You are here

Home

Resilience

In trial run for hurricane season, South Miami’s solar-powered mayor went off the grid

Mon, 2019-04-15 20:38 — Kathy Gilbeaux

           

Solar panels on the roof of South Miami Mayor Philip Stoddard’s energy-efficient home in South Miami on Saturday, April 13, 2019. Stoddard went off the grid for seven days to test the house’s readiness for hurricane season and used only solar panels and two Tesla wall batteries to power his home. Daniel A. Varela ***@***.***

miamiherald.com - by Linda Robertson - April 15, 2019

Hurricane season is coming and Philip Stoddard is ready . . .

. . . Stoddard, a champion of solar energy and green living, took his family on a trial run in preparation for the next Irma or Andrew . . .

. . . He turned off the main power switch located in a panel on the side of his house . . . For the next seven days, he and his family were able to operate the central air-conditioning unit during an unseasonably hot March week, all appliances, computers, lights, TV, solar water heater with an electric on-demand booster, and backyard pond pump, and charge the car without once running out of juice.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

 

Country / Region Tags: 
United States
General Topic Tags: 
Adaptation
Climate
Energy
Grid
Renewables
Resilience
Solar
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Solutions

Serious Game Community Priority Gaps & Solutions

Sat, 2019-02-16 05:52 — Kathy Gilbeaux

                                                                               

The first Climate-resilient South Florida Serious Game exercise was held on June 30, 2018 to elevate the voices of the most vulnerable communities in South Florida. The exercise brought together all of the FL DRI communities to experience a simulated set of disasters to reveal the current baseline state of decision-making and simulated actions taken by community members to address collective vulnerabilities using current assets available to them within their communities. Clear lists of mission-critical gaps were developed from each community discussion table at the Serious Game.

A total of 130 community members participated in this event. Community members in groups of 10 in round table discussion format. Each table represented a community or region of Miami-Dade or Broward counties. Communities like Little Haiti had close to 20 members present. In this case, they were split in two groups, Little Haiti #1 and Little Haiti #2. Communities with few members were grouped with neighboring communities. The tables below are the findings from each community discussion table.

Country / Region Tags: 
US - SouthEast
General Topic Tags: 
Climate
Community
Resilience
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Solutions
Problem
Situation Report

Houses intact after Hurricane Michael were often saved by low-cost reinforcements

Mon, 2018-12-17 13:35 — jperodin

Five Habitat For Humanity houses, center, stood firm during Hurricane Michael even as an adjacent trailer park saw heavy damage. (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

Country / Region Tags: 
United States
General Topic Tags: 
Housing / Shelter
Resilience
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Problem

Mainland Miami Ponders Returning Neighborhoods to Nature In Order To Survive Rising Seas

Sun, 2018-09-09 07:57 — Kathy Gilbeaux

           

The annual king tides are rising in South Florida, causing some flooding in coastal areas.  By Joey Flechas

miamiherald.com - by David Smiley - June 9, 2017

 . . . In order to save Shorecrest, where million-dollar homeowners mingle with middle-class families and blue-collar renters, government officials across the region are now asking whether it ought to be redesigned rather than simply reinforced. Where climate change poster child Miami Beach is investing $500 million in pumps, streets and sea walls in order to fight for every inch of dry land, municipalities on the mainland are exploring what some communities would look like if they were made to accommodate rising seas rather than simply fight them.

One idea likely to be both controversial and expensive: demolishing properties and returning developed areas back to nature.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

 

Country / Region Tags: 
US - SouthEast
General Topic Tags: 
Adaptation
Climate
Community
Land Use
Resilience
Sea Level
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Solutions
Problem
Situation Report

Invading Seawater Jeopardizes South Florida’s Drinking Water, But We Can Lessen the Threat

Sun, 2018-09-09 07:26 — Kathy Gilbeaux

           

theinvadingsea.com - by Sun Sentinel Editorial Board - June 10, 2018

Over sea walls. Up through storm drains. And even into wells needed to keep your faucets flowing.

Sea-level rise isn’t just a flooding threat to South Florida. The invading sea is also seeping in underground and coming for your drinking water.

