An aerial view of Miami, Florida. Ann Baekken / CC BY 2.0
By Tara Lohan
With its white-sand beaches and glittery high-rises, Miami is still a vacation hotspot. But lapping at those shores is another reality. The city is also a "possible future Atlantis, and a metonymic stand-in for how the rest of the developed world might fail — or succeed — in the climate-changed future," wrote Miami journalist Mario Alejandro Ariza in his forthcoming book, Disposable City: Miami's Future on the Shores of Climate Catastrophe.
<p>This may not be news to some. The city's plight has been the subject of <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/miami-how-rising-sea-levels-endanger-south-florida-200956/" target="_blank">investigative reporting</a> and even viral news stories after an <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/11/supermoon-tide-miami-sea-level-octopus-garage/#:~:text=The%20recent%20supermoon%20created%20difficult,along%20the%20South%20Florida%20coast." target="_blank">octopus showed up in a parking garage</a> following an especially high tide.</p>
<p>But Ariza takes a much deeper, more personal dive into the slowly unfolding disaster. Along the way he finds that the central question is whether South Florida — home to 6.5 million people — can <em>equitably</em> withstand what's coming. To do so it will need to reckon with its past sins. "Miami is a damn beautiful city, and it rests on a sodden foundation of merciless racial and environmental exploitation," he wrote.</p><p>The first step is figuring out how much sea-level rise there may be and when it's coming — but even that isn't easy, and there's no one definitive number. The regional climate change compact predicts two to six feet of sea-level rise by the end of the century; a NASA scientist has said eight to 10 feet.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQwNjkxNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMzg4Mzk1NH0.7OV9mAqMYmMFtuXovCirxAic2DnEvGjzKu03NdxZMMY/img.jpg?width=980" id="c0b56" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f92297ec36700237885d6b9112edfd96" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /><p>One thing is certain, though: 20 percent of Miami-Dade County sits less than two feet above the sea. And by some estimates, the water could get that high in just 40 years.</p><p>The time to determine what future Miami may have is now.</p><p>After detailing that grim if uncertain reality, Ariza takes a detailed journey through South Florida's vulnerabilities, what actions the region is taking, and those it isn't. The first-person narrative follows Ariza through smelly, flooded city streets; a rigorous paddle to assess the risks to local infrastructure by kayak; and a day traipsing through thick swamps with two veterans to capture invasive Burmese pythons slithering amok.</p><p>This drives home a few points: South Florida's environmental problems aren't limited to sea-level rise — although the rising water could make much of it worse.</p><p>The draining of swamps, altering of water courses and brazen development have taken a mighty ecological toll. The Everglades are dying, and restoration efforts are painfully slow. The Miami River is choked by nutrient pollution — from leaking septic systems and fertilizer runoff — that's killing seagrasses, a keystone species of shallow marine ecosystems, and an important buffer against storms.</p><p>Environmental collapse is just part of the problem, though. There's also economic distress.</p>
<p>"If you expect to survive into the middle of the 21st century, you might just get to watch Miami die," Ariza wrote. "But not before the changing climate stretches the city's already yawning gap between rich and poor past its breaking point."</p><p>Miami-Dade is a majority-minority county with half its residents foreign-born. It also has an enormous wealth gap, with 6 in 10 residents spending more than one-third of their income on housing. And most of those who are struggling to make ends meet are black and Hispanic service-sector workers, Ariza explains.</p><p>It's precisely those communities with the fewest resources that will be hardest hit by stronger storms, hotter temperatures and rising tides. These inequities "are as dangerous as the city's low-lying topography and porous geology," he wrote.</p><p>Already a kind of climate gentrification is underway.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQwNjkxOC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMTM2NjQ2N30.prNLB71aP9lmgef6N0nfm4tb6CV-SuwU26pAc0w3FXE/img.jpg?width=980" id="50ce2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="84b419fd9ff9294df51b00f3551c89cc" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://therevelator.org/miami-climate-ariza/" target="_blank">The Revelator</a>. </em><em></em></p><a href="https://therevelator.org/" target="_blank"></a>Flooding in Miami's Brickell neighborhood in 2017. Phillip Pessar / CC BY 2.0
<p>Ariza explains how decades of racist policies and real-estate practices have pushed communities of color away from the beach and the newly emerging suburbs. They ended up sandwiched in between, in an area of high ground that now looks enticing to developers.</p><p>This new pressure is increasing gentrification in communities already barely surviving. It's liable to get worse, too, Ariza explains. Between $15-$23 billion worth of property may be underwater in 30 years. The market has yet to broadly reflect that, but developers are building on borrowed time, even as the lower-income communities are already feeling the pinch.</p><p>"Everything we know about climate change indicates that it pulls at society's loose ends," said Ariza. These cracks in vulnerability could become chasms if the right policies aren't enacted as the city works to mitigate and adapt.