ASAP Network Meeting
September 13-15th, 2021
Connect. Celebrate. Recharge
ASAP Network Meeting
September 13-15th, 2021
Join us to connect with fellow ASAP members, celebrate the incredible accomplishments of our network, and recharge to address climate challenges with renewed hope and resolve.
Interested in attending the Network Meeting?
Registration for the Network Meeting closed on Sept 8th. Please contact Breana Nehls if you are still interested in registering.
Interested in sponsoring the Network Meeting?
Reach out to Beth Gibbons to create a unique opportunity portfolio for your organization!
ASAP is committed to eliminating any financial barriers to attending the Network Meeting. Scholarships are available to anyone who needs financial support to participate via the ASAP JEDI Fund. Apply here.
Questions? Reach out to Breana Nehls.
ASAP is more than a professional society. It’s an ever-evolving social impact network where connections between members are adding up to something bigger. Whether you’ve been an ASAP member for 10 years or 10 minutes, this is the place for you to discover the breadth and depth of the ASAP network, deepen your understanding of how and why to engage year-round, and strengthen your commitment to your peers and the work we’re doing together to build the field of climate change adaptation. We can’t wait to see you there!

We know your schedule is unpredictable. That’s why you’ll be able to build a personalized Network Meeting agenda tailored to your interests and availability. ASAP is committed to creating an accessible and inclusive experience for members. Please use the registration form to share your accessibility needs and reach out to Breana Nehls with any questions.
Get involved - and get excited for - these Network Meeting activities!
- Keynote and small group discussions on Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion : Continue our network’s shared work of learning and living the values, principles, and actions of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in the context of climate change adaptation and climate resilience.
- Member Led Sessions: Share about a program, activity, or initiative you are working on. Highlight how other ASAP members are adding value to your work and promote opportunities for ASAP members to get involved. Start a discussion on an adaptation topic you are passionate about. Create a space for members to socialize and practice personal resilience. Session submissions were due June 30th.
- ASAP 101: Connect with ASAP member leaders and staff in small groups to get all of your ASAP questions answered. Learn how to engage in member programs, explore how ASAP can advance your career, and dive into organizational strategic planning, finance, and governance.
- Networking Meals: Back by popular demand, you’ll have the opportunity to share virtual meals one-on-one with another ASAP member or at a small group “table”.
Network Meeting Program
*all times in Eastern*
Monday September 13
7:00 - 9:00 pm Opening Social: Member Appreciation Reception Join us for an evening celebrating YOU- our amazing members! This is your chance to raise a glass and celebrate the accomplishments of the network together. You’ll hear and share stories of success and gratitude and get to participate in ASAP's first ever talk show! Members Bela Schultz, Jessica Whitehead, Michael McCormick, Jacqui Patterson, Natalie Kruse Daniels, and Melissa Deas will share their adaptation stories on a talk show hosted by our Executive Director, Beth Gibbons. You'll have an opportunity to join breakouts to dive in deeper.
Tuesday September 14
10:00 am - 12:00 pm Member Led Sessions
- What Trees for Tomorrow?, Emily Schoerning
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10:00 - 11:00 am
- Will the trees in your community thrive in 2070? This question is important for all of us, whether our adaptation passion focuses on urban, agricultural, or wild spaces. In this session, we'll talk about how climate change may impact the trees of today, learn to use tools that will help you build a tree forecast for your area, and share how and why we hope to use our new knowledge and skills.
- Library Workers on the Frontline of Extreme Weather, Madeleine Charney
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10:00 - 11:00 am
- Learn about the emerging network of climate resilience hubs in U.S. libraries. The increase in extreme weather events lead to urgent needs such as: storytime to calm traumatized children, warming and cooling for unhoused citizens, Internet access and charging stations for those without power. Library workers are on the front lines, providing emergency services and life-saving resources for their communities.
- Breaking into Adaptation: Working and Making it Work as an Opportunity Seeker, Presented by the Professional Opportunities in Adaptation Group: Miles Gordon, Erin DeVries, Avery Kaplan, Isaac Gendler | 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
- The Professional Opportunities in Adaptation Member-Led Interest Group Invites you to a panel discussion regarding professional opportunities in various sectors, including private, public, and academia from ASAP Organizational Members. This is intended to highlight a diversity of opportunities afforded by ASAP Organizational Members such as internships, graduate and certification programs, and professional development at conferences, as well as training programs and other specialty/practitioner resources. Members will gain an understanding of the professional development opportunities available to them at different career stages by ASAP organizational members.
- Lawyers in Adaptation, Barrett Ristroph and Linda Reid | 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
- Lawyers have unique roles in the adaptation field. They are in a position to understand and advance policy. At the same time, they have specific ethical duties and responsibilities associated with the legal field. This session aims to bring together people working as both legal and adaptation professionals, particularly those who have hybrid law/non-law practices. We will share challenges and best practices.
- Jacobs Focus 2023 Strategy - Resilience, David Savarese
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11:00 am - 12:00 pm
- Jacobs is a large global firm with both strategic consulting and program delivery practice broken up (but networked) by geography. A small team within the company is articulating how the existing practice must now move beyond 'resilience in everything we do' towards front-end services that allow for better planning and coordination throughout delivery. This session will discuss how large AECs are helping to bridge the divide between planning and delivery.
