Climate Resilience Hub

Fondren Library is a Climate Resilience Hub

In 2020, Rice University’s Fondren Library became a designated Communities Responding to Extreme Weather (CREW) Climate Resilience Hub. Hubs like Fondren equip community members with the tools needed to help stay safe during extreme weather.

Climate Prep Week 2024: How to Make a Rain Garden

Join us on Sept. 24 at 1:30 pm in the Kyle Morrow Room to learn about making a rain garden. As an effective method of green flood prevention and civilian infrastructure, rain gardens can help mitigate flood events while providing natural habitats. Dr. Dominic Boyer, Co-Director of the Center for Coastal Futures and Adaptive Resilience, Board of Governors for Rice Sustainability Institute, and Rice professor, will speak.

Fondren Climate Resilience Hub/Green Team Past Presentations:

The Challenges of Communicating Climate Risk event (9/29/2022)

As part of Climate Preparedness Week 2022, Fondren Library's Green Team and the Leventhal Map & Education Center presented a conversation about the challenges of communicating climate risks and impacts in two different geographic contexts. Rice professor and Houston-based author Lacy M. Johnson discussed her new book, More City Than Water: A Houston Flood Atlas, and the process of working with graphic designers to produce maps that document Hurricane Harvey’s impact on Houston. Based in Boston, Zoe Davis works for the City of Boston as a Climate Resilience Project Manager on the Climate Ready Boston team, which informs local climate planning and helps residents visualize and prepare for the impacts of future climate risks. The conversation explored what’s at stake when communicating about climate change, whether as a historical record of a past disaster or as part of future-focused public policy.

To watch the recording, please go here: The Challenges of Communicating Climate Risk recording

Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico: Why They Are Stronger and How to Be Ready event (9/29/2021)

On September 29, 2021, the Green Team presented Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico as part of Communities Responding to Extreme Weather's (CREW) Climate Preparedness Week, which runs every year from Sept. 24-30. Prof. Sylvia Dee, Rice Climate Scientist, and Dr. Lizzie Wallace, Rice Postdoctoral Fellow, provided riveting information about why and how climate change is producing more powerful hurricanes and tropical cyclones. Hollie Evans, Rice Crisis Management Team Planning Section Chief and Campus Events Manager provided specific details about how to be ready for hurricanes.

To watch the recording, please go here: Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico recording

Getting Ready for Extreme Weather: Community Preparedness for Climate Disasters event (4/20/2021)

On April 20, 2021, the Green Team held its first annual event focusing on preparation for extreme weather. Jim Blackburn, co-director of Rice’s Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation from Disasters Center, discussed current issues concerning Houston and flooding. Julia Kress, CREW Hub Liaison, discussed how to prepare for future extreme weather events.

To watch the recording or view the PowerPoint presentations, please go here:

Getting Ready for Extreme Weather recording

Jim Blackburn's PowerPoint from Getting Ready for Extreme Weather

Julia Kress' PowerPoint from Getting Ready for Extreme Weather

Finding Hope in Extreme Weather event (12/02/2020)

Rev. Vernon Walker, Program Manager of Communities Respond to Extreme Weather (CREW), discussed extreme weather and how we can best plan for it. Fondren Library had just become a CREW Climate Resiliency Hub in September 2020 and its first event as a hub featured CREW's manager.

To watch the recording, please go here: Finding Hope in Extreme Weather recording

Helpful online resources, including CREW brochures on many topics:

Communities Connecting

● Connect with Your Community brochure

● Neighborhood Ready, a 90-minute training class to help connect you with your neighbors by Ready Houston.

● “Community Resilience Initiatives: Building Stronger Neighborhoods in Houston” by the Kinder Institute for Urban Research

● City of Houston Complete Communities

● City of Houston Resilient Communities

Make a Plan & Build an Emergency Kit

● Preparing a Home Emergency Preparedness Kit | CREW PDF download

● Preparing a Family Emergency Plan | CREW PDF download

● Building an emergency kit | Red Cross

● Making a personal disaster plan | Ready.gov

● Preparing your own organization for emergencies: Organizations Preparing for Emergency Needs (OPEN) -- This is an online training about how to prepare your organization for emergencies so that you can stay open for people who rely on your services. It also includes a downloadable instruction kit. The training is 40 minutes but is self-paced, and may take significantly less time if you click through it instead of listening