</p><p>By the end of <em>Disposable City, </em>it's likely readers won't be wildly optimistic about Miami's chances. But they will be armed with a deeper view of what's at stake and the complexities of trying to solve an environmental and social challenge of this magnitude. Even if the city itself does everything right, it still needs the state of Florida to embrace climate reality and the rest of the world to meet science-based targets for greenhouse gas reductions. Efforts are underway, including a <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/article243276326.html" target="_blank">newly released draft plan</a> from the Army Corps of Engineers to spend $4.6 billion on sea walls and other projects to protect businesses and homes from storm surges. But much more will be needed.</p><p>In Miami these next decades will be fight or flight. Or a combination of both. And he muses on what that would look like. And feel like. Ariza himself is an immigrant, having come to Miami from the Dominican Republic as a kid. He already carries the grief of having left a homeland — a feeling that half the city's population also knows intimately.</p><p>"Now we have to face the fact that climate change may well force us to scatter again," he wrote.</p><p>The end of the book turns from this hard reality to a future vision as Ariza shifts to a fictional envisioning. No spoilers, but it's safe to say Miami in 2100 will be a changed place. And that's at least one thing we know for sure about this warming world — it is a changing one.</p><p>Ariza's deep dive into Miami is an intricate look at <em>his</em> vulnerable city, but it's likely to get readers thinking about their own. What will your hometown look like in 80 years? What do you want it to look like? What will you do to make that hope a reality?</p>From Your Site Articles
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Sunset with crepuscular rays over downtown Miami as seen from Miami Beach, Florida. Diana Robinson / Flickr / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Youth activists rallying in front of Miami Beach's City Hall successfully campaigned for the coastal city to declare a climate emergency, the Miami Herald reported.
<p>The youth activists who demonstrated in front of Miami Beach's City Hall last month as part of September's global climate strike handed a climate emergency resolution to Chief Resilience Officer, Susy Torriente. Rather than see the declaration fall into the abyss, Torreinte handed it into the mayor's office, which led to the resolution being introduced and passed unanimously, <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/article236373883.html" target="_blank">according to the Miami Herald</a>.</p>
<p>The resolution calls on Miami Beach to push the state and the rest of the country to issue an "emergency mobilization effort to restore a safe climate." It makes Miami Beach the latest of the <a href="https://climateemergencydeclaration.org/climate-emergency-declarations-cover-15-million-citizens/" target="_blank">1,143 jurisdictions in 22 countries</a> to declare a climate emergency, including the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/uk-parliament-climate-emergency-2636090140.html" target="_self">United Kingdom</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/05/nyregion/climate-emergency-nyc.html" target="_blank">New York City</a>, and even <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/pope-francis-declares-climate-emergency-2638888796.html" target="_self">Pope Francis</a>.</p>
<p>While the climate emergency declaration does not offer specific policies, environmental activists say the language is important. </p>
<p>"This is more of a first step and gives us a lot of leverage," said John Paul Mejia, a 17-year-old Miami Beach Senior High School student and member of several Miami-based climate action groups, to the <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/article236373883.html" target="_blank">Miami Herald</a>. "We need to shift the narrative to understand this as a crisis because that's what it really is."</p>
<p>The city of Miami Beach will send copies of the declaration to the U.S. House of Representatives; the majority leader of the U.S. Senate, Mitch McConnell; Florida Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott; all Florida U.S. representatives; Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and all the commissioners; and every city and town in the county, according to the <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/article236373883.html" target="_blank">Miami Herald</a>.</p>
<p>"It's not just us holding up signs now. There's literally legislation that says we need to put this at the top of the agenda," said Mejia to the <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/article236373883.html" target="_blank">Miami Herald</a>. </p>
<p>Few places in the country are as vulnerable to the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis" rel="noopener noreferrer">climate crisis</a> as Miami where sea level rise threatens to change the landscape of the city as investors start to buy up land on higher ground. The city investing $650 million to raise the city streets, since the Union of Concerned Scientists predicted that 30 percent of Miami Beach will be underwater by 2045, according to the <a href="https://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/editorials/fl-op-edit-climate-change-democratic-presidential-debates-20190621-qyzmcnv5irhojf5u5nhrq62r4u-story.html" target="_blank">South Florida Sun Sentinel</a>. </p>
<p>Earlier this month, the state's Department of Environmental Protection kicked off an initiative to invest $116.4 million initiative to replace diesel busses with an electric-powered fleet, according to the <a href="https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/post/florida-use-vw-emissions-money-cleaner-buses" target="_blank">News Service of Florida</a>. </p>
