Environmental and Climate Justice in Florida

This is a presentation I created for a meeting of the NAACP Florida on May 31. It covers environmental and climate justice issues in Florida and some opportunities for increasing equity in the adaptation planning process.

Download the presentation here.

Are Miami's condos and apartments at a disadvantage for storm proofing?

A recent Atlantic Cities piece Why It's so Hard to Storm-Proof an Apartment Building highlights the disadvantages faced by multifamily apartment, condominium and co-op buildings when it comes to getting funds for repairs and protecting against future storms. After Sandy, single family homeowners are applying for FEMA funds for repairs to houses damaged by storm surge but multifamily buildings are not eligible for funds to repair common areas and utility systems. This is despite the fact that more than two-thirds of the New York housing units in the Sandy storm surge area were in multifamily buildings. What's more, New Jersey created a state fund that makes money available for raising homes above the flood plain-- an increasingly common plan in flood-prone areas, especially those dealing with higher flood insurance rates-- but this fund will primarily benefit single family homeowners since it's usually impractical to raise multifamily buildings.  

Along with the many other lessons from Sandy, Miami should be paying attention to this one too. Just like plenty of other cities in the path of hurricanes along the Atlantic coast, Miami has large concentrations of multifamily buildings. According to the latest census data about 38% of Miami households are in buildings with at least 3 units. There are certainly things that multifamily buildings can do to become more resilient to floods, like moving utility rooms off the ground floor and installing mechanisms for moving elevator cars out of harm's way. Cities like Miami Beach have included many of these features in their building codes for new housing, but older buildings need sources of funding to undertake expensive retrofits. 

5 things Miami can learn about sea level rise from the Dutch

It’s possible to live – and thrive – below sea level.

At last month's Resilient Miami Beach seminar Dutch engineers and planners shared their country’s long history of dealing with flooding, what they’ve learned and where they’re headed. Since the first dike was built in 1200 they’ve developed an elaborate system of pumping, dikes, and storm barriers to protect settled land and in some cases reclaim new land. Today 70% of the country’s GDP is below sea level, and in fact the coastline isn’t seen as a liability at all, but an asset, the backbone of the country.

But disasters do happen, when massive floods have occasionally overwhelmed the infrastructure and caused destruction and loss of life. Over 1,800 people died as recently as 1953 when storm surge overtopped dikes in a large area in the south. As the experts explained, those tragedies led to a “safety first” approach which mean projects in vulnerable areas are designed for protection from 1 in 10,000 year storms. By comparison, most of our defenses in the U.S. are for 1 in 100 year storms. 

Culture is thicker than water.

Hazerswoude-Rijndijk - Groenendijkse
Molen by Quistnix

The Netherlands is a small country on a major river delta in northern Europe, tucked between the ocean to the west and Germany to the east. The Dutch don’t have a lot of options if they want to remain a country. So as one Dutch representative said, only half-joking, they decided a long time ago “we’re not moving to Germany.” They worked towards developing systems and creative technologies that allowed people to continue to live there—examples like canal cities with floating houses, and barriers that keep out storm surge. Going all the way back to the windmills which first pumped water to keep farmland dry, these water management solutions have become symbols of the country and a significant part of what makes it unique and attractive.

It’s not just the engineering that matters, it’s the process.

These famous engineering successes didn’t just happen because the Dutch are smart people – they represent hard choices and negotiations about how water and land should be managed, and about spending large amounts of money to develop workable schemes that meet a variety of different and sometimes competing interests - those of coastal landowners, fishermen, shipping, and environmentalists for example. With sea level rising the stakes are even higher. So last year the country decided to devote $1 billion per year to climate adaptation, and to create a plan that involves input and action from all levels of government, the private sector, and the general public.

Obviously a great deal of unity and public support is needed for major changes. The Netherlands has a long-standing  governance structure of water boards, which are elected bodies that have the power to tax and make decisions about water management within their local region. As it’s evolved over the centuries, this system has ingrained into the Dutch DNA that compromise for the sake of water management is a necessary part of life. One consultant group summed it up with a fitting African proverb-- “To go fast, go alone. To go far, go together.”

Even if something’s been working for 800 years, it might have to change.