12:15 - 2:00 pm Advancing Justice & Equity through Urgency Plenary with Kyle Whyte + Member Panel
Our Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Plenary is the heart of the Network Meeting. This topic was chosen by our JEDI Committee and reflects a tension many ASAP members feel. We know there is an urgent need to mitigate and adapt; renewed political ambition to address climate change and the recent IPCC report proclaim a climate emergency. Yet we also know that words like “emergency” and “crisis” can be used to justify skipping the often slow, nuanced, and intentional work that’s needed for truly just and equitable adaptation and resilience. We will use this session to deepen members’ ability to articulate and act on maintaining the centrality of justice and equity in adaptation amidst urgency.
We are thrilled to have Kyle Whyte , renowned adaptation professional, scholar, and activist share a keynote address. Not only has Kyle undergone deep thought and research on the topic of upholding justice and equity through urgency, he is also now in a position to translate that into political change through his position on the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. Kyle’s vantage point as a tribal member allows him to draw on lessons learned from tribes being forced to adapt to conditions outside their control over the past several hundred years. Kyle will help us bring to light issues and strategies relevant to building trust between different types of adaptation professionals, such as bridging western science to tribes, and how to simultaneously harness the momentum and energy that urgency brings and use effective strategies for working from the ground up, centering the experience of climate affected people in our work.
Following Kyle's address we will hear from the ASAP Member panel below:
- Devora Neumark, who works on adaptation with indigenous communities in Canada
- Justin Kates, who is the emergency manager for the City of Nashua, New Hampshire
- Camilla Lizundia, an urban planner and one of ASAP’s youngest members
- Debra Butler, a PhD candidate and curriculum fellow working with tribal and indigenous communities in
the Southeast United States
- Sharon Hausam will moderate this panel
2:00 - 2:30 pm Break
2:30 - 3:30 pm Small and Large Group Activities on Advancing Justice & Equity through Urgency
4:00 - 5:00 pm Networking Snack
5:00 - 10:00 pm Member Led Sessions
- Speculative Resilience In My Body, Galen Treuer | 5 :00 - 6:00 pm
- As adaptation professionals we think about the future and how to prepare for change. In this session we will spend time together speculating about what those changes might feel like in our bodies and what that means personally, professionally, as community members. We won't over think it. We will use exercises to feel it.
- R*ECO*NNECT: Deepening Connections for Personal Resilience, Lily Swanbrow Becker and Susi Moser | 6:00 - 8:00 pm
- This session will focus on deepening and strengthening connections to build personal resilience. Within this safe space, participants can turn inward to reconnect with themselves, each other, and nature, to explore what drives each of us to undertake this essential but often heartbreaking work. We will draw on creative and contemplative practices such as art, writing, reflection, movement, and poetry to guide participants deep within to a place of compassion, understanding, and support. While this session will continue to explore the ongoing personal resilience work undertaken in the R*ECO*NNECT ASAP Affiliated Group, it will be open to any and all ASAP members, with no experience with this type of inner work necessary.
- In order to create a safe environment for participants to share and be vulnerable, session entry will close at 6:30 pm, so please join us early.
- Community Adaptation: Big Questions for Small Groups, Justine Shapiro-Kline, Sebastian Malter, Miles Gordon, Emily Alvarez, Emily Korman | 6:00 - 7:00 pm
- This session will create space for intimate member conversations and networking around community adaptation practice. Guided by prompts that draw on themes and insights from a year of CALE sessions, we will structure the hour as a series of four small-group breakouts that give participants a chance to connect in groups of 3-4, first through introductions and then by discussion around the prompt. We will wrap up the session with a full-group debrief.
- Network of Networks Social, Melissa Ocana, Sean Bath, Amanda Leinberger | 8:00 - 9:00 pm
- Come socialize with fellow network nerds and nodes! We invite coordinators and enthusiasts of climate adaptation networks and collaboratives to meet and mingle with peers from across the country! This will be a great opportunity to learn more about adaptation networks, even if you are not currently involved in one. We'll start with a brief discussion about adaptation networks and then use Zoom breakout rooms to engage in smaller groups.
- Explore Your Adaptation Landscape, Vidya Balasubramanyam | 8:00 - 10:00 pm
- Participants will sketch their adaptation landscape through a facilitated process. Through this exercise, they will develop a deeper connection with their values and motivations, articulate a personal connection with climate change, and be able to link those connections to non-tangible feelings and emotions via colors and patterns. This session is intended to decolonize traditional ways of perceiving and relating to climate change adaptation. No prior art experience is necessary. Any type of art material can be used – this session is designed to accommodate the most basic materials : a pencil and paper, although you may choose to bring additional art materials that you like and incorporate it into this exploration.
