( Source: FAU CES) FAU's Center for Environmental Studies (CES) and the Business and Economics Polling Initiative (BEPI) recently collaborated on the first-ever Florida Climate Resilience Survey. The main purpose of the survey is to gauge Floridians' views on their preparedness and resilience to climate hazards.

"Since the early 1990s, the climate change question at the national-level has become increasingly polarized along party lines," said Colin Polsky, Ph.D., director of the FAU Center for Environmental Studies and lead author of the study. "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."

One take-away from the study is that a large majority of Floridians favor teaching about climate change causes, consequences, and solutions in Florida K-12 classrooms (68%). Read more about the study results by visiting the CES-BEPI website. 

The 5th Annual Climate Communications Summit, held Oct. 29th in Gainesville, included workshops on effective communication strategies and on podcasting. Below are links to videos from the event.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced that $633 million in first-of-its-kind funding will be available to the state of Florida for disaster mitigation projects in areas impacted by declared disasters in 2016 and 2017. These funds are available through HUD's newly created Community Development Block Grant - Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) program and will be used to fund disaster mitigation projects to better protect Florida from future disasters.

The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO), along with other state agencies and local communities, will develop and submit the State Action Plan to HUD for review by February 3, 2020. Upon approval of the plan, DEO will work with statewide partners to distribute the federal funds to help better protect Florida's communities from future disasters.

As part of the development of the State Action Plan, DEO will host a series of regional public workshops across Florida to seek feedback and input for the use of CDBG-MIT funds. Times and locations can be found at http://www.floridajobs.org/rebuildflorida/mitigation.

MIAMI-An analysis of FEMA's 30-year-old property buyout program offers new insight into the growing debate on managed retreat-moving people and assets out of flood-prone areas. A research team led by scientists at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science found that FEMA-funded voluntary buyouts of flood-prone properties have been more likely to take place in counties with higher population and income. However, the buyouts themselves were concentrated in neighborhoods with lower income and greater social vulnerability. The researchers hope their analysis can provide insights to help revise this program in the future. Learn more.

The most recent issue of the Community Development Innovation Review offers strategies that address climate change risk in low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities. As these communities begin to grapple with a changing environment, strategic investments can increase resiliency and support adaptation while simultaneously advancing community development priorities. The articles in this issue of the Review consider these investment opportunities from a diverse set of community, financial, economic, and academic perspectives. The Review is published by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

• Produce a strategic tool with standards, data, analyses, andthresholds for use in planning, decision-making, setting research agendas, and use in public policy and legislation
• Ensure resiliency decisions are informed by the best available science through an iterative, stakeholder driven process that is easily updated and user-focused
• Use the best science in a manner that is responsive, supportive, and critical focusing on systems and not separate sectors
• Improve relationships between knowledge producers and users and yield better decisions and outcomes to build capacity and overcome barriers

Dr. Chris Beehner, Seminole State College of Florida , has completed his second sustainability-themed book entitled System Leadership for Sustainability (ISBN 9780367342180), which will be released by Routledge in December 2019. This book is the first to explore the application of system leadership to promote sustainable solutions for contemporary and future environmental and social problems.

 

Southeast CASC Regional Science Symposium | November 13-15, 2019 | New Orleans, LA

Climate Resilient Smart Cities: Human Technology Integration | December 3, 2019 | Washington, DC

11th Annual Climate Leadership Summit | December 3-5, 2019 | Key West, FL

7th Biennial UF Water Institute Symposium | February 25-26, 2020 | Gainesville, FL

The University of Miami's Miami Climate Symposium 2020: Predicting and Living with Extremes will present the state of the science for understanding climate dynamics and extreme events - and managing the associated risks. The interdisciplinary symposium, scheduled for January 22-24, 2020, will focus on the cutting-edge research for predicting extreme events within a changing climate, from the local to international scale. Experts from UM's Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science will convene and lead other scientific thought leaders, and local stakeholders to:

• Explore how hurricanes, storm surge, and coastal flooding are exacerbated by long-term climate issues (sea-level rise, salt water intrusion, harmful algal blooms, and extreme heat waves)
• Discuss adaptation policies and strategies
• Assess responses to extreme events at the local level

Assistant Professor (Urban & Regional Planning and Sea Grant ) | University of Hawaii

PhD Assistantship | Dept. of Marine Affairs | University of Rhode Island

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Early Career Grant | National Geographic Society | January 9, 2020 (anticipated)

Climate Change Innovation Grants | Yale University | October 2020 (anticipated)

Health and Climate Solutions | Robert Wood Johnson Foundation | February 2020 (anticipated)

Atzori, R., Fyall, A., Tasci, A. D. A., & Fjelstul, J. (2019). The Role of Social Representations in Shaping Tourist Responses to Potential Climate Change Impacts: An Analysis of Florida's Coastal Destinations. Journal of Travel Research, 58(8), 1373-1388.

Cazenave, A., Hamlington, B., Horwath, M., Barletta, V. R., Benveniste, J., Chambers, D., et al. (2019). Observational Requirements for Long-Term Monitoring of the Global Mean Sea Level and Its Components Over the Altimetry Era. Front. Mar. Sci., 6

Charles, S. P., Kominoski, J. S., Troxler, T. G., Gaiser, E. E., Servais, S., Wilson, B. J., et al. (2019). Experimental Saltwater Intrusion Drives Rapid Soil Elevation and Carbon Loss in Freshwater and Brackish Everglades Marshes. Estuaries and Coasts, 42(7), 1868-1881.

Li, C. J., & Monroe, M. C. (2019). Exploring the essential psychological factors in fostering hope concerning climate change. Environmental Education Research, 39, 9-23. toggle visibility

Mach, K. J., Mach KJ, Kraan, C. M., Kraan CM, Hino, M., Hino M, et al. (2019). Managed retreat through voluntary buyouts of flood-prone properties. Sci Adv, 5(10), eaax8995.

Monroe, M. C., Plate, R. R., Oxarart, A., Bowers, A., & Chaves, W. A. (2019). Identifying effective climate change education strategies: a systematic review of the research. Environmental Education Research, 25(6), 791-812.

Shealy, T., Klotz, L., Godwin, A., Hazari, Z., Potvin, G., Barclay, N., et al. (2019). High school experiences and climate change beliefs of first year college students in the United States. Environmental Education Research, 25(6), 925-935.

Wilke, A. B. B., Wilke ABB, Beier, J. C., Beier JC, Benelli, G., & Benelli G. (2019). Complexity of the relationship between global warming and urbanization - an obscure future for predicting increases in vector-borne infectious diseases. Molecular Physiology, 35; 1-9.

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Florida's Climate: Changes, Variations, & Impacts provides a thorough review of the current state of research on Florida's climate, including physical climate benchmarks; climate prediction, projection, and attribution; and the impacts of climate and climate change on the people and natural resources in the state. The book is available for purchase in paperback and Kindle format at Amazon.com.

Individual chapters may be accessed on the FCI website.

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.     

Member Universities