Coral Gables' aggressive sea level rise agenda

While climate change and sea level rise are a decidedly political and partisan issue on the national level, here in Florida I have only encountered local governments that are trying to be as proactive as possible.  So far I have worked with Miami Beach, Miami, Hialeah, and Coral Gables city officials (for the most part I have no idea what their political affiliations are), and they are all keenly aware of the threats sea level rise present to South Florida communities.  Last week Politico published just the latest story on sea level rise in Miami Beach (read it here).  And several Florida mayors, many of whom have endorsed Republican presidential candidates, sent a letter to those candidates urging them to acknowledge climate change, sea level rise, and the actions needed to address our vulnerabilities.  Their plea became a point of contention in the most recent Republican presidential debate.

Coral Gables has been aggressively addressing sea level rise, with mitigation policies that incentivize energy efficiency and education programs that raise awareness of infrastructural threats.  They are hosting an ongoing speaker series on sea level rise, and it was a pleasure for me to participate last week.  The full video of my talk can be viewed here: