Geographically, the Phoenix area is fortunate to have a limited vulnerability to hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, etc.  Resilience to natural disasters has been overlooked in our desert city.  However, the campuses involved in the CRUX project understand the necessity of a resilience assessment and resilience planning and are signatories to the Climate Commitment.  While certain natural disasters may not be an imminent threat, we are increasingly vulnerable to climate stresses such as extreme heat, drought, flooding, and dust storms.  The first step in assessing our adaptive capacity and vulnerability to these climate stresses involved assembling campus-community task forces at each campus.   Reaching out to individuals who recognize and understand these impending conditions, as well as the capacity and drive to take action.  Each campus-community task force is dedicated to preparation and mitigation of climate impacts. 

Each campus-community task force is comprised of staff, faculty, and students from the respective campuses, as well as community leaders from organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and the City of Glendale.  We meet monthly, sometimes bi-monthly, and communicate regularly via email.  The task force members are responsible for much of the breadth of the resilience assessment, and, as a fellow in the CRUX program, I organize the efforts. Read more about our work.