Local Action

Updated April 7, 2022

Developments in Local Communities and the Region


Water Quality in Southwest Florida

Check out developments in Charlotte County, where impairment in the precious estuaries put livelihoods, lifestyles, and the economy at risk.  Click here for Water Quality in Southwest Florida to learn what’s happening and what needs to be done.

 


Preserve Tippecanoe Bay, and Beyond

This May 2021 report publicly airs a more complete story about a proposal to dredge through the Charlotte Harbor Aquatic Preserve and State Park to connect Manchester Waterway to the Myakka River.   

Click here to see Preserve Tippecanoe Bay, and Beyond.

How Can We Preserve Tippecanoe Bay – for Future Generations & Wildlife?

This presentation, April 9, 2022, by estuary scientist Judy Ott explains

·        Where is Tippecanoe?

·        What Makes it Special?

·        Why is it Threatened?

·        How Can We Help?

·        Take Home Messages

Click here to see How Can We Preserve Tippecanoe Bay – for Future Generations & Wildlife?

 

Let's Not Get All Excited About the Southwest Regional Compact: as presently conceived, it doesn’t attack the cause of the problem. But we can fix it.

How? Click here.

 

 

The City of Sarasota has committed to 100% renewable, zero emission energy. 

 

 

Charlotte County is working to update the Comprehensive Plan in 2021. The new plan will take into account sea level rise and climate change.  The Beaches and Shores advisory committee for Charlotte County has discussed ideas for a plan to deal with sea level rise, increasing temperatures, and more violent storms.

 

·        Click on this link to see the slides from a presentation made June 7, 2018. Towards a Plan for Sustainability and Resiliency in Charlotte County

 

·        Click here for notes on what was presented at the June 7, 2018 meeting of the Beaches and Shores Advisory Committee.  The conclusion calls for a strategy of Adaptive Mitigation. Adaptive Mitigation draws down excess carbon while helping residents adapt to changing climate.

 

·        In July 2020, Charlotte County signed on to the SW Florida Resilience Compact which will influence the county’s response to climate change.  As presently conceived, the compact does not attack the cause of climate change.  Click here to see how it can be fixed.


Charlotte County has a water quality crisis in the making.


The health of our estuaries (where saltwater meets fresh) is at a tipping point. This is an urgent problem because the estuaries are a foundation of our economic and lifestyle well-being