For Aaron DeMayo, the first shock came when he saw the water overlapping the sea wall on Tatum Waterway on Miami Beach.
“Wow, this is happening,” he told himself.
DeMayo’s been following the water ever since.
He was once trapped in a cab after crossing the Venetian Bridge to the mainland because floodwaters had closed down North Bayshore Drive. When he finally got to his high-rise building near Margaret Pace Park, water had shut down the elevators. He walked up 15 flights of stairs.
“It caused me to design an entire new master plan for the neighborhood,” said DeMayo, an urban planner and architectural designer, and the founder of Future Vision Studios.
The plan reallocates existing public space for more pedestrian-friendly paths and protected bike lanes, as well as redirecting floodwaters into bio swales. His Connect & Protect Miami plan includes a proposal for a network of living shorelines along the edge of Biscayne Bay to slow storm surge.
DeMayo is part of a growing sector of concerned citizens, nonprofits, environmental groups and even hedge fund founders proposing to save Miami by adopting a carbon-neutral future.
Is It Too Late?
Even as scientific consensus says certain impacts like catastrophic sea-level rise are inevitable, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava doesn’t think it’s too late to show the world how Miami can curb carbon emissions.
“We’re always the canary in the coal mine,” Levine Cava said. “And we’ve always risen to the challenge.”
(Miami-Dade County)
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava
Before flying to Glasgow, Scotland, in October 2021 to attend the United Nation’s 26th annual Climate Change Conference (COP26), she unveiled the Miami Dade County Climate Action Strategy to reach “net zero” carbon emissions by 2050.
It’s the latest attempt to cut carbon dating back to at least 1988. This department-specific plan identifies how to reduce wastewater, optimize energy use in government buildings and electrify bus fleets.
“We are already experiencing an increase in extreme heat, flooding, sea level rise and stronger hurricanes,” the plan states, as it calls for “immediate, aggressive” action and “bold” initiatives.
“I’m confident we can achieve our goals,” Levine Cava said. “First of all, I’m the mayor. I’m committed to making it happen.”
But she readily admits there needs to be a greater sense of urgency in the community about addressing the root cause of Climate Change – man-made carbon emissions that have overheated the atmosphere.
“We have to up our game on civic engagement,” she said.
For local governments, reducing carbon is an economic necessity.
Take the weather. Extreme weather cost U.S. taxpayers $99 billion in 2020. Next year may be worse. In Miami-Dade County, the results are coastal property damage from sea-level rise; bigger, more destructive storms; fish kills; and health impacts from rising heat. All have a greater impact on poorer, marginalized communities already suffering from structural and economic disparities.
Levine Cava’s plan calls for immediate investment, asserting that every $1 invested now saves $4 in disaster
Change Is Coming, Slowly
Most of the county's greenhouse gasses come from fossil fuels used in transportation (55%) and building (41%), with water and waste contributing an additional 4%, according to the county’s strategy plan. Each of these sectors has specific actions that must be taken to achieve carbon gas reduction.
(Via Twitter)
The Miami-Dade Climate Action Strategy calls for converting 50% of non-recycled garbage to energy.
Policies and proposals to reduce emissions include everything from tree planting and electrifying the county fleet of vehicles to converting 50% of non-recycled garbage to energy and reducing water consumption per person by 30%.
This year, Miami-Dade County ordered 75 new electric buses (out of a fleet of nearly 800). For now, the bus system relies on old diesel and newer natural gas-powered buses. Countywide, the policy is to get to 50% electric vehicles by
(Wikimedia Commons)
This year, Miami-Dade County ordered 75 new electric buses, out of a fleet of nearly 800. The goal is to get to 50% electric vehicles like these by 2035.
2035.
The county wants to achieve an 80% reduction of communitywide emissions by 2050, from the baseline year of 2008). The strategy: Reduce consumption of diesel fuel. Reduce electricity use. Incorporate green building practices into design of county facilities. Obtain 30% of countywide energy from solar by 2030.
County officials also believe energy savings can be done by simply “retuning” and retrofitting existing buildings, including residences.
Retrofitting 167,500 homes could reduce energy costs by 28% by 2030. Simple measures like weatherizing older homes and installing more energy efficient air-conditioners are a start. Funding to subsidize this effort, especially for low-income residents, remains an obstacle.
Cutting emissions from PortMiami, Miami International Airport and other transportation hubs also is on the “to-do list” by reducing aircraft idling and implementing the shore power for berthed cruise ships.
Taming the Heat Monster
Anyone who was sweating over the holidays knows Miami is getting hotter. And not in a good way.
“We’re going to have a heat season campaign on the level of hurricane preparedness,” said Jane Gilbert, who previously served as the City of Miami’s first chief resilience officer and is now chief heat officer for Miami-Dade County.
Cooling stations, like hurricane shelters, are a key component of the campaign. Other ideas include ramping up tree planting, and shading bus stops and pedestrian paths.
(Samantha Morell for Biscayne Times)
More trees, like these at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park, are needed in inland, poorer, denser urban areas to mitigate heat.
Tree equity is a real thing in Miami, with inland, poorer, denser urban areas lacking the ameliorating effects of shade trees and cooling coastal breezes. After more than a century of development, the county has a 20% tree canopy and aims to increase that to 30%. But finding where to plant trees is getting harder as more land is developed, with larger buildings and more roadways. Officials are now looking to purchase more Environmentally Endangered Lands – areas still covered in natural forest – so they may absorb carbon.
