Category:Florida

Florida, the Sunshine State

The Frontlines of Climate Change, Extreme Weather, Rising Seas

ClimateNewsFlorida.com

https://climatenewsflorida.com/

https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Climate_News

https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Sea-Level_Rise

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Florida Climate Institute

https://floridaclimateinstitute.org/

Who We Are

https://floridaclimateinstitute.org/about

The Florida Climate Institute (FCI) is a multi-disciplinary network of national and international research and public organizations, scientists, and individuals concerned with achieving a better understanding of climate variability and change.

The FCI has eleven member universities – Florida A&M University (FAMU); Florida Atlantic University (FAU); the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT); Florida International University (FIU); Florida State University (FSU); Nova Southeastern University (NSU); the University of Central Florida (UCF); the University of Florida (UF); the University of Miami (UM); the University of South Florida (USF); and Stetson University (SU) – and is supported by relevant colleges, centers, and programs at these universities. UF and FSU initiated the FCI in 2010; FAU, UCF, UM, and USF formally joined in 2012; FIU formally joined in 2013; FAMU formally joined in 2014; FIT formally joined in 2015; and NSU formally joined in 2017.

The Climate Issue

https://floridaclimateinstitute.org/about/issue

Climate variability and change pose significant economic, food security, and environmental risks worldwide. Drought, storms with heavy rain, high winds, flooding, and freeze events cause billions of dollars in losses to the agricultural and natural resources sectors locally in Florida and globally. The Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that by the year 2100 global average temperature is likely to increase by 1.1 to 6.4°C (2 to 11.5°F), global mean sea level will rise from 0.18 to 0.59 m (7 to 23 inches), and increases in precipitation intensity and variability will increase the risk of both flooding and drought. The IPCC AR4 also states that many regions will experience considerable deviations from the global averages and there is tremendous uncertainty regarding the regional and local impacts of global changes. Some regions will warm more than the global average while others will warm less or even cool.

Much of the climate change information communicated to the public is based on IPCC projections that are both at the global level and relatively long-term (50 to 100 years). However, many climate stakeholders, including policy makers, farmers, and the public, also need information at local to regional levels and at shorter time scales. Climate stakeholders want reliable, scientifically-sound, region-specific climate information at multiple time scales to help evaluate various options for climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Climate Projects

https://floridaclimateinstitute.org/projects/all

All Projects

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2020 Field Course

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More Solar Power Needed in the 'Sunshine State'

Why is Florida, a state called the 'Sunshine State', acting to blocking effective solar energy policies?

https://opportunityforallfloridians.org/2022/02/24/setting-sun-just-the-latest-attack-on-florida-solar-freedom/

https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2021/12/20/floridas-largest-electric-utility-conspired-against-solar-power-documents-show/

http://fcir.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/rooftop_solar.jpg

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At the Edge: Sea-level Rise in a Near Sea-level State

Sea-Level Rise

https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Sea-Level_Rise

"Vital Signs" / Sea Level / NASA

Sea-Level Change Over Time

Unified Sea-Level Rise Projection, Southeast Florida

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Florida is the the geo-center of US #ClimateChange disruption...

The 'weather and climate' forecasts are growing ominous in Florida. sea-level rise and annual extreme weather events, hurricanes, winds and ocean surges, salt-water intrusion into the state's highly porous peninsula, the news on and on is telling a story to those who listen. Florida is facing a multitude of natural- and human-caused challenges in the 21st century. Is Florida prepared, is Florida planning for the future?

Why Are So Many Florida Politicians in Denial about the Reality of Climate Change?

Climate News Updates

https://ballotpedia.org/Florida

The Presidential campaign comes to the 'Sunshine State'

Sunshine state politics -- Some environmental Carl Hiaasen riffing on Florida's Gov Scott and Clinton & Sanders from today's Miami Herald & Tampa Bay Times.

Clinton "mocked the Scott administration's directive to state employees not to use the words "climate change" and pledged to support renewable energy in Florida."

"Of Scott's order to state employees, she said: "I found this one hard to believe. I mean, you've just got to shake your head at that."

"When Republicans say they can't talk about climate change because they're not scientists, Clinton said, there's a cure for that: "Go talk to a scientist."

Sanders "also criticized Republicans for their obstinance on climate change, which he said is holding Florida back from becoming a leader in renewable energy."

"The state of Florida has an extraordinary natural resource: its called sunlight," Sanders said, "and this state should be a leader in the world in producing solar energy."