<p>Florida Democrats adopted a provision last week to add the "<a href="https://celdf.org/2019/10/media-statement-florida-democrats-adopt-rights-of-nature-in-party-platform/" target="_blank">inherent rights of nature</a>" to their party platform, a national first, as <a href="https://grist.org/beacon/miami-beach-declares-a-climate-emergency/" target="_blank">Grist reported</a>. </p>
<p>"It's a testament to how being active and being engaged and being part of the conversation makes governments change," said Torriente to the <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/article236373883.html" target="_blank">Miami Herald</a>. "I just think it's a testament to the movement, the young organizers."</p>
<p>"I think it would be wonderful if other cities can realize the sense of urgency that needs to take place and they start taking action," Torriente added.</p>
<p>The youth activists also earned praise from local climate activists, not only for campaigning for the declaration but also for their vow to attend city council meetings to keep the climate crisis at the top of the political agenda. </p>
<p>"We are so proud of the youth leaders and their allies who worked hard to make this declaration a reality. We hope the City of Miami Beach will continue this leadership trend by taking concrete action to reduce emissions, like transitioning to 100 percent clean and renewable energy," said Emily Gorman, a Sierra Club representative and steering committee chair of the Miami Climate Alliance, said in a statement, as the <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/article236373883.html" target="_blank">Miami Herald</a> reported.</p>
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A person walks through a flooded street in the Brickell area of downtown as Hurricane Irma passes through on Sept. 10, 2017 in Miami, Florida. Joe Raedle / Getty Images
By Robynne Boyd
Liberty City, Florida, feels a world apart from the glitzy beaches, posh boutiques and multimillion-dollar residences of Miami Beach, though it's only four miles away as the pelican flies. You may recognize this community from the Oscar-winning film Moonlight. Here, the streets thrum to the beat of Miami bass, the aroma of Haitian griot and banan peze (fried pork and plantains) wafts out from the area's restaurants, and homes are painted in bright hues that speak of their owners' Caribbean roots. According to longtime residents, though, the character of the neighborhood is changing as wealthier Miamians move in.
<p>"The place just don't feel like home anymore," said Valencia Gunder, a community strategist who was born and raised in Liberty City. "And I believe climate change has everything to do with it—because the people who are moving here would never have stepped over here before."</p><p>The mood is similar in Little Haiti, Little Havana, Overtown and Allapattah. Segregation shunted people of color to these less desirable, landlocked neighborhoods around the turn of the last century. These communities perch atop Miami Rock Ridge, an elevated stretch of land extending like an alligator's spine from the northern tip of Miami-Dade County down to the Florida Keys. And this higher ground may now be driving up real estate prices.</p><p>Much of the city sits just <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/onearth/miami-battles-sea-level-rise-artist-makes-waves-his-underwater-homeowners-association" target="_blank">six feet above sea level</a>, and many neighborhoods are vulnerable to the expected sea level rise of <a href="http://www.southeastfloridaclimatecompact.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/2015-Compact-Unified-Sea-Level-Rise-Projection.pdf" target="_blank">14 to 34 inches by 2060</a>. Former Florida Sen. Bill Nelson has called the city "ground zero" for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change">climate change</a>. Meanwhile, at higher elevations, many of the residents of Liberty City and other underserved black and Latino communities say they feel pressure from real estate developers to sell their homes. The phenomenon is being called climate gentrification, and this year Miami is undertaking a study to better understand what's happening</p><p>Miami is the <a href="https://www.thenextmiami.com/miami-is-the-second-fastest-growing-big-city-in-america-study-says/" target="_blank">second-fastest growing big city</a> in the country. So even without the threats of sea level rise and more intense hurricanes and storm surges, it would be experiencing development pressure, said Jane Gilbert, the chief resilience officer for the city. That said, <a href="http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aabb32" target="_blank">a 2018 Harvard University study</a> shows that real estate at higher elevations in Miami-Dade is appreciating at a faster rate than elsewhere in the county. Gilbert says that research, along with the anecdotal evidence pouring in from residents, helped inspire the city's study. If climate gentrification is happening, Miami wants to get out in front of it.</p><p>The city will kick off the study by gathering data on rates of property turnover, increases in land values, purchases by companies, building permits, and opportunity zones to help pinpoint the high-lying neighborhoods experiencing the most development pressure.</p><p>The second step is identifying what policies exist (or are needed) to help renters and homeowners stay put if they wish to. One move in the right direction is <a href="https://www.miamiforever.org/" target="_blank">the Miami Forever bond</a>, which dedicates $400 million to addressing sea level rise through improving seawalls, roads, and stormwater pumps, in addition to creating more affordable housing opportunities. Still, more support is needed.</p><p>According to <a href="https://www.miamidade.gov/business/library/reports/2013-income-poverty.pdf" target="_blank">a 2015 report</a> issued by Miami-Dade County, more than 60 percent of its 2.7 million residents are struggling to make ends meet, and around 21 percent live below the poverty level with annual incomes of less than $16,000. <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/real-estate-news/article58772813.html" target="_blank">The </a><a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/real-estate-news/article58772813.html" target="_blank">Miami Herald</a> reports that in Miami Beach, wage increases aren't keeping pace with housing prices (rental or otherwise), causing service workers and public servants to leave. Now, the threat of getting priced out is creeping up the real estate map's contour lines.</p><p>"We can't have an economy that's thriving if the workforce is not living where they work," said Caroline Lewis, founder of the Miami-based Climate Leadership by Providing Engagement Opportunities (CLEO) Institute, a nonprofit that engages the public in climate change education and action. "If we're going to create a society where the haves and have-nots are separated by two hours of traffic, it becomes unlivable, unfair, and furthers the strain on everything that life asks."</p><p>Fortunately, there are ways to combat gentrification. Cities can develop inclusive processes and policies that ensure residents can chart a way forward in their own communities, explained NRDC's <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/experts/sasha-forbes-aicp" target="_blank">Sasha Forbes</a>. Forbes is the state and local policy coordinator for SPARCC (Strong, Prosperous, and Resilient Communities Challenge), <a href="http://www.sparcchub.org/" target="_blank">an initiative</a> to improve the environmental, health, and racial equity of vulnerable communities in six U.S. cities. Community benefits agreements also can help. Under such agreements, a community group supports an upcoming development project in exchange for the developer providing a community need, such as affordable housing, green space, or jobs for local residents. Other strategies include enacting <a href="http://www.sparcchub.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Issue-Brief-Protecting-Renters-from-Displacement-and-Unhealthy-and-Climate-Vulnerable-Housing-11.13-1.pdf" target="_blank">homeowner and tenant protections</a> like rent control, just cause eviction, tax freezes and community land trusts. Inclusionary zoning, whereby developers dedicate a percentage of new housing units to lower-income residents, can also help. In all, a mix of equitable housing protection, housing preservation, and new housing is needed.</p><p>"The time to implement protective policies is now," said Forbes. "If we don't move fast enough, we will see historic and institutional inequities repeat themselves, displacing cultures and people who could then suffer the consequences of housing insecurity and vulnerability to climate change."</p><p>"Miami's study will hopefully help the city understand that climate gentrification is a shift in demand across all incomes demographics," said Jesse Keenan, the lead author of the Harvard study and a professor of urban development and climate adaptation. He said the problem is bigger than Liberty City, or Miami, or the whole of Florida. "We might have housing pressure in Atlanta from displacement originating in Florida, from state to state, and even transnationally as a component of climate migration."</p><p>Unfortunately, some level of movement and displacement is inevitable. Put simply, people are going to move to where it doesn't flood. And as the effects of climate change continue to batter Florida, much of the appreciation or depreciation of a household's single largest asset, usually the house, will be out of the current owner's control.</p><p>But there's also an opportunity here, added Keenan, a chance for cities to start living up to sustainability goals. Places like Miami, for instance, would have to densify development on higher land. Urban planners frequently promote higher-density layouts for efficiency in terms of transportation and to counteract sprawl; the challenge is to make sure that protective policies and plans for smart growth benefit everybody. This is particularly challenging in Miami-Dade, with its rapid growth, high fragmentation (<a href="https://miamigeographic.com/2014/09/30/maps-municipalities-of-miami-dade-county/" target="_blank">34 municipalities</a>) and too few civic institutions that give a voice to broad segments of the populace. Liberty City, and others, want a seat at the table.</p><p>"If I just had a magic wand, the county would give us the money to redevelop our own community in our own way," said Gunder, laughing. "We have the ability to imagine a safe, clean, and healthy community." But she fears time may be running out. "The water isn't here yet, but the sharks are at the door."</p><p> <em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/stories/has-climate-gentrification-hit-miami-city-plans-find-out" target="_blank">onEarth</a>.</em><em></em></p>
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As Miami Battles Sea-Level Rise, This Artist Makes Waves With His 'Underwater Homeowners Association'
08 December 2018
Climate
An underwater marker in front of Cortada's studio helps predict how many feet of water needs to rise before the area becomes submerged. Xavier Cortada
By Patrick Rogers
Miami artist Xavier Cortada lives in a house that stands at six feet above sea level. The Episcopal church down the road is 11 feet above the waterline, and the home of his neighbor, a dentist, has an elevation of 13 feet. If what climate scientists predict about rising sea levels comes true, the Atlantic Ocean could rise two to three feet by the time Cortada pays off his 30-year mortgage. As the polar ice caps melt, the sea is inching ever closer to the land he hopes one day to pass on to the next generation, in the city he has called home since the age of three.
