The Kind of Heat Miami Won't Be Celebrating
On the day the Miami Heat won the NBA finals, the residents also learned in a Rolling Stone article titled "Goodbye, Miami" that sea level rise could very well inundate the city in the coming decades.
The article brilliantly showed the widespread denial played out by local officials, developers and an energy company in the face of science. It exposed what I'll call, the denial Ponzi scheme.
Except for the cries of a handful of elected officials, some local government staffers and various non-governmental organizations and activists, this region of five million people is still going about its business as if nothing were happening.
Florida Power and Light is still trying to build two new nuclear power reactors next to two existing ones on a coast that will soon be underwater. Developers are still building high-rise condos in areas that are predicted to be flooded within a few decades. Politicians are still insisting that some unknown Dutch technology will save us even though our porous limestone is not found in Holland.
Floridians must become leaders in the global movement to combat climate change and prevent the worst-case scenario for warming global temperature and sea level rise. Worldwide, people must reduce carbon emissions by at least 80% by 2050 to prevent a climate change disaster. Each one of us needs to act decisively by making our homes, motor vehicles, and businesses more energy efficient and powering them with solar and wind energy.
We can also protect our natural resources to minimize those impacts such as elevating Tamiami Trail and removing other barriers in the Everglades.
Floridians have an opportunity to show leadership to rest of the world. Let's do it now.
—Jonathan Ullman, South Florida/Everglades Senior Organizer