What’s going on?
Climate resilience is the ability to anticipate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from the effects of climate change. The concept of climate resilience is often split into two categories: mitigation and adaptation.
Mitigation aims to reduce the causes of climate change. This includes reducing carbon emissions or enhancing nature’s capacity to capture and store carbon by protecting ecosystems known as carbon sinks. Some examples of carbon sinks that help mitigate climate change are forests, swamps, mangroves, and the ocean.
Adaptation aims to lessen the impact of climate change effects. Stronger hurricanes, higher seas, and hotter temperatures are just a few of the climate change impacts that Floridians experience. While the long-term goal is to reduce emissions to safe levels, adaptations must be made in the meantime by improving infrastructure such as roads, businesses, and wastewater systems to withstand these climate effects.
Why it matters.
Without resilience, the climate impacts we suffer from will only worsen. Hurricanes are predicted to increase in severity. Global temperatures are on the rise, with 2023 being the warmest year in recorded history. U.S. sea levels are expected to rise a foot higher by 2050. With Florida’s population growing faster each year, old systems of infrastructure may not be sufficient to support both growing communities and a changing climate.
Becoming more climate resilient requires us to assess how climate change will create or change current climate risks and respond to these risks before it is too late. While it is ideal to mitigate the sources of climate change, it is undeniable that we are already hard-hit by its effects. A combination of both adaptation and mitigation efforts will make communities more resilient.
What you can do.
Engaging in climate mitigation and adaptation efforts within your local area can benefit your community’s resilience.
Some examples of mitigation efforts include:
- Reducing your carbon emissions by biking or taking public transport
- Encouraging or adopting renewable energies in your community
- Advocating for the creation of green spaces
Some examples of adaptation efforts include:
- Hardening your home against climate disasters (e.g. storm shutters or reinforced roofs)
- Avoiding development in established flood zones
- Encouraging your community to improve stormwater systems
Restoration of natural ecosystems is a particularly effective climate resilience strategy that mitigates carbon emissions and provides protections against climate change impacts.
Check out these success stories:
Morningside Park Coastal Resilience Project
Coastal resilience projects nurture ecosystems that sequester large amounts of carbon and provide coastline protection by breaking high-energy waves and absorbing storm surges. The Morningside Park project in Miami establishes a living shoreline, which naturally changes over time to provide coastal protection.
Inland wetland projects act as carbon sinks and and additionally provide ecosystem services as stormwater treatment and retention systems. Sweetwater Wetlands Park in Gainesville collects excess floodwater and has proved to improve water quality by filtering out pollution.