<p>"It is with incredible pain that I say I know my city is doomed by climate change," said Cortada, who is the artist in residence at Pinecrest Gardens, a recreation center a few blocks from his home in South Miami. "But as a Miamian, my job is to do everything I can to help us through this chaos."</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODk3NDc4Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NTkyODk2NH0.Ioiuu11uGuX4u701dKgEVu4YvUHM_SZff7iv5by4MI8/img.jpg?width=980" id="f88f5" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b81bb9ec975fcebbcbe301dc97be019c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit..."> Xavier Cortada</small></p>
<p>That explains the big sign in Cortada's front yard. In watery blues and greens, it displays the property's elevation with a bold number 6. It's also why the artist has invited other residents of this upscale district to join his wryly named <em>Underwater Homeowners Association</em> project. Across the community, elevation markers designed by Cortada are now standing in front of his neighbors' homes and businesses—a colorful, albeit painful, reminder of what's at stake.<br></p><p>"The underwater markers are basically me trying to let people know that Antarctica is coming to town," said Cortada, who has traveled to both the southernmost continent and the North Pole to witness the rapidly melting glaciers that are contributing to the rise of ocean levels around the globe. In a converted laboratory in Antarctica and on the pitching deck of a Russian icebreaker in the Arctic Ocean, he created more than 100 paintings out of glacial meltwater mixed with paint and sediment from Antarctic mountain ranges.</p><p>Cortada wants to use the elevation markers to get neighbors talking about the changing climate and its effects on their lives and homes by mapping the destruction and chaos in advance. "The residents of Florida are at ground zero when it comes to sea-level rise," he said. "Unfortunately, our politics and mind-set don't reflect that we need to do some serious problem solving. I wanted to create a way of helping us understand that, by making the invisible visible and just a little bit strange."<br><br>The <em><a href="http://cortada.com/2018/underwaterHOA/main" target="_blank">Underwater HOA project</a></em> launches this month during Art Basel Miami Beach, an annual festival that draws art lovers from all over the world. Miami is already feeling the consequences of sea-level rise in the form of widespread flooding during storm surges and <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/stories/can-miami-beach-hold-its-ground-against-king-tides" target="_blank">seasonal king tides</a>.</p><p>"The reason I know we can do something about this is that we've done it before," he said. "Everybody from Miami could tell you their hurricane stories, when neighbors come together like they never have before. That sense of community and purpose when there's a problem in front of us—it's something we know how to do. With sea-level rise, it's an existential problem."</p><p>As part of the artist's multifaceted project, high school students have painted huge versions of Cortada's elevation markers on the pavement of intersections along Pinecrest's main thoroughfare. At Pinecrest Gardens, the artist will also be exhibiting a selection of 60 his "Antarctic Ice Paintings" that have never been seen before. He made these haunting abstract compositions with ice samples from the Ross Sea and fragments of earth gathered by climate scientists nearby in the McMurdo Dry Valleys.</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODk3NDc3MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwNjE2NzEwMn0.iQ86X_j11OHXxClYYS777ekoZSU8UQgnG0NY1lIY9xA/img.jpg?width=980" id="aedf7" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9edafecb46804ad544818db014f7afdd" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">"A-01: Antarctica" from Cortada's "Antarctic Ice Painting Global Coastline" series.</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Xavier Cortada</small></p>
<p>The combination of community activism and striking artistry is typical of Cortada, said Barbara Matilsky, curator of art at the Whatcom Museum in Bellingham, Washington, who has included his work in two exhibitions. "The 'Antarctic Ice Paintings' are a beautiful idea—they physically embody the continent, so that we have a remnant of Antarctica in the museum—but they are also very beautiful visualizations" to look at, she said.