Climate Adaptation Knowledge Exchange (CAKE) Webinar

Is Climate Change Putting Your Conservation Gains at Risk?

Are your grantees starting to wonder what to do about climate change?

Do you have no idea what climate change adaptation is?

Dear Colleagues,

Climate change threatens the conservation strides we have all worked so hard to achieve. We as grantmakers need to develop strategies to adapt to these unavoidable changes.

The Kresge Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation invite you to participate in a webinar about the  Climate Adaptation Knowledge Exchange (CAKE, www.cakex.org),  a dynamic, online climate change adaptation resource. 

CAKE was created in 2008 to build the body of literature and resources on climate change adaptation.  Many practitioners are already testing adaptation strategies in their daily work, but in many ways they are flying blind, without the benefit of best practices, or knowing who their peers are to reach out to.  CAKE provides a way to connect these practitioners with the people and information they need to succeed, while fostering the exchange and sharing of new ideas and strategies to develop the ideas and practice of adaptation. 

Find out:

• What CAKE has to offer
• How it can help your foundation and your grantees
• How it can be customized to include functionality and content that specifically benefits your foundation’s programs and those of your grantees!
  

Island Press and EcoAdapt, the creators of CAKE, are hosting a series of briefings, in-person and via webinar, to introduce this dynamic new resource.

We hope that you will take the time to learn about this important resource. The Kresge Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation have both made substantial investments in CAKE because we see it essential in the development of the field of climate change adaptation but is also crucial to supporting our grantees’ work.  We hope you will join us for an informative and engaging webinar on May 2nd.

The webinar is being organized by the by the Consultative Group on Biological Diversity’s Conservation Science Working Group.  To RSVP for an event, please contact Bill Hull at CGBD.  

Sincerely,

John Nordgren
Barry Gold

Biographies

Kate Graves, Program Director, Island Press

Kate managed the development and launch of the Climate Adaptation Knowledge Exchange (www.CAKEx.org) in addition to other Island Press programs. Prior to joining Island Press Kate she served as the Southeast Climate Program Officer at WWF and managed the Allianz Southeast Climate Witness Program which involved 24 students who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina in a vulnerability assessment of the freshwater ecosystems of the southeastern United States. The program garnered national attention and culminated in a briefing to the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming with Congressman Markey. Kate received a B.A. in Anthropology from The University of the South in 2003 and a M.S. in Environmental Policy from Michigan Tech University in 2007. Kate lived and trekked in the volcanic regions of Ecuador and Guatemala for her Masters research on risk perception of natural hazards interviewing residents of hazard zones, and spent a year of graduate study researching climate change and the insurance industry in both Europe and North America. Before graduate studies, Kate worked with the Tennessee Conservation Voters to create the first environmental scorecard to evaluate the Tennessee legislature in 2004 and in 2005.

Rachel Gregg, Scientist, EcoAdapt

Rachel is an environmental specialist with experience in the application of natural and social science, policy, and outreach. She has a background in marine biology and ecology, oceanography, and natural, marine, and coastal resources law, policy, and management. Her education and work experiences have been primarily focused on marine and coastal resources management strategies for natural and human influences, including water quality degradation, coastal hazards, and climate change. Rachel manages the State of Adaptation program and serves as a Content Editor for CAKE; her responsibilities include finding and developing examples of climate change adaptation, building a network of individuals and organizations engaged or interested in adaptation, and assisting with outreach, marketing, and fundraising to support the development of EcoAdapt’s core programs. Prior to joining EcoAdapt in May 2009, Rachel worked with Washington Sea Grant, the San Juan County Marine Resources Committee, the National Park Service, and MASSPIRG. Her previous work includes examining nearshore processes and functions in Washington State and co-writing a guidance document to assist coastal counties in implementing shoreline management policies. In addition, she has also investigated the environmental implications and economic viability of the marine and coastal recreation and tourism industry in the outer counties of Washington State, the status of coastal water resources in Olympic National Park and Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, projected and actual threats to the marine and coastal environment of the San Juan Archipelago, and the water quality testing standards at public beaches throughout Massachusetts. Rachel earned her undergraduate degree from Smith College in Government and Marine Science, and a Master’s in interdisciplinary marine science and policy from the University of Washington. Rachel lives in Seattle and enjoys traveling, painting, camping, La Liga, and the English Premier League (especially Liverpool FC!). 

Charles Savitt, President, Island Press

In co-founding Island Press in 1984, Chuck was able to unite his passion for the environment and the work of the nonprofit community with his business sense for publishing.  27 years later he is still working towards Island Press’ mission to stimulate, shape, and communicate the ideas essential to solving environmental problems.  Under Chuck’s leadership, Island Press has become more than a publisher—it convenes experts, helps them hone their ideas, then helps share the results.  Covering subjects like climate change adaptation, biodiversity protection, land-use planning, ocean habitat destruction, and sustainable farming practices, the Press measures its success not only by the number of books sold and programs managed, but also by the degree to which it helps ideas emerge and new voices gain currency. Chuck received a B.A. in Community Studies from the University of California at Santa Cruz and a M.P.A from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.  He also serves as a director of the Tides Foundation, Fauna & Flora International, and the National Environmental Trust Action Fund.

Lara Hansen, Chief Scientist and Executive Director, EcoAdapt

Lara thinks climate change is everybody's problem and she wishes someone would bother to do something about it. Her desire for action led her to co-create EcoAdapt with a team of similarly inclined folks in 2008. She serves this fine organization as Executive Director and Chief Scientist. She is co-author and editor of one of the earliest texts on the issue of natural system adaptation to climate change, Buying Time: A User's Manual for Building Resistance and Resilience to Climate Change in Natural Systems, as well as co-author of one of the newest books on adaptation, Climate Savvy: Adapting Conservation and Resource Management to a Changing World. The team that created these books created an engaged stakeholder process (known as Climate Camp) to help resource managers create adaptation strategies applicable to their work. She serves on the unfairly maligned, vitally important Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and is a Switzer Environmental Fellow and a United States Environmental Protection Agency Bronze Medalist. Prior to creating EcoAdapt, she was the chief climate change scientist for the World Wildlife Fund from 2001-2008 and a Research Ecologist with the Environmental Protection Agency from 1998-2001. She earned her Ph.D. at the University of California, Davis in Ecology and her B.A. in Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz.