• Weather

Tropical Storm Eta Threatens Florida, With More Storms Brewing

• extreme weather
• hurricane
• Miami
• National Climate Assessment
• tropical storm

After a year of devastating storms, yet another storm, Tropical Storm Eta, drenches and batters Florida and Cuba. The storm has moved into the Gulf of Mexico where it is expected to meander and then move north toward the Florida coast again.

Why this Matters: Eta is the first storm of 2020 to make landfall in Florida, and five named storms hit Louisiana, Hurricanes Delta, Laura, and Zeta, as well as Tropical Storms Cristobal and Marco.

• Ocean

Feds Propose to Spend Billions to Build Walls To Shore Up Miami From Sea Level Rise

• climate change
• coastal resilience
• Corps of Engineers
• Dade County
• Miami
• resilient cities
• sea level rise
• storm surge

Just as Tropical Storm Cristobal prepared to make landfall in Louisiana, the Army Corps of Engineers (COE) released a plan on Saturday to spend nearly $5B to build miles of sea walls around parts of Miami that are vulnerable to storm surge and sea-level rise, local media there reported.

Why This Matters:  Similar studies by the Army Corps are going on all over the country — New York City, Norfolk, Virginia, and in the Florida Keys.  The feds abruptly pulled in February the COE’s plans for a sea wall for New York City without comment.

• Sustainability

Can This Year’s Super Bowl Score Zero?

• #SuperBowlLIV
• Bud Light
• Hard Rock Stadium
• Miami
• recycling
• Super Bowl LIV

The organizers of Super Bowl LIV at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium have a game plan to get to zero — they want none of the big game’s expected 160,000 pounds of waste to end up in a landfill.  Our friends at National Geographic reported this week that the organizers’ plan is that aluminum cups and cans (yep no plastic ones) will go to a recycling center, utensils and napkins to a compost facility, and the rest to a plant where it will be burned for energy.

Why This Matters:  There is no bigger stage than the Super Bowl to send a message about reducing our trash “footprint.”

• Politics

Miami on Front Lines of Climate Emergency, But Will Dems Get the Chance to Address It?

• climate change
• debate
• Flooding
• Florida
• Miami
• storm surge

Given that the Democratic Party denies the need for a debate dedicated to the topic of climate change, the location of the first Democratic debate — Miami — is ironic, to say the least.  No other American city is feeling the brunt of climate change on a daily basis the way that Miami is — from fires in the Everglades (yes – you are reading that correctly) to record-breaking heat (this past Sunday) to daily flooding to hundreds of million dollars in upgrades to infrastructure, Miamians are already dealing with the climate crisis.  But will the candidates get to discuss this important issue beyond the basics of support or opposition for the Green New Deal and re-entry into the Paris Agreement?  That is THE question.

• Climate Change

South Florida’s contest for climate solutions

• Florida
• king tides
• Miami
• sea level rise
• South Florida
• sunny day flooding

South Florida tops the list for most at-risk regions to climate change in the United States. Sea level rise means that an increasing amount of coastal properties are coming under threat and South Florida’s lawmakers are scrambling to find solutions, even holding a contest to do so. As Forbes reported, “the City of North Miami, […]

• Ocean

Miami Already Adapting To Sea Level Rise, Working to Avoid Climate Gentrification

• #ClimateActionNow
• climate change
• climate gentrification
• Liberty City
• Miami
• sea level rise

In Miami, sea level rise is not a problem for tomorrow, it is one that homeowners and developers are confronting today. According to NPR,”[a]cross the region, developers are changing how they build, wealthy homeowners are reinforcing their properties, and in communities that are farther from the coast — places like Liberty City — residents are working to make sure they don’t have to leave their homes.”