Miami Rising Up

Though coastal communities everywhere face challenges as sea levels rise, South Florida is uniquely vulnerable. For starters, it’s low-lying and flat. Its urban areas continue to grow. And—perhaps most distinct—the limestone bedrock upon which most everything is built is extremely porous. All of this adds up to greater flood risk and infrastructure challenges. Already during exceptionally high tides—known as king tides—sea water bubbles up through the ground and storm drains, flooding some neighborhoods in Miami. This “sunny day flooding” could worsen over time and eventually threaten drinking water sources.

Miami Beach sits on a barrier island between Biscayne Bay and the full breadth of the Atlantic Ocean. Although the city's proximity to the ocean and sea level—approximately 45,000 residents live less than three feet above sea level—make it particularly vulnerable to sea level rise, its emphasis on resilience serves as a roadmap for other vulnerable communities.

Preventing the worst impacts of the climate crisis will require swift action from all of us—government at every level, businesses, communities, individuals, and more. We need to reexamine how we grow food and what we eat; how we power our homes and workplaces; and the ways we travel from place to place.

In 2015, 196 countries signed onto the Paris Climate Agreement, a sweeping plan that aims to keep global warming to well below 2° C (3.6° F)—or even 1.5° C (2.7° F). World leaders must work together to eliminate the release of heat-trapping carbon by 2050—and, ideally, by 2040. To do this, they will need to strengthen their commitments to cut emissions over time.

Unfortunately, in the US, the federal government plans to withdraw from this crucial agreement. But other Americans are leading in its place. Over 3,800 mayors, county executives, governors, tribal leaders, college and university leaders, businesses, faith groups, and investors have signed on to the We Are Still In movement to declare that they will continue to support climate action to meet the Paris Agreement.

With support from WWF and 24 other organizations, We Are Still In has emerged as the largest US coalition in support of climate action—ever.

Both Miami and Miami Beach signed on, along with Miami-Dade County.

On-the-ground action and leadership is key to saving our planet and Vizcaya Museum and Gardens and the CLEO Institute are both making change in South Florida.

“We are setting environmental sustainability goals, resource conservation goals, and educational goals around the topic of climate change,” Jansonius said. “We also serve as a place for civic engagement—a forum for this discussion around climate change that brings different individuals from our community together to address these issues.”

Museum leadership believes that cultural institutions need to connect with concerns of the communities they serve, and more frequent and extreme storms and sea level rise are front and center in Miami.

“Part of our new mission and strategic plan is to be a point of dialogue for these issues,” said Mark Osterman, former digital experience manager at Vizcaya. “We hope to—as we start making internal changes related to that—start to make an external-facing effort where we are making clear to the public how we are being stewards not just for Vizcaya, but also for the community, and acting as a model for sustainability and resiliency.”

Lasting change comes from the top down and the bottom up and the CLEO Institute based out of Miami approaches the climate crisis from both directions—helping vulnerable communities advocate for change while also working with elected officials to act.

Founded in 2010 by Caroline Lewis, a science teacher and high school principal, the CLEO Institute helps drive climate action through community education and engagement. The organization focuses on both training people how to handle current crises and prepare for future challenges and educating communities on how government works at all levels so that they can better advocate for themselves and under-resourced communities.

“The reality is that if we don’t make sure that low-income communities are prepared for our climate reality in a future warming world, we don’t have a resilient community,” said Yoca Arditi-Rocha, executive director of The CLEO Institute. “We want to make sure that we don’t leave anyone behind.”

To that end, CLEO leads preparedness workshops with vulnerable groups, among other activities. One such workshop teaches women—who often suffer disproportionately from impacts of the climate crisis—how to respond to disasters as they happen and to financially prepare for the economic stresses such incidents cause. However, they’re also pivotal agents of change, Arditi-Rocha said. Empowering women to quite literally better weather a storm and to push for the political will to act now to curb the worst impacts of a changing climate.

CLEO also works to remove silos and build a wider coalition to fight climate change across faith-based communities, elected officials and municipalities, schools, and cultural organizations, among others. And they’ve engaged students, such as those demonstrating outside of Miami City Hall.

“Collaboration is essential,” Arditi-Rocha said. “This is too big of a challenge for us to tackle alone. I always say we’re all being impacted by climate change. We are all living in the same house. We all live under the same roof called the atmosphere. Every single stakeholder needs to be involved.”

Sea level rise is just one impact of the climate crisis. More frequent and extreme storms, droughts, heat waves, increased flood risk, and more will impact people, wildlife, and wild places everywhere. It’s up to all of us to change course immediately.

“The world’s greatest challenge will be how it responds to the climate crisis,” said Elan Strait, director of US climate campaigns for WWF. “WWF is inspired by this new generation of leaders and is committed to supporting them in their effort to summon the action necessary to meet the challenge. ”

Everyone needs to step up to fight the climate crisis—including you. Take action today.