Northwest [US Climate Reslience Toolkit]

Increasing temperatures are leading to declining snowpack, melting glaciers, and rising sea levels. These changes, paired with increasing risks of flooding, wildfires, and other climate hazards, threaten human health, ecosystems, infrastructure, and industries that rely on natural resources. Impacts on the Northwest’s natural resource- and outdoor-dependent economies will have cascading effects on livelihoods and well-being of residents, with Tribes and other frontline communities facing disproportionate risks. For example, livelihoods based on forest industries, commercial fisheries, tourism, and snow-based recreation are increasingly at risk from climate impacts. Adaptation actions that prioritize social equity and utilize local and Indigenous Knowledge can support regional resilience. Agencies and utilities are using diverse strategies to decarbonize, including energy conservation and efficiency investments, building design to reduce energy needs, and harnessing renewable gas from farms and landfills. Local governments, Tribes, labor unions, and community groups across the region are adopting policies and programs that support a just transition to low-carbon industries and climate-adaptive practices, including local economic diversification plans, training for workers in resource-dependent and fossil-fuel dependent industries, financial assistance for impacted communities, and worker protections.