<br></p><p>Matilsky also admires how Cortada's projects have raised awareness and galvanized action on climate issues. For his <em>Reclamation Project</em>, launched in 2008, he persuaded merchants in Miami Beach's trendy Lincoln Road district to care for mangrove seedlings grown in planters outside their shops. After being on public display for a month and a half, the mangroves were transplanted by volunteers along the shore of Biscayne Bay, where they act as natural barriers against storm surge. The project was such a success that it was adopted as an ongoing program by Miami's Frost Museum of Science. So far, <a href="http://restorationproject.net/" target="_blank">eight acres of mangrove swamp</a> have been created.</p><p>The artist hopes he'll reach even more people with <em>Underwater HOA</em> but says he isn't concerned with the actual numbers. "At the end of the day," he said, "I'm just trying to get this conversation beyond a whisper."</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODk3NDc2NC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNjEyMTI1OX0.WcgwfUsCL8DPfhz5pnt6geOGLVG97AQ4GCjU1Ry70i0/img.jpg?width=980" id="29a00" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f8b4166736e16b9b1710ca02b3b95d11" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">"A-07" from Cortada's "Antarctic Ice Painting Global Coastline" series.</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Xavier Cortada</small></p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/onearth/miami-battles-sea-level-rise-artist-makes-waves-his-underwater-homeowners-association" target="_blank">onEarth</a>.</em><br></p>
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Miami is investing hundreds of millions of dollars to raise roads in response to rising sea levels. Matthew Hurst / CC BY-SA 2.0
By Mikhail Chester, Braden Allenby and Samuel Markolf
The most recent international report on climate change paints a picture of disruption to society unless there are drastic and rapid cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.
Although it's early days, some cities and municipalities are starting to recognize that past conditions can no longer serve as reasonable proxies for the future.
<p>
This is particularly true for the country's infrastructure. Highways, water treatment facilities and the power grid are at increasing risk to <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/extreme-weather">extreme weather</a> events and other effects of a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change">changing climate</a>.
</p><p>
The problem is that most infrastructure projects, including the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a> administration's <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/budget/fy2018/fact_sheets/2018%20Budget%20Fact%20Sheet_Infrastructure%20Initiative.pdf" target="_blank">infrastructure revitalization plan</a>, typically ignore the risks of climate change.
</p><p>
In our work researching sustainability and infrastructure, we encourage and are starting to shift toward designing man-made infrastructure systems with adaptability in mind.
</p><p>
<strong>Designing for the Past</strong>
</p><p>
Infrastructure systems are the front line of defense against <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/flooding">flooding</a>, heat, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildfires">wildfires</a>, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hurricanes">hurricanes</a> and other disasters. City planners and citizens often assume that what is built today will continue to function in the face of these hazards, allowing services to continue and to protect us as they have done so in the past. But these systems are designed based on histories of extreme events.
</p><p>
Pumps, for example, are sized based on historical precipitation events. Transmission lines are designed within limits of how much power they can move while <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/11/114008" target="_blank">maintaining safe operating conditions relative to air temperatures</a>. Bridges are designed to be able to withstand certain flow rates in the rivers they cross. Infrastructure and the environment are intimately connected.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="da152" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="BKVQMK1576662562"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="508985983501877248" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">I-10 flooding gives a new meaning to car pool! #azwx #monsoon http://t.co/QaGFvUvs8f</div> — Michael Chow (@Michael Chow)<a href="https://twitter.com/photochowder/statuses/508985983501877248">1410186689.0</a></blockquote></div>
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Now, however, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/srep07093" target="_blank">the country is more frequently exceeding</a> these historical conditions and is expected to see more <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/srep07093" target="_blank">frequent and intense extreme weather events</a>. Said another way, because of climate change, natural systems are now changing faster than infrastructure.
