A change in structure, function, or behavior by which a species or individual improves its chance of survival in a specific environment.

The process of analyzing, selecting, and prioritizing actions in response to climate change impacts. It is focused on addressing both short-term and long-term climate change impacts on human life, property, economic continuity, ecological integrity, and community function. (Adapt New South Wales and IPCC 2014 Report)

A rights-based framework that seeks to address the social inequities created by our unjust political and economic systems which will be further exacerbated by climate change. (“Organizing Cools the Planet: Tools and Reflections to Navigate the Climate Crisis,”)

The acronym SMART stands for Sustainable, Mixed, Affordable, Resilient, Transit-oriented. Climate SMART Development is an approach to create resilient communities in balance with nature for current and future residents.

Describes the ways in which a person, community, or social system (a receptor) is susceptible to sustaining harm or damage (impact) as a result of climate change. Climate vulnerability is a function of (i) climate-related changes in conditions that are experienced by a receptor, and (ii) the receptor’s sensitivity to experiencing impacts as a result of those changing conditions. Climate vulnerability is related to physical factors (e.g., whether a community is likely to experience increases in the frequency of dangerously high heat events, or to be flooded during more frequent or intense storms) as well as social and economic factors (Climate Justice Working Group, Advancing Climate Justice in California: Guiding Principles and Recommendations for Policy and Funding Decisions 2017)

Beneficial outcomes from climate action that seek to mitigate climate change risks but also deliver on other priorities, such as addressing structural inequalities.

The process by which local sea level rise, strong wave action, and coastal flooding wear down or carry away rocks, soils, and/or sands along the coast. (Climate.gov Toolkit)

 Nonprofit organizations governed by a board of CLT residents, community residents, and public representatives that provide lasting community assets and shared equity homeownership opportunities for families and communities. (Grounded Solutions Network)

the ability of communities to withstand, recover, and learn from past disasters to strengthen future response and recovery efforts. This can include but is not limited to the physical and psychological health of the population, social and economic equity and well-being of the community, effective risk communication, integration of organizations (governmental and nongovernmental) in planning, response, and recovery, and social connectedness for resource exchange, cohesion, response, and recovery. (Office of Planning and Research: Planning and Investing For A Resilient California)

A process where frontline community members most impacted by climate change share decision-making power with the lead government agency and help produce strategies focused on their priorities and concerns. (USDN Guide to Equitable, Community-Drive Climate Preparedness Planning, and MSC Community-Driven Climate Resilience Planning)

Period of excessive dryness long enough to affect agriculture, habitats, or people, which often develop slowly over months or years.

Benefits to humans provided by the natural environment and from healthy ecosystems.

The fair treatment and meaningful involvement of people of all races, cultures, incomes, and national origins with respect to the development, adoption, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. (Office of Planning and Research General Plan Guidelines)

All people are justly and fairly included in society and that everyone is able to participate, prosper, and achieve their full potential. It recognizes that everyone enjoys different advantages and faces different challenges and that everyone should be treated justly and fairly according to their circumstances. Equity should be treated as a critical component of all planning, including climate adaptation planning. Equitable climate adaptation planning involves identifying persons who may be most vulnerable to climate change and ensuring that planning processes, distribution of resources, and efforts to address systemic wrongs are all conducted in an equitable manner  (Office of Planning and Research Adaptation Planning Guide 2.0)

Communities—including people of color, immigrants, low-income individuals, people with disabilities, those in rural areas, LGBTQIA+ people, indigenous people, and elderly populations—experience continued injustice. They face a legacy of systemic, largely racialized, inequity that can influence factors such as where they live and work, the quality of their air and water, their economic opportunities, and their access to transportation, basic necessities, and public services. All of these factors face compounded negative impacts in the face of climate change. (The Greenlining Institute: Making Equity Real in Climate Adaptation)

Greenhouse gases released into the air that are produced by numerous activities, including burning fossil fuels, industrial agriculture, and melting permafrost, to name a few. These gases cause heat to be trapped in the atmosphere, slowly increasing the Earth’s temperature over time. (Greenbelt Alliance Climate & Land-Use Dictionary)

Any gaseous compound in the atmosphere that is capable of absorbing infrared radiation, thereby trapping and holding heat in the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, and other compounds.