Major floods in the early 1990’s caused the country to take stock of their system and make some dramatic changes to the protection approach, particularly in light of accelerated sea level rise. By holding back the water and protecting low-lying areas from flooding the Dutch had actually encouraged development in risky areas. So instead of simply enlarging dikes and waiting for the next flood, they switched approaches – to working with nature instead of against it, and accommodating water during times of flooding instead of attempting to dam it up. For example the “Room for the River” project reshapes urban areas to create wider river basins that can accommodate periodic overflow without damage to life or property. Another example is the “sand engine” which redistributes sand naturally along beaches using the ocean’s currents, instead of trucking it in and dumping it.

Part 2: Miami Beach bikes (and walks) to work

In a previous post I highlighted Census data released last fall which shows that Miami Beach is the 10^th city in the nation for biking to work. Approximately 7% of workers regularly use a bicycle for the longest part of their commute. That’s about 3,000 people in our city biking regularly to work, and I was curious – who are they? 

With Miami’s bike scene growing like crazy lately-- thousands showing up for Critical Mass, new bike facilities in the works for Downtown, etc.-- it would be easy to assume that these bicyclists-to-work are bicycle activists, young urban professionals, or the like. But the data indicate something else. 

On Miami Beach those most likely to bike to work are service industry workers with median annual earnings of about $21,000 per year, well below the citywide average of $32,597. Here are the top 10 industries:

Women leaders "widening the circle" on climate change in South Florida

You might have thought that with all the bad news on climate change recently – faster ice sheet melting, and no breakthroughs in Doha – the mood at the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Leadership Summit this December would have been rather gloomy. After all, South Florida has topped lists of the world’s most vulnerable places to sea level rise. To be sure, the nearly 300 participants gathered – county and municipal staff, planners, activists, and scientists – were clear on the challenges we face. But even with this sense of urgency the mood of the summit was more “can do” than hand-wringing. The atmosphere felt more upbeat than beat-down. For one of the thorniest issues of our day, that seemed remarkable.

Miami Beach 10th city in the nation for biking to work

The annual flooding in October and November that Miami Beach experiences due to high tides was by many accounts some of the worst ever this year. Alton Road, 6th Street, Indian Creek, and other low-lying areas experienced flooded streets and sidewalks twice a day for several weeks. It was so noticeable that local activists decided to hold a press conference on a flooded sidewalk along Alton Road to call for the presidential candidates to address climate change in their last debate.

This struck me as ironic. Miami Beach, due to it's historic urban design of compact development and walkable streets, is one of the most pedestrian and bike friendly cities in the southeast. In fact it is the 10th city in the nation for biking to work, according to the latest U.S. Census data. Approximately 6.3% of workers regularly use a bicycle for the longest part of their commute. Half the cities in the top 10 list are in California, with Davis topping the list with 16.6% bike share of commuters. You can see the full list and some other stats at Governing By The Numbers here.

Being able to bike to stores, hang-out spots, and friends' homes is one of the main reasons I live on Miami Beach. I get exercise, save money, and reduce my carbon footprint. And the City has new sustainability initiatives like the mandatory recycling for rental and condominium buildings, and the popular Decobike program.

So while Miami Beach is arguably in some ways a model for how our cities can work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the fact that climate change is a global problem means that our city's progress does little to reduce our risk if others don't act as well. Other low-lying coastal areas are in the same boat. The Maldives, for example, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean with a land area not quite twice the size of Washington D.C., and a maximum elevation of 2.4 meters. The Maldives have contributed little to climate change--the country ranks 167th in the world for greenhouse gas emissions, about an 8th of U.S. emissions per capita -- yet the islands are risk of disappearing under the ocean due to rising sea level. The Maldives have called on international forums to take action on climate change, even holding a cabinet meeting under water in scuba gear, but to little avail.

Whether rising seas, heat waves, storms, or changes to our food supply, climate change will impact different areas of the world differently, but in some sense we are also all in the same boat. Tackling these problems will mean recognizing our responsibility not just to the environment but to each other. 

Climate change impacts on South Florida

In June I facilitated a community workshop for social justice activists on climate change impacts on South Florida and global climate justice, together with Cindy Weisner of Grassroots Global Justice. Click here to download the pamphlet from the workshop which provides an overview of the scientific basis for global warming, the predicted impacts on South Florida including storms and sea level rise, and potential impacts this will have on urban life in South Florida.