</p><p>
How can infrastructure systems adapt? First let's consider the reasons infrastructure systems fail at extremes:
</p><ul class="ee-ul">
<li>The hazard exceeds design tolerances. This was the case of <a href="https://www.abqjournal.com/458939/cars-engulfed-as-rain-sets-record-for-phoenix.html" target="_blank">Interstate 10 flooding in Phoenix</a> in fall 2014, where the intensity of the rainfall exceeded design conditions.</li>
<li>During these times there is less extra capacity across the system: When something goes wrong there are fewer options for managing the stressor, such as rerouting flows, whether it's water, electricity or even traffic.</li>
<li>We often demand the most from our infrastructure during extreme events, pushing systems at a time when there is little extra capacity.</li>
</ul><p>
Gradual change also presents serious problems, partly because there is no distinguishing event that spurs a call to action. This type of situation can be especially troublesome in the context of maintenance backlogs and budget shortfalls which currently plague many infrastructure systems. Will cities and towns be lulled into complacency only to find that their long-lifetime infrastructure systems are no longer operating like they should?
</p><p>
Currently the default seems to be securing funding to build more of what we've had for the past century. But infrastructure managers should take a step back and ask what our infrastructure systems need to do for us into the future.
</p><p>
<strong>Agile and Flexible by Design</strong>
</p><p>
Fundamentally new approaches are needed to meet the challenges not only of a changing climate, but also of disruptive technologies.
</p><p>
These include increasing integration of information and communication technologies, which raises the risk of cyberattacks. Other emerging technologies include autonomous vehicles and drones as well as intermittent <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/">renewable energy</a> and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/battery-storage/">battery storage</a> in the place of conventional power systems. Also, digitally connected technologies fundamentally alter individuals' cognition of the world around us: Consider how our mobile devices can now reroute us in ways that we don't fully understand based on our own travel behavior and traffic across a region.
</p><p>
Yet our current infrastructure design paradigms emphasize large centralized systems intended to last for decades and that can withstand environmental hazards to a preselected level of risk. The problem is that the level of risk is now uncertain because the climate is changing, sometimes in ways that are not very well-understood. As such, extreme events forecasts may be a little or a lot worse.
</p><p>
Given this uncertainty, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23789689.2017.1416846" target="_blank">agility and flexibility should be central to our infrastructure design</a>. In our research, we've seen how a number of cities have adopted principles to advance these goals already, and the benefits they provide.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODc1NTIzNS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MDE4NDQ4N30.Qen9ZPxTVemiM_DjIah-bXXD7UOHeH0xTuK_cEAt998/img.jpg?width=980" id="207f0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="31113a05365f7a2b3eacd00dee855458" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">A "smart" tunnel in Kuala Lumpur is designed to supplement the city's stormwater drainage system.</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit..."> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_Tunnel#/media/File:SMART_tunnel_entrance.jpg" target="_blank">David Boey</a>, CC BY-SA 4.0</small>
</p><p>
In Kuala Lampur, traffic tunnels are able to transition to <a href="https://www.roadtraffic-technology.com/projects/smart/" target="_blank">stormwater management during intense precipitation events</a>, an example of multifunctionality.<br>
</p><p>
Across the U.S., citizen-based smartphone technologies are beginning to provide real-time insights. For instance, the <a href="http://crowdhydrology.geology.buffalo.edu/CrowdHydrology/Home.html" target="_blank">CrowdHydrology project</a> uses flooding data submitted by citizens that the limited conventional sensors cannot collect.
</p><p>
Infrastructure designers and managers in a number of U.S. locations, including New York, Portland, Miami and Southeast Florida, and Chicago are now required to plan for this uncertain future—a process called roadmapping. For example, Miami has developed a $500 million plan to upgrade infrastructure, including installing new pumping capacity and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2016/05/10/476071206/as-waters-rise-miami-beach-builds-higher-streets-and-political-willpower" target="_blank">raising roads</a> to protect at-risk oceanfront property.
</p><p>
These competencies align with resilience-based thinking and move the country away from our default approaches of simply building bigger, stronger or more redundant.
