A recent climate change summit in Connecticut is aiming to make the state and its residents more aware of climate change and more resilient to its effects.
By Steve Glazier • Published December 2, 2025 • Updated on December 2, 2025 at 10:29 pm
The Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation, or CIRCA, is trying to better protect our communities by addressing climate impacts in Connecticut.
An event was held at Avery Point on Long Island Sound in November, with the goal of working toward a more resilient Connecticut, and preparing future generations for climate change.
One focus: Flooding in low lying areas. CIRCA Executive Director Jim O’Donnell said they’re exploring flood sensors when waters rise.
“So an automatic alert system, which we could implement, that would alert people through emails, or flashing lights, or something, could be a low-cost, near-term, quickly-implementable solution that is not perfect, but it reduces disruption and the cost associated with it,” O’Donnell said.
Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, or DEEP, points to its climate resilience fund. Commissioner Katie Dykes said communities can get grant funding to do a climate risk assessment and even fund an actual project.
“So this is about helping communities figure out what they need instead of having communities, which I hear a lot in the resilience space, have to navigate a whole alphabet soup of different programs and priorities to come up with solutions that might or might not be a good fit,” Dykes said.
State Representative John Michael Parker, chair of the Environment Committee, acknowledges that it’s expensive for these projects to increase resiliency.
Link: https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/weather-news/stories/circa-climate-summit-focuses-on-resilient-connecticut/3670827/Town: None Assigned
Focus Area: Planning
Type: In the Media