suburban, or urban community.
Oakland Climate Action Coalition’s Are You a Climate Change Survivor? Workshop Guide - hands-on, accessible activity and facilitation guide to help communities understand climate impacts, discuss local vulnerability, and develop strategies to build resilience.
Detailed:
Climate Generation’s Climate Convenings Toolkit - The Climate Convenings Toolkit shares the essential elements for effective public conversations on climate change, as well as the practical tools for planning and implementing a convening in your community. The 20+ page guide is geared towards anyone interested in catalyzing deeper conversation, understanding and action on climate change.
The Nature Conservancy’s Community Resilience Building Workshop Guide and Support Materials - guide for workshop to engage varied stakeholders in identifying community climate vulnerabilities and priorities for action; primarily developed for municipalities but could be adapted for other groups.
Interested to explore more tools and resources? Visit the following climate resilience databases, where you can search by resource type, subject area, or geographic region.
Georgetown Climate Center's Adaptation Clearinghouse
EcoAdapt's Climate Adaptation Knowledge Exchange