Growing Stronger: Toward A Climate-Ready Philadelphia 

Sarah Wu

Deputy Director, City of Philadelphia’s Office of Sustainability

Abstract:

The forecast for Philadelphia’s future climate is hotter and wetter, and much of that warmth and moisture will be concentrated in the form of heat waves and heavy precipitation events posing challenges to infrastructure, city services, businesses, and residents. Although Philadelphia lies 90 miles from the coast, its tidal rivers make sea level rise, which is likely to reach two feet by 2050 and four feet by 2100, a particularly important risk for the city. The City of Philadelphia's Office of Sustainability released Growing Stronger: Toward A Climate-Ready Philadelphia in November of 2015. The report includes projections for temperature and precipitation, modeling of potential inundation under various sea level rise scenarios (including sea level rise with storm surge), and measures that the city can take to adapt to the changing climate.

Speaker Bio: 

Sarah Wu is the Deputy Director for Planning in the City of Philadelphia Office of Sustainability.  Sarah manages the City of Philadelphia’s climate adaptation planning and oversaw the 2016 update of the City’s sustainability plan, Greenworks: A Vision for a Sustainable Philadelphia.  She also co-chairs the Philadelphia Food Policy Advisory Council, which facilitates the development of policies that improve Philadelphians’ access to food that is healthy, affordable, sustainable, and fair.

Prior to joining the Office of Sustainability, Sarah helped implement Opportunity NYC, an incentive program working to improve the health, employment, and education of New Yorkers in poverty, and researched national environmental policies at the Environmental Law Institute in Washington, DC.

Sarah holds an undergraduate degree from Williams College and a Masters in Urban Planning from New York University. 

Engineers:

 This seminar does qualify for 1.0 Professional Development Hour (PDH). A Certificate of Attendance will be available on site for AWRA-PMAS members only. The meeting price for non-members who wish to receive a Certificate of Attendance for the PDH is $10.00 ($3.00 for meeting + $7.00 for certificate). 

Please note: all lunch orders will close by noon on the day before the presentation. In addition, all lunch orders will need to be paid for online by this time. We are unable to refund the cost of lunch or meeting fees because they are paid ahead of time based on number of registrations.

Thank you!