State needs a climate change leader — legislature can make it happen

Without strong, meaningful climate leadership, there is a chance that the good work Floridians are setting in motion will be squandered. We need to be the nationwide trailblazer when it comes to addressing climate change, and we can achieve this if the state legislature creates a permanent Chief Resilience Officer and establishes a well-funded Statewide Office of Resilience in the 2021 session.

At the end of February, Florida House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, gave a press conference that highlighted sea-level rise as a priority for the legislature this session. This is certainly welcome news, given that we can see the impacts of climate change directly in our backyards on a daily basis.

In South Florida, 8 inches of sea-level rise can be expected by 2030 if current worstcase trajectories remain on track. All of that water is going to wreak havoc on our communities, on our infrastructure, on our wild and iconic environment, and on our cultural identity that is deeply tied to the ocean and coasts. These sea-level rise trends are scientifically measurable, and they need to be addressed with sciencebased policy solutions.

Local governments plan to spend more than $4 billion to manage climate change impacts. Broward County alone is poised to spend $250 million to protect sewage systems from flooding. This patchwork of projects and initiatives spanning many levels of government, aimed at addressing climate change and its associated impacts, are well and good; tackling climate change in Florida is an all hands on deck moment. But if we want these initiatives to succeed, we need someone who can braid these loose threads together, take the reins, and lead Florida strategically to a unified climate future.

To make Speaker Sprowls’ legislative priorities a reality, Florida needs a statewide leader on climate resilience, one that will make sure that policy solutions addressing the impacts of climate change are cohesive, coherent, tangible and well-executed. We need a statutorily mandated Chief Resilience Officer heading a Statewide Office of Resilience.

State Rep. Chip LaMarca, R-Lighthouse Point, has introduced a bill in the Florida House, co-sponsored by state Rep. Mike Grieco, D-Miami Beach, that will do just this. As the impending threats of climate change and sea-level rise continue to percolate on the horizon, Floridians want and need clear vision and unified leadership to head those threats off.

By Jon Paul “J.P.”Brooker