Tag: climate

The US Forest Service Climate Change Resource Center (CCRC) has launched an excellent new eLearning Module entitled “Responses to Climate Change: What You Need to Know”. This is the third in a series of three climate change modules produced by the CCRC. The CCRC modules are excellent companions to the CLN learning modules and provide another great resource to expand your climate knowledge. The CLN will work to integrate content from these modules into the forthcoming CLN Climate Literacy Certification program. You can find all the CCRC modules here.

On Thursday, January, 12, 2016 at 3:00pm EDT, William Hohenstein will discuss methods and opportunities for incorporating Climate Change considerations into programming for Extension personnel and other professionals who assist producers in their operations. This is an excellent opportunity to find out how USDA can help Extension use climate tools, information and programs to enhance programming.
Register for this webinar now.

William Hohestein serves as the Director of the USDA Climate Change Program Office (CCPO), and is responsible for coordinating climate change research and program activities for the Department. The Climate Change Program Office provides coordination and policy development support for the Department’s climate change program. It serves as a focal point for support to the Secretary of Agriculture on the causes and consequences of climate change, as well as strategies for addressing climate change.

Dr. Marshall Shepherd, The University of Georgia’s Director for Program in Atmospheric Sciences and the host of the Weather Channel’s WxGeeks, recently contributed an excellent article on Climate Change Communication to Forbes magazine. The article “9 Tips For Communicating Science to People Who Are Not Scientists” discusses general science communication techniques that have direct utility when discussing climate science with the general public including farmers and foresters. The article is a short and excellent read and we highly recommend checking it out for some quick tips on communication with those you service.

After conducting stakeholder needs assessment, the USDA Northeast Regional Climate Hub discovered that simple discussion groups on specific regional climate topics may be useful to producers and Extension Professionals. In response, CLN and the Hub have teamed up to pilot a set of Google Groups to facilitate this line of communication.

Topics in the pilot include: Row Crops, Forestry, Aquaculture, Specialty Crops and more. This effort will expand to include other USDA Hub Regions based on the response to the pilot and interest from the Hubs.

Northeast readers can join the groups now at http://www.climatelearning.net/discuss/.

If you experience any issues with the system please let us know at cln@sref.info.

The long awaited, easy to use, Adaptation Resources for Agriculture: Responding to Climate Variability and Change in the Midwest and Northeast is now available at the National Climate Hubs website under the Adaptation Assistance menu.

Add this new USDA report to your education and outreach action plans for helping producers prepare for, cope with, and recover from extreme weather and uncertain climate conditions. Read it to gain perspective on climate adaptation in agriculture and understand the general effects of climate change on agriculture and natural resources in the region. More importantly, use the resources to put climate change information into action: (Chapter 3) Adaptation Strategies and Approaches, a synthesis of peer-reviewed climate change adaptation responses, (Chapter 4)Adaptation Workbook, an adaptive management driven process for adapting agriculture to climate change, and (Chapter 5)Adaptation Workbook examples, four real-world examples that demonstrate how to use the workbook on typical farms in the region.  While the Adaptation Workbook is designed primarily for use by individual famers, the rest of the report is designed for use by extension agents, ag advisors, and conservationists to enhance their climate education and training programs. Open Report

Two new papers have just been published in the Journal of Forestry that explore attitudes of Southern Foresters towards climate change. The first paper entitled “Climate Change Attitudes of Southern Forestry Professionals: Outreach Implications” is designed to to enhance educators’ understanding of foresters’ climate change attitudes. Interestingly, the results of this study suggest that demographic characteristics of foresters shape climate change attitudes in ways comparable to those of the general public.

The second paper, “Nonindustrial Private Forest Landowner Beliefs Toward Climate Change and Carbon Sequestration in the Southern United States” expands the analysis to include carbon sequestration and focuses on private landowners. The study found that landowners that have a neutral opinion on climate change could provide a receptive target audience for climate change education. Both papers provide useful insight into how climate change training might be designed for these audiences.

The first meeting of the Southeast Hub’s Network of Partners was convened in July. Members include representatives from all of the region’s Land-grant Universities and non-profit organizations. The group discussed how to best translate research findings to outcomes on the ground and work together to address critical needs of southeastern land managers. If you are interested in becoming a SERCH partner contact Steve McNulty at smcnulty@fs.fed.us.