</p><p>
<strong>Planning for Uncertainty</strong>
</p><p>
Because there is now more uncertainty with regard to hazards, resilience instead of risk should be central to infrastructure design and operation in the future. Resilience means systems can withstand extreme weather events and come back into operation quickly.</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODc1NjQ2Mi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNjYwMjg2OH0.n33ePl69vE8UZDRIeHxOBbzfed8jvyEna3UxmrvQhbc/img.jpg?width=980" id="16cc9" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ad4b27562caf8ed61d0f747225570614" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">Microgrid technology allows individual buildings to operate in the event of a broader power outage and is one way to make the electricity system more resilient. </small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Amy Vaughn / U.S. Department of Energy</small></p>
<p>This means infrastructure planners cannot simply change their design parameter—for example, building to withstand a 1,000-year event instead of a 100-year event. Even if we could accurately predict what these new risk levels should be for the coming century, is it technically, financially or politically feasible to build these more robust systems?<br></p><p>
This is why <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0951832015000848" target="_blank">resilience-based approaches</a> are needed that emphasize the capacity to adapt. Conventional approaches emphasize robustness, such as building a levee that is able to withstand a certain amount of sea level rise. These approaches are necessary but given the uncertainty in risk we need other strategies in our arsenal.
</p><p>
For example, providing infrastructure services through alternative means when our primary infrastructure fails, <a href="https://kjzz.org/content/543639/restoring-power-after-natural-disasters-%E2%80%94-shipping-container" target="_blank">such as deploying microgrids ahead of hurricanes</a>. Or, planners can design infrastructure systems such that when they fail, the consequences to human life and the economy are minimized.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f0e415803618e77edf77bddea72bbd48"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XrYWVJKjvRU?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">The Netherlands has changed its system of dykes and flood management in certain areas to better sustain flooding.</small></p><p>
This is a practice recently implemented in the Netherlands, where the Rhine delta rivers are <a href="https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-06-22/holland-relocating-homes-make-more-room-high-water" target="_blank">allowed to flood</a> but people <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/arts/design/flood-control-in-the-netherlands-now-allows-sea-water-in.html" target="_blank">are not allowed to live in the flood plain</a> and farmers are compensated when their crops are lost.<br>
</p><p>
Uncertainty is the new normal, and reliability hinges on positioning infrastructure to operate in and adapt to this uncertainty. If the country continues to commit to building last century's infrastructure, we can continue to expect failures of these critical systems and the losses that come along with them.</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="ddf33" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0U35T91576662562"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="965979479091884032" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">As Trump Neglects Climate Threats, Cities Move Forward https://t.co/YnPifJBSp0 #ClimateChange @NRDC @UCSUSA… https://t.co/VfFc2cMVIc</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/965979479091884032">1519142429.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p>
<p>
<em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-climate-ready-infrastructure-some-cities-are-starting-to-adapt-91784" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em><br>
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Thanks to Inspiration From a Teenager, All New Homes in South Miami Must Install Solar
21 July 2017
Popular
Rooftop solar panels on a beach house in southern Florida. TAI VIINIKKA / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
A new law passed this week in South Miami will require all new homes built in the city to install solar panels. The measure, which was inspired by a proposal from a teenage climate activist, will go into effect in September.
The text of the ordinance details the climate impacts facing South Miami.
<p>The law makes South Miami one of only a few cities around the country, including San Francisco, to require solar panels on new homes.</p><p>As reported by <a href="http://www.climatecentral.org/news/florida-california-solar-mandate-21631" target="_blank">Climate Central</a>:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Mayor Philip Stoddard says the city is trying to cut its carbon footprint because the region will be deeply affected by <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/">climate change</a>, especially as <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/sea-level-rise">sea levels rise</a>.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">'We're down in South Florida where climate change and sea level rise are existential threats, so we're looking for every opportunity to promote <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/">renewable energy</a>,' Stoddard said. 'It's carbon reduction, plain and simple. We have a pledge for carbon neutrality. We support the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement">Paris Climate Agreement</a>.'"</p><p>Stoddard is a biology professor at Florida International University who powers his home entirely with solar, drives an <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/electric-vehicles">electric car</a> and spends about $10 per month on his electric bill, the <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/south-miami/article162307863.html" target="_blank">Miami Herald</a> reported.</p><p><strong><span></span>For a deeper dive:</strong></p><p><a href="http://www.climatecentral.org/news/florida-california-solar-mandate-21631" target="_blank">Climate Central</a>, <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/florida/articles/2017-07-19/miami-suburb-will-require-solar-panels-for-all-new-homes" target="_blank">AP</a>, <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/south-miami/article162307863.html" target="_blank">Miami Herald</a>, <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/mbawen/south-miami-is-now-the-first-city-in-florida-to-require-solar-panels-on-new-homes" target="_blank">Motherboard</a></p><p> <em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" target="_blank"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, and sign up for daily </em><a href="http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>.</em></p>
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