- Adaptation in the Southwest: A SPAN Networking Social, Amanda Leinberger and Kathy Jacobs | 9:00 - 10:00 pm
- The Southwest Practitioners Adaptation Network (SPAN) is a network of networks for adaptation professionals in the Southwest. Join us for this networking social to learn more about SPAN and its members, explore some of SPAN's resources and tools, and meet or catch up with peers and colleagues in the region. This event is geared toward those living or working in the Southwest but open to all.
Wednesday September 15
10:00 - 11:00 am Networking Breakfast
11:00 - 12:00 pm ASAP 101: How ASAP the Organization Works
- Governance : The ASAP Board of Directors is a blend of a governance board and a working board. Board members provide both strategic leadership and management support to achieve ASAP’s mission, vision, and objectives. Learn more here.
- Finance/Budget/Advancement : ASAP is growing, and we need your help. In this session you will learn about ASAP’s financial targets for the coming year and how you can help us grow the network.
- Strategic Planning : ASAP is in the process of writing our first-ever strategic plan! Last year at the Network Meeting, members of the Strategic Planning committee shared their progress crafting a 2040 vision for ASAP and designing a strategic planning process for ASAP based on scenario planning. ASAP staff are using that process to outline our strategic priorities for the next five years. Come learn about what we’re planning and share your feedback!
12:00 - 12:15 pm Break
12:15 - 2:00 pm ASAP 101: How to Engage in ASAP Programs
- Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Committee : The JEDI Committee works to integrate principles of JEDI into the ASAP network and in the field of adaptation. Learn more here.
- R*ECO*CONNECT : This group is focused on strengthening connections to build personal resilience. Learn more here.
- Network of Networks : This is a community for those who coordinate and lead existing adaptation networks, collaboratives, and groups to share ideas and benefit from a supportive community of peers. Learn more here.
- Community Adaptation Learning Exchange (CALE) : CALE convenes adaptation professionals to promote peer learning around how climate communication approaches, methods, and tools enable or advance community adaptation conversations and efforts. Learn more here.
- Diverse Adaptation Drivers and Approaches : Through exploration of examples from different localities, group discussions, and role playing exercises, this group examines what makes adaptation drivers and approaches unique across communities while identifying similarities that may provide benefits. Learn more here.
- Private Sector Adaptation Professionals : This group focuses on fostering innovation and collaboration in the private sector (for profit) climate services space. Learn more here.
- Professional Opportunities in Adaptation : Through a monthly Professional Development series, members of this group obtain a greater understanding of how to find an opportunity or job in adaptation and improve their skill sets in the field. Learn more here.
- Climate Migration and Managed Retreat : This group serves as a discussion and networking space for ASAP members interested in topics related to climate migration and managed retreat. Learn more here.
- Policy Practice : This group works to understand and shape adaptation policy to strengthen the context in which ASAP members operate and advance professionally at all scales. Learn more here.
- Asheville Resilience Dialogues Microgrant : ASAP members in Asheville are developing opportunities to engage local residents in a climate equity dialogue to enhance Asheville’s Climate Resilience Assessment Plan. Learn more here.
- Los Angeles Resilience Hub Microgrant : With the assistance of an ASAP microgrant, Climate Resolve is currently working on a Community Resilience and Access plan for the Baldwin Hills Conservancy Parklands in Los Angeles, California. Learn more here.
- Southwest Practitioners Adaptation Network (SPAN) Microgrant : The SPAN is a network of networks that builds capacity for actionable climate adaptation solutions and SPANs the boundaries between science and decision-making. Learn more here.
- ASAP Training and Professional Guidance : ASAP training and professional guidance resources help you assess your adaptation practice and make sure it incorporates the latest thinking on what constitutes ethical, equitable, effective adaptation. Learn more here.
- Mentorship Program : The Mentorship Program connects emerging climate resilience and adaptation professionals with accomplished ASAP members. Learn more here.
- Climate Migration Projects : ASAP’s newest applied research project acts on our responsibility and opportunity to establish the foundation for socially just and environmentally sound growth in climate receiving regions. The project is creating methodologies for projecting human migration that integrate future climate projections and gathering stakeholder perspectives on the topic of climate-induced in-migration to the region. Learn more here.
2:00 - 2:30 pm Closing Celebration
Celebrate and process the three days of connection and learning from the Network Meeting with fellow ASAP members. Susi Moser will lead us in a restorative reflection exercise. We’ll leave refreshed and recharged by our relationships, ready to tackle the work ahead.
ASAP Network Meeting Sponsors
We are looking for sponsors for the ASAP Network Meeting!
The ASAP Network Meeting is a unique opportunity where you’ll be able to reach out to a highly trained and specialized audience, contribute to the advancement of the adaptation field, and support professionals to connect and improve their skills.
Marketing and promotion of the ASAP Network Meeting reaches over 3,000 professionals in climate adaptation and aligned professions.
Network with 200 climate leaders who are planning and implementing climate adaptation solutions across North America.
Reach out to Beth Gibbons to create a unique sponsorship portfolio for your organization!
Sponsorship Options

Thank you to our sponsors!
Questions? Email ASAP Program Manager Breana Nehls for further details or to discuss accommodations.
Thank you to our Network Meeting Planning Committee Members!
- Vidya Balasubramanyam
- Stasia Widerynski
- David Nelson