The water found underground in the cracks and spaces in soil, sand and rock. It is stored in and moves slowly through geologic formations of soil, sand and rocks called aquifers. (Groundwater Foundation)

Flooding that occurs as groundwater is lifted above the ground surface due to sea level rise.

 An area characterized by temperatures higher than those of the surrounding area, usually due to exposed pavement and lack of tree canopy.

This concept (also called ecotone levees or living levees) aims to integrate flood control with habitat restoration in a way that can provide wastewater treatment while simultaneously providing ecosystem benefits — all with a much lower price tag as compared to gray water infrastructure alternatives.

Development of vacant land (usually individual lots or leftover properties) within areas that are already largely developed (Greenbelt Climate & Land Use Dictionary)

Movement to a regenerative economy that not only mitigates climate change, but provides people with good jobs, economic mobility, and does not exhaust our planet’s finite resources.

Defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as living in a household in which all members aged 14 years and older speak a non-English language and also speak English less than “very well” (i.e., have difficulty with English).

A LULU is a land use that creates costs–like potential health hazards, poor aesthetics, or reduction in home values–  on those living within close proximity to unwanted land uses such as toxic waste dumps, incinerators, smelters, airports, freeways, and other sources of environmental, economic, or social degradation. LULUs often gravitate to disadvantaged areas such as industrial neighborhoods and poor, minority, unincorporated, or politically under-represented places that cannot fight them off.

The coordinated process of voluntarily and equitably relocating people, structures, and infrastructure away from at-risk areas in response to episodic or chronic threats in order to facilitate the transition of individual people, communities, and ecosystems (both species and habitats) inland. (Georgetown Climate Center).

The process of implementing measures to address, avoid, minimize, or compensate for the impacts to the environment caused by human action.

Source of harm or difficulty created by a meteorological, environmental, or geological event.

An area of relatively undeveloped land which has substantially retained its characteristics as provided by nature or has been substantially restored, or which can be feasibly restored to a near-natural condition and which derives outstanding value from its wildlife, scenic, open space, parkland or recreational characteristics, or any combination thereof. (Law Insider)

 Refers to a suite of actions or policies that harness the power of nature to address some of our most pressing societal challenges, such as threats to water security, rising risk of natural disasters, or climate change. (World Wildlife Fund)

Geographic areas that share common physical characteristics and, subsequently, common adaptation strategies. OLUs operate like “nature’s jurisdictions”—they cross traditional city and county boundaries but adhere to the boundaries of natural processes like tides, waves, and sediment movement. See SF Bay Area Adaptation Atlas.

The discriminatory practice of denying services (typically financial) to residents of certain areas based on their race or ethnicity. (Investopedia)

The potential for damage, loss, or other impacts created by the interaction of natural hazards with community assets.

A product or process that collects information and assigns values to risks for the purpose of informing priorities, developing or comparing courses of action, and informing decision-making. (FEMA Local Mitigation Plan Review Guide, October 2011, Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment Guide, and Department of Homeland Security Risk Lexicon)

 When the volume of water in a waterway (creeks, rivers, or constructed channels) exceeds the waterway’s capacity, it will overflow the waterway’s banks. (WA Coastal Network)

A gradual settling or sudden sinking of the Earth’s surface due to removal or displacement of subsurface earth materials. (United States Geological Survey)

 Refers to the arrangement of the natural and artificial physical features of an area such as the steepness and surface shapes of the land.

Refers to the evolving knowledge acquired by indigenous and local peoples over hundreds or thousands of years through direct contact with the environment. This knowledge is specific to a location and includes the relationships between plants, animals, natural phenomena, landscapes, and timing of events that are used for lifeways, including but not limited to hunting, fishing, trapping, agriculture, and forestry. (United States Fish and Wildlife Service)

Defines where development should and should not happen. The line circumscribes an entire urbanized area and is used by local governments to guide land-use decisions. (Greenbelt Climate & Land Use Dictionary)

Characteristics of community assets that make them susceptible to damage from a given hazard Impact – the consequences or effects of a hazard on the community and its assets.

The specific land area that drains to a lake, river, or stream

Lands used for farming, grazing, or the production of forests. (Law Insider)