Puerto Rico parish aims to be climate resilience hub to respond to extreme storms

In the Indian state of Bihar, women-led self-help groups are challenging traditional gender norms and saving money to buy and install solar irrigation pumps. The pumps increase the local agricultural capacity by providing a cleaner, more affordable alternative to the diesel pumps typically used to combat water scarcity in the region.

Florida’s Babcock Ranch survived Hurricane Ian relatively unscathed thanks to years of planning and development focused on resiliency. The community’s safety features include retaining ponds to prevent flooding, streets designed to absorb rain, a solar-powered gird with a backup-battery system, and buried power lines.

Churches in Appalachia are installing solar arrays and encouraging their communities to make energy-efficient upgrades and renewable-energy swaps, too. The Shepherdstown Presbyterian Church in West Virginia purchased its array with donations that community members raised from the money they saved on energy after installing free smart-control devices in their homes that reduced energy use during peak hours.

A first-of-its-kind renewable energy system in Hengbung, India, creates hydropower with solar pumps to prevent the community from experiencing prolonged power outages during extreme weather. At the same time, the project is increasing India’s renewable energy capacity.

Several nonprofits are running a solar cooperative in El Paso, Texas, that helps homeowners come together to buy and install solar panels in bulk, which makes them more affordable.

The Diocese of San Joaquin in California worked together with a developer and local utilities to install solar panels at 14 of its locations to make 95% of its energy use renewable.

A collaboration between tree-planting organizations in Washington D.C. helps Catholic church properties to plant and care for trees. The free trees are an effort to combat urban heat and benefit the local environment.

An early warning system in Bangladesh that uses a mix of technology and community connections is saving lives during storms and natural disasters. The mixture includes increased storm tracking, climate change mitigation solutions, and information-sharing systems that reach even the most remote areas. An essential part of the solution comes in the form of human capital - a human chain of communication that spreads the warnings across villages by word of mouth.

A farming practice that involves installing solar panels over crops, called agrivoltaics, allows farmers in drought-stricken regions to keep crops from sun overexposure, keep water in the soil for longer, and cool the panels with the moisture released from the plants all at once.

In western Illinois, ComEd's flexible interconnection program uses collaborative workshops and data-sharing agreements to allow community solar projects to connect to the grid without costly upgrades.