And from Florida, an Editorial re: political moves in the 'Sunshine State'... misnaming a constitutional amendment that would, in effect, *prevent sunshine/solar energy* from competing w/ the fossil fuel industry. The issue is now before the Court. Ivan Penn formerly w/ the St Pete Times, now w/ the LA Times, wrote extensively about energy issues in Florida. What a long-running story it is. Today's Tampa Bay Times Editorial speaks of the latest chapter of public good vs energy industry-lobbying power...

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Rising Seas: 'Florida is about to be ... transformed in the coming years'

"Take the six million people who live in south Florida today and divide them into two groups: those who live less than six and a half feet above the current high tide line, and everybody else."

“Sea level rise is not some distant problem in a distant place. As Elizabeth Rush shows, it’s affecting real people right now. Rising is a compelling piece of reporting, by turns bleak and beautiful.” ― Elizabeth Kolbert, author of The Sixth Extinction

“A smart, lyrical testament to change and uncertainty. Elizabeth Rush listens to both the vulnerability and resiliency of communities facing the shifting shorelines of extreme weather. These are the stories we need to hear in order to survive and live more consciously with a sharp-edged determination to face our future with empathy and resolve. Rising illustrates how climate change is a relentless truth and real people in real places know it by name, storm by flood by fire.” ― Terry Tempest Williams, author of The Hour of Land

Read "Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore"

-- by Elizabeth Rush

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Via Tampa Bay Times

Report: 40 percent of Florida property will be ‘highly exposed’ to flooding

One of Florida’s biggest draws is also one if its biggest liabilities — its coastline. A new report projects that Florida is at the greatest risk of any state for tidal flooding caused by rising sea levels. And Tampa Bay faces some of the greatest risk within the Sunshine State.

According to a Monday report by the Union of Concerned Scientists, nearly 40 percent of the state’s property tax base is expected to be "highly exposed" to such flooding within the next 30 years.

By 2045, nearly 64,000 residential properties in the state — worth about $26 billion— are at risk for constant flooding. By 2100, about 1 million properties — worth $351 billion — will be at risk. ("You better hope I’m wrong about flood insurance" -- John Romano / Tampa Bay Times: ) "Once market risk perceptions catch up with reality, the potential drop in Florida’s coastal property values could have reverberations throughout the economy — affecting banks, insurers, investors, and developers — potentially triggering regional housing market crises."

Mapping Sea-level Rise in Florida

Coastal Risk Consultants, which raised $2 million to develop software to evaluate individual parcels for flooding, is on the cusp of profitability, said President Albert Slap.

“I just think as a practical matter, this is something people should do,” said homebuyer Kevin Kennedy, who ordered four reports from Coastal Risk Consulting on Palm Beach County properties along the Intracoastal and on the ocean. “The results discouraged me from purchasing two of them.”

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Underwater: Rising Seas, Chronic Floods, and the Implications for US Coastal Real Estate

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May 2018

Living coastline

"The "living shoreline" is the best defense against sea-level rise."

-- Jack E. Davis, author of "The Gulf: The Making of An American Sea

Follow Hashtag #Resilience on Twitter

Miami

The Water Will Come by Jeff Goodell

Miami Herald / by John Englander / We all have to rise to combat the rising tides

RMS.com / Risk Modeling & Catastrophe / We need to price #climate risk into all decision making

Tampa Bay

Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council / Climate Research

"The Cost of Doing Nothing: Economic Impacts of Sea-Level Rise in the Tampa Bay Area"

Three newspapers confront one challenge:

Sea-level rise is real, South Florida needs all hands on deck — now

MIAMI HERALD EDITORIAL BOARD

May 04, 2018

No graver threat faces the future of South Florida than the accelerating pace of sea-level rise. In the past century, the sea has risen 9 inches in Key West. In the past 23 years, it’s risen 3 inches. By 2060, it’s predicted to rise another 2 feet, with no sign of slowing down.

Think about that. Water levels could easily be 2 feet higher in 40 years. And scientists say that’s a conservative estimate. Because of melting ice sheets and how oceans circulate, there’s a chance South Florida’s sea level could be 3 feet higher by 2060 and as much as 8 feet by 2100, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

It’s not just a matter of how much land we’re going to lose, though the barrier islands and low-lying communities will be largely uninhabitable once the ocean rises by 3 feet. It’s a matter of what can be saved. And elsewhere, how we’re going to manage the retreat...