It’s a race for survival, as high heat threatens the health and lives of residents.
“We don’t have time to wait for another generation,” Gilbert recently told Matt Haggman, vice president of the Miami-
(Miami-Dade Beacon Council)
Matt Haggman
Dade Beacon Council, a public/private agency charged with creating jobs and investment, in a podcast discussing climate change impacts on Miami. “It’s up to the adults in the room to figure it out.”
Even if the entire strategic plan is implemented perfectly, Miami can’t avoid the climate change impacts set in motion.
“You have to be honest about the impacts,” said Miami-Dade County’s Chief Resilience Officer Jim Murley. “Anybody who comes to live in South Florida has to know: We have hurricane seasons, we have sea-level rise, we have heat.”
With the county leading the way, officials expect the private sector and individuals to follow. Miami-Dade’s vast procurement power can create the momentum for the private sector to develop technologies and ramp up production of more energy efficient, earth-friendly and carbonless products and services.
“There is no one single solution,” said Murley. “We’re working on many solutions and working with many entities, including non-governmental organizations.”
How Tech May Save the Planet
Haggman sees a growth opportunity for jobs in reducing carbon, too. He launched the Opportunity Miami campaign last year to tap tech investors into the movement.
“What can we in Miami do to turn the threat of climate change into a business opportunity that drives our economy and creates jobs?” Haggman keeps asking venture capitalists and investors in various podcasts.
(White Star Capital)
Christian Henandez
It’s a question White Star Capital co-founder Christian Hernandez is excited to answer. Cities like Miami are the perfect setting to “move the needle on climate,” according to London-based Hernandez, a technologist and creator of the 2150 environmentally minded venture capitalist fund. As more people gravitate to major urban centers, consuming ever more resources, cities can be the testing ground for new products and strategies to live carbon-free.
How we cool our buildings, produce concrete or even what we eat matter in the race to reach carbon neutral status by 2050, the deadline set by the United Nations. It’s either change or perish, he says.
“The shiniest new building on Brickell is supposed to be there by 2150,” he said, “but unless we take action today, that building will have crumbled by 2150.”
Or much earlier, given sea-level rise predictions for coastal cities like Miami, which range from one-to-two feet by 2040 (over 2000 levels). All bets are off if glaciers melt quicker. But that’s not a scenario gung-ho capitalists want to hear.
“So much is focused on the gloom and doom and how it’s going to get worse, but what we see in our portfolio is the exact opposite,” Clay Dumas, a partner in Lowercarbon Capital, told Haggman. Lowercarbon is an $800 million fund created to invest in firms that “suck carbon out of the atmosphere.”
Everyone Off the Carbon Train
Haggman also spoke with Miami-Dade County School Board member Luisa Santos. She wants the school system on 100% clean energy by 2030. Clean energy through on-site solar, green buildings and “retuning” could save the school
(GGWash.org)
Mayor Daniella Levine Cava's plan has a goal of reaching 30% of countywide energy from solar power by 2030.
system 30% on electricity costs. Santos says she’s also doing this to save a future Miami for the children.
“Here’s where we start,” Santos said. “If we don't start, we don’t have a planet.”
The county’s carbon reduction plan mirrors efforts by municipalities statewide. For example, the City of Miami has pledged to achieve carbon neutral status by 2050 through its Miami Forever Carbon Neutral campaign, and Miami Beach has its own plan.
The Skeptics
The “Miami Forever” catchphrase exudes confidence in a prosperous future, one aligned with a burgeoning skyline of high-rises along the waterfront or far-flung suburbs in flood-prone areas. Unfortunately, it’s also emblematic of the lack of urgency – or even curiosity – about the sustainability or survival of a sinking city. Conservationists and scientists are both dismayed and frustrated by the incongruity.
“Footprint reduction is not climate action,” said Greg Hamra, a self-described “climate hawk” and longtime climate change activist who has been leading the fight to tax carbon for a decade with the Citizens Climate Lobby.
Hamra is not concerned with whether or not the county’s action plan is bold enough, because he says we’re not even asking the right questions.
“Bold enough for what? What problem are we solving? The plan addresses what’s under the county’s purview but we can’t control what’s happening around the world,” he said.
He added that climate change can’t be addressed as long as global policies support investments in fossil fuels.
“We just continually focus on protecting our piece of land or keeping the water away, '' Hamra said. “We are still underestimating the monumental impact of the climate crisis. We don’t have a science problem. We have a social science problem. It’s a crisis of political will, of civic disengagement.”
Taking Accountability
Levine Cava wants and expects to be held accountable for achieving the climate change goals outlined in the plan.
“I’m confident [Miami-Dade County] can achieve our goals,” she said. “As for the rest of the world, I’m cautiously
(Samantha Morell for Biscayne Times)
A mural outside South Pointe Elementary School at 1040 4th St. in Miami Beach titled “14: Life Below Water” was created to raise awareness of UN Sustainable Development Goals.
optimistic.”
Even as the predictions of catastrophic impacts remain dire, Levine Cava says she came away from Glasgow and the COP13 meeting hopeful the world can reduce greenhouse gasses sufficiently to avert an unlivable future for humans and all life on Earth.
“After seeing the level of intentionality across the world – from the private sector, NGOs, indigenous peoples, young people, I’m more optimistic,” she said. “There’s a huge momentum. There’s no escape. There is so much energy directed to making it happen.”