Climate Impacts Group

The Climate Impacts Group is hiring!

The Climate Impacts Group is growing our team! We’re currently hiring for the following positions to help us enact our new strategic plan and increase climate resilience in our region. Positions are hybrid, with in-person requirements in Seattle, Wash., unless otherwise stated. Check back often for more opportunities.

Climate Social Science Specialist

Closes on Sept. 15, 2024
This is a research scientist/engineer 3 (E S UAW RSE) position that will support climate resilience engagement and research
Experience with project management, engagement, and communications
Bachelor’s degree + 4 years of experience or equivalent combination of both
$6500-$8000 per month salary

Learn more and apply 

Director, Climate Impacts Group 

Open until filled (application review starts Oct.

UW Climate Impacts Group is hiring a director to lead new strategic plan

The Climate Impacts Group is hiring a director to lead, support and plan the activities of our group. Our director will: 1) provide strategic leadership for the organization; 2) drive fundraising and financial stewardship; 3) build relationships and maintain an engagement plan focused on enhancing impact; and 4) provide internal management by promoting a positive work culture and supervising and mentoring key staff members. 

The Climate Impacts Group recently completed a 2024-2029 strategic plan, which was co-created through extensive collaboration, input and feedback among all CIG staff and informed with detailed input and feedback from many of our external partners. 

CIG and Sea Grant receive federal funding to build capacity in Washington coastal Tribes and communities to address hazards due to climate change

Coastal Tribes and communities in Washington are on the front lines of climate change. Many are already grappling with associated coastal hazards, including sea level rise and flooding. However, all too often, these communities lack the capacity to adequately address the increasing climate risks that they face.

Washington Sea Grant (WSG) and the Climate Impacts Group (CIG) — both based at the University of Washington College of the Environment — collectively received $8.1 million in federal funding to strengthen local capacity in responding to climate hazards on the Washington coast. The partners will do this through implementing a new Resilience Fellowship and training programs, a small grants program for coastal Tribes in Washington, and coordinating partnerships to ensure that lessons learned translate into actionable knowledge. 

Pacific Northwest tribes are battered by climate change but fight to get money meant to help them

A report led by the University of Washington’s Climate Impacts Group, the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, and Washington Sea Grant compiles the experiences of Washington and Oregon coastal Tribes as they prepare for climate change. This report was funded by the Northwest Climate Resilience Collaborative, a NOAA Climate Adaptation Partnership program. 

Register Today for Water Year 2024 Recap & 2025 Outlook Meeting

The 19th annual Oregon-Washington Water Year Meeting: 2024 Recap and 2025 Outlook will be held as two virtual morning meetings. There is no cost to attend but you are required to register. 

The goal of this meeting is to share and gather information regarding climate impacts of the 2024 water year. The warmer than normal winter, lack of Washington snowpack and subsequent drought development, the changing drought conditions in Oregon, and the hot July will be topics of discussion. This meeting will also offer the opportunity to learn from others about mitigation actions that were taken through group discussion. Forecast experts will provide expectations for 2025, including discussion of what the switch to La Niña in the tropical Pacific means for the region.  

Report describes the barriers Pacific Northwest coastal Tribes face in adapting to climate change

Among the many effects of human-driven climate change is rising seas. Warmer water takes up more space, and melting or receding polar ice sheets add water to the oceans. Meanwhile, a warmer atmosphere also leads to more destructive coastal storms. Communities worldwide are adapting by moving away from vulnerable shores.

Many Tribes in Washington and Oregon call coastal areas home, meaning they are especially affected by climate change. They also face changes in wildfire risk and in changes to fisheries that are economically and culturally important.

A report led by the University of Washington’s Climate Impacts Group, the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, and Washington Sea Grant compiles the experiences of Washington and Oregon coastal Tribes as they prepare for climate change. 

New report from Northwest Climate Resilience Collaborative shares both barriers and paths to climate resilience for Northwest Coastal Tribes

Along the Washington and Oregon coasts, rising sea levels and changes in ocean chemistry are combining with increasing river floods and other land-based impacts of climate change. These changes hold serious consequences for coastal communities, aquatic ecosystems, fisheries and infrastructure. 

The Tribal Coastal Resilience Portfolio of the Northwest Climate Resilience Collaborative conducted an assessment over two years to better understand the state of climate adaptation among Northwest coastal Tribes, and to elevate Tribes’ experience of key barriers and needs which, if addressed, could help advance Tribal resilience.

The assessment was informed by a review of Tribal climate documents and other relevant reports, as well as a series of listening sessions with Tribal staff, citizens and elected officials. 

Welcoming Lisa Colligan

We are excited to welcome Lisa Colligan to the UW Climate Impacts Group team! Lisa is joining us as the program coordinator with the Climate Impacts Group and the Northwest Climate Resilience Collaborative.

Lisa has dedicated her career to exploring how proper land management can help us repair environmental and social damage. Lisa’s experience includes nonprofit management, program coordination, conservation and farming. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Environmental Geology in 2019 from Beloit College.

Lisa will be supporting logistics, coordination and internal communications for the Northwest Climate Resilience Collaborative and the Climate Impacts Group. In the next few months, Lisa will work to relaunch the NCRC Bulletin, help to plan the fall 2024 all-hands meeting in Spokane, and support a number of other CIG and NCRC projects. 

Climate Impacts Group releases new strategic plan

The Climate Impacts Group has released a new strategic plan to guide the next five years of our work. Among several key priorities, the strategic plan reflects a commitment to centering equity in climate adaptation, with particular attention to environmental justice and community resilience. 

This commitment to equity will shape our approach to all of our work. We will be organizing our work into four priorities — action-oriented research, decision making, capacity-building and communications. An additional fifth priority — fundraising — is crucial to ensuring CIG can deliver greater impact across our first four strategic priorities.

“This marks a really important moment for the Climate Impacts Group,” Jason Vogel, interim director of the Climate Impacts Group, says. 

Welcoming our EarthLab Summer Interns

The Climate Impacts Group is excited to welcome four UW undergraduate students to our team this summer! Caroline Hale, Lupita Ocampo, Anusriya Rahman Ornie and Cora Schultz are joining our team through the EarthLab Summer Internship program. Learn more about each of these students:  

Caroline Hale 

Climate Justice Academy Curriculum & Coordination Intern

Caroline Hale (she/her) is a rising senior at the University of Washington, double majoring in Environmental Studies and Sociology. Her interests converge at the intersection of the natural world, biological sciences and sociological perspectives. Throughout her academic journey, Caroline has had the opportunity to work in collaboration with faculty members on research projects related to her degrees and is eager to leverage these experiences to support research in the Climate Impacts Group.