R4R APRIL NEWSLETTER Advocating for Resilience EDUCATION - COMMUNICATION - ADVOCATION - COLLABORATION Hello Residents for Resilience and Happy Spring! Our Residents for Resilience team has had another productive month, attending various very informative resiliency meetings and working diligently on our next segment in our “Water-Logged“ series, “Beyond the Surface.” This free live event will be held at the Museum of Discovery and Science on Wednesday, April 17th. Networking and refreshments will be served from 5 to 5:45 including a special showing of clips from Guy Harvey’s Award Winning Documentary “Unfiltered” The Truth About Oysters. Our amazing panel of Marine Specialists will begin at 6pm. This panel will present brief proposed solutions for waterway remediation, then will be open for questions and comments. Don’t forget to register below! RESILIENCY UPDATE Will Roads Have to be Raised? By Tricia Halliday The City of Ft. Lauderdale invited the Urban Land Institute (ULI) to analyze flood prone City roads and recommend criteria for a policy to determine which roads to elevate and how to prioritize and fund the improvements. Quite a tall order for this group of panelists and staff!
Who is the ULI? The Urban Land Institute is a 75 year old organization that provides independent, unbiased recommendations (Advisory Services) from outside the community. The panelists from all over the US, volunteered their time - in this case, 4 days, to listen and learn, then offer their proposed solutions. During their 4 day, this esteemed group held a listening meeting at MODS, toured our local neighborhoods with City Staff, held stake-holder interviews, then presented their findings at another public meeting held at the Mizell Community Center.
Our R4R Founder, Suzee Bailey was invited to participate in the “Stakeholder” listening session, sharing many of our residents concerns and questions. She stressed the need for options from flood mitigation experts, which will be needed as homes, neighborhoods and communities will strive to become more resilient, (which hopefully may help mitigate the insurance crisis). Presentation sessions can be viewed on our website. We will provide you with a link to the ULI’s written report which should be posted on the City’s website soon.
During their presentation, the ULI took a broader view to the task at hand. Before elevating roads, they stressed we need to address the compounding risks - Rising Seas and King Tides. Resilience is THE guiding approach, and protecting people with the highest risk in neglected areas needs to be included on the Top Priority List!
Raising the roads is only one of the tools in the toolbox and most likely the one of last resort, since adjusting adjacent lower elevated properties to heightened roads can present a very coastly and difficult solution for all parties involved.
The City has and is currently working on updating stormwater drains, raising seawalls, installing tidal valves and pumps which are also some of the important tools in that box. Antiquated infrastructure and utilities also need to be considered before addressing road elevation, especially with the rising watertable and salt water intrusion.
Most importantly, the ULI discussed the need for strong regional collaboration and cooperation and suggested Fort Lauderdale work with Broward County, which has been actively addressing these alarming flooding issues, (see below). The ULI also stressed the importance of public outreach so that residents recieve the most up-to-date data to aid in important decisions that may have to be made as we all adjust to this ever changing climate.
We look forward to the written report and how our elected officials respond.
Community OutreachIt’s hard to are about what you don’t know about! With so much data on critical water issues being revised, please check the various resiliency meeting invites below. If you can only make one meeting, try to make one of the County meetings below. Always remember, knowledge is power! Warm Regards, Suzee Bailey Residents for Resiience Founder LET YOUR VOICES BE HEARD! We invite you to share our newsletter with your friends and family. If you are passionate about advocating for critical water issues, please let us know. Committees are currently being established, and we welcome your ideas and input. . contact us at: res4resilience@gmail.com |
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A Shared Approach for a Changing Climate The story map above illustrates Broward County and municipal approaches to mitigate climate change and strengthen the resilience of our community to its impacts. There is no single solution to the climate crisis; therefore, our strategies include modeling vulnerabilities and analyzing risks, thoughtful planning, developing sound public policies, convening support through stakeholder involvement, and implementing projects and economic investments. To contact us, sign up for our e-newsletter, or learn how to become a Climate Ambassador, please email resilience@broward.org.. VIEW FLOOD MAP |
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This is just a reminder that we will host the Broward County Resilience Plan Steering Committee next week on April 10th from 2:00-4:00PM in RM 430 of Government Center East [Government Center East 115 South Andrews Ave, RM 430, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301]. It will also be online at https://broward-org.zoomgov.com/j/1615978531 Gregory J. Mount, PhD, ASSISTANT CHIEF RESILIENCE OFFICER Broward County Resilient Environment Department 115 S. Andrews Ave., Room 329 L Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301 GMount@Broward.Org 954-519-0356 (o); 954-560-1467 (c) Broward County Resilience Unit |
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TOP READING TIPS FROM MIAMI DADE: |
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Plastic lodged in arteries may be linked to higher risk of heart disease and death READ MORE |
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| | Science Biochar Is ‘Low-Hanging Fruit’ for Sequestering Carbon and Combating Climate Change Made from heating wood and other biomass at high temperatures with no oxygen, biochar mixed in soils dominated the carbon offset marketplace last year in tons of warming gases absorbed from the atmosphere. | | |
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| | After arriving, two of the biologists immediately got into the water to assess the animal. It was a pilot whale with a severe injury from a boat strike who was having trouble breathing and staying afloat. They asked for people to help to keep its blowhole above water, and without hesitating...