Decades of too much pumping and draining to provide both drinking water and flood control leave South Florida susceptible to “saltwater intrusion” – when the ocean moves in and contaminates underground freshwater sources.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

 

Country / Region Tags: 
US - SouthEast
General Topic Tags: 
Adaptation
Climate
Community
Oceans
Resilience
Sea Level
Water
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Solutions
Problem
Situation Report

Resilience Hubs White Paper - Shifting Power to Communities and Increasing Community Capacity

Tue, 2018-08-28 18:08 — Kathy Gilbeaux

CLICK HERE - Resilience Hubs White Paper - Shifting Power to Communities and Increasing Community Capacity (10 page .PDF document)

usdn.org

Summary

Resilience Hubs are community-serving facilities augmented to:

1.  support residents and

2.  coordinate resource distribution and services before, during, or after a natural hazard event.

They leverage established, trusted, and community-managed facilities that are used year-round as neighborhood centers for community-building activities. Designed well, Resilience Hubs can equitably enhance community resilience while reducing GHG emissions and improving local quality of life. They are a smart local investment with the potential to reduce burden on local emergency response teams, improve access to health improvement initiatives, foster greater community cohesion, and increase the effectiveness of community-centered institutions and programs.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
United States
General Topic Tags: 
Community
Emergency Management
Resilience
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Solutions

TIME - Meet the 31 People Who Are Changing the South - Caroline Lewis

Wed, 2018-08-15 23:33 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Caroline Lewis - Jorge Castillo—The CLEO Institute

time.com - July 26, 2018

People across South Florida are awakening to the danger of climate change, and Caroline Lewis is a big reason why. The former high school principal has spent the last eight years educating the region’s vulnerable communities about its effects from the helm of the CLEO Institute, a nonprofit she founded. At the heart of CLEO’s work is Lewis’ training of local leaders in the science and policy of global warming, so they can spread the word in their communities. CLEO also helped found the Miami Climate Alliance, which has planned marches and helped shape local environmental policy.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

 

Country / Region Tags: 
US - SouthEast
General Topic Tags: 
Climate
Resilience
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Situation Report

Welcome to the Energy Action Team: Policy Directions and Direct Action in the Communities

Fri, 2018-07-13 09:51 — mdmcdonald

 

Dear colleagues, 

Meeting / Event Tags: 
Roundtable
Country / Region Tags: 
US - East
US - South
General Topic Tags: 
Disaster Response
Disaster Risk Reduction
Energy
Resilience
Sustainable Development
Vulnerability
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Solutions
Problem

Miami is preparing for climate change. Critics say bureaucracy almost slowed it down

Sat, 2018-05-12 08:34 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by David McDougal

           

After a heavy rain in August, pedestrians wade across flooded streets in Miami’s Brickell area of Miami. Carl Juste

miamiherald.com - by JOEY FLECHAS AND ALEX HARRIS - May 10, 2018

Facing strong opposition from climate-change groups, Miami on Thursday backed down from a change critics said would undermine the city's quest to position itself as the shining example of how a city should prepare for climate change.

Multiple commissioners and a host of activists were worried a change to the city's leadership structure could send the public and other governments the wrong message about how seriously the city is taking climate change. They feared that high-level planning decisions and big-ticket projects across the city wouldn't get the necessary input from the staffers with expertise.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

 

 

Country / Region Tags: 
US - SouthEast
General Topic Tags: 
Climate
Community
Resilience
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Situation Report

Community Groups Begin Work On Hurricane Plans For Low-Income Neighborhoods In Miami-Dade, Broward

Tue, 2018-04-24 16:20 — Kathy Gilbeaux

           

Volunteers with Koncious Contractors remove tree branches from a Little Havana home. After Hurricane Irma, many South Florida community groups deployed volunteers to low-income and disabled people with recovery.  NADEGE GREEN / WLRN

wlrn.org - by KATE STEIN & ALEXANDER GONZALEZ - April 23, 2018

Several South Florida nonprofits are launching five meetings to ensure equality in hurricane recovery efforts, continuing work that began after Hurricane Irma.

After the storm, some elderly people went days without ice or water. Some students who rely on free school lunches didn't have a way to eat. Volunteers and community groups stepped up to host barbecues, deliver supplies and help with tree removal.

Now the groups want to create preparedness plans that specifically meet the needs of low-income neighborhoods. They also want to push for more accountability from elected officials.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

 

Country / Region Tags: 
US - SouthEast
General Topic Tags: 
Climate
Community
Disaster Risk Reduction
Emergency Management
Extreme Weather
Resilience
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Solutions
Situation Report

Pages

Subscribe to Resilience
howdy folks