The Climate Like The Times Are A Changin’

I saw an old friend the other day and she told me she was considering moving back to the northeast.

“Why?” I asked. “I thought you loved South Florida.”

“I do, but I just can’t take the heat anymore,” she said.

I get it. So do the lonely unworn sweaters that sit in the dark recesses of my closet. They long to be seen.

We are coming off the hottest October since record keeping began 127 years ago and temps nearing 90 degrees continued into early November.

I’ve lived here 32 years and you don’t have to be a climate scientist to understand that the weather is changing. I don’t remember worrying about King Tides or even talking about them until recently.

As for hurricanes, well we’ve always lived in fear of them but now we are told that they will be stronger, more frequent and will move more slowly in the future which means more havoc and destruction.

But let’s back up a tad.

There are those who deny climate change despite the overwhelming science and the evidence we are seeing with our own eyes. But pick up any newspaper or tune into any news station and it sure seems like the climate is making a lot of noise these days.

Freak fall snowstorms. Record droughts. Wildfires. Super storms. Heat waves and rising seas are there for all to see or I suppose deny.

Luckily, in Florida anyway, most of the public seems to get it.

A recent survey by Florida Atlantic University reveals that most Floridians are concerned about climate change but don’t feel government is doing enough to address the problem.

Two-thirds of Floridians are concerned about the well-being of future generations due to climate change and that Florida state government is not doing enough to address climate change impacts, according to the first-ever Florida Climate Resilience Survey conducted by the Florida Atlantic University Center for Environmental Studies (CES).

The statewide survey shows that 68% of Floridians either agree or strongly agree that climate change has them concerned about the well-being of future generations in Florida. Only 28% said that Florida’s government (state, county and municipal) is already doing enough to address the impacts of climate change.

Here are some of the highlights of the survey:

  • A majority of respondents support future solar energy production in Florida (51%).
  • Almost half of respondents are willing to pay $10 per month to strengthen Florida’s infrastructure (such as bridges, roads, stormwater systems) to weather hazards (47%).
  • A majority of respondents are in favor teaching climate change causes, consequences, and solutions in Florida K-12 classrooms (68%).
  • More than half of Floridians (56%) state that climate change is real and that it is largely caused by human activity, including 44% of Republicans, and 59% of Independents, and 70% of Democrats.
  • Nearly 6 in 10 Floridians (59%) believe their household to be well-prepared for climate hazards, with survival supplies such as food, water, power generators, phone chargers and radios.
  • Most Floridians are moderately or extremely concerned about hurricanes becoming stronger or more frequent (65%), temperatures rising (61%), and rising sea levels (59%).

“Florida’s prosperity is strongly influenced by its climate,” said Colin Polsky, Ph.D., director of the FAU Center for Environmental Studies and lead author of the study. “Our warm

temperatures and abundant rainfall support our top-tier tourism, agriculture and other industries. But our weather patterns also present Floridians with risks, such as flooding and high winds.

Today, the prospect of climate change adds to our risk profile in ways we are only starting to understand. The results from this first quarterly statewide survey paint a picture of how resilient

Floridians are to the climate risks we face.”

Younger Floridians ages 18-49 are more likely to agree with the scientific consensus on climate change and its attribution to human activities (60 percent) than those ages 50-64 and 65 and over (51 and 52 percent, respectively).

“Since the early 1990s, the climate change question at the national-level has become increasingly polarized along party lines,” Polsky said. “Yet in recent years a growing number of

states and cities have taken meaningful actions to recognize, study, and address climate change. These actions are largely consolidated in blue-leaning states, unlike Florida, and the national level discourse remains polarized along partisan lines.”

Yet, the business community is viewed by a large swath of the electorate (45 percent) as the group who will, through innovation and entrepreneurship, lead Floridians to successfully adapt to weather hazards.

“In my experience in southeast Florida for the past five years, the private sector leaders are, regardless of party affiliation, are not only actively concerned about challenges linked with our

changing climate, but also committed to meaningful actions,” Polsky said. “They’re even getting impatient. Now through this survey, we may be seeing similar support statewide for climate

solutions grounded in innovation and entrepreneurship.”

It’s about time.

Or maybe it’s too late. I sure hope not.

So much is riding on how we meet this challenge.

Much of our tax base sits along the coast. So much of our population is vulnerable.

We have no choice but to try and figure things out.

Awareness is important, but taking action is critical.

P.S. Sprawl like development isn’t the answer.

 

 

 

 

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