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| | Scientists are breeding ‘Super Corals.' Can they withstand climate change? APRIL 1, 2024 Lauren Sommer Ryan Kellman It's estimated that a quarter of all marine species depend on coral reefs. Biologists say that's a best guess, since life on reefs is so dense, it's very likely there are species yet to be discovered. Reefs are also vital for humans. Half a billion people depend on coral reefs for food, livelihoods and flood protection, since reefs can dissipate the power of waves hitting shore... | | |
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| | What the warming global average temperature means for La Niña and hurricane season WUSF | By Jessica Meszaros Published February 13, 2024 Earth breached a key temperature recently. A climate scientist explains how this warming and consequent weather patterns could impact the 2024 hurricane season, which begins June 1. Take El Niño, for instance. The phenomenon of warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean made this past winter wetter. And Bunting said when the temperature gets to two degrees centigrade above normal in the sea surface, not in the atmosphere, it becomes a “super El Niño.” When that happens, it diverts the jet streams in different ways. A branch of the jet stream that comes in far south of its usual position comes in across California, in the southwest part of the U.S., and sometimes into the southeast part, which includes Florida.... . | | |
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| | NO ROOM AT THE (WATER STORAGE) INN? BLAME BIG SUGAR VOTEWATER At last week’s South Florida Water Management District meeting, several speakers took potshots at those of us who want to “send it south.” It’s all fine and good to call for water to be sent to the stormwater treatment areas (STAs) and water conservation areas (WCAs) instead of the northern estuaries, but there’s no room; there’s no capacity for this water, the speakers said. And that may well be true. But left unsaid is the reason WHY there’s no capacity. If there’s no room for lake water in the STAs an WCAs it’s specifically because runoff from the farm fields of the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) has used up all the capacity.... | | |
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| | DEEP DIVE: IF THE STAS WERE RESERVED FOR LAKE WATER, LAKE O MIGHT BE BELOW 13 FEET NOW The discharges that began Feb. 17 have dumped close to 60 billion gallons of lake water in the St. Lucie estuary alone. That’s more than double the almost 25 billion gallons (76,572 acre-feet) of water sent south from Lake Okeechobee since the beginning of the year, according to a SFWMD report given to VoteWater.org. Has that 25 billion gallons helped alleviate the disastrous discharges? A bit. It corresponds to taking slightly less than 2 inches of depth off Lake O.... | | |
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ALARMING FORT LAUDERDALE MARINE WATER TEST RESULTS Isn’t it time we explore solutions for remediations see below |
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WATERKEEPER WATERWAY QUALITY TEST RESULTS FOR BACTERIA LEVELS 0-70 CFU/MPN per 100 mL enterococci per sample: Safe for swimming 70+ CFU/MPN per 100 mL enterococci per sample: Not safe for swimming CLICK HERE FOR WEEKLY REPORTS |
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For the safety of all of those who live, work and play on our priceless waterways, if you or anyone you know has become infected or sick by working or enjoying recreational activities on our canals, and waterways please contact us at: res4resilience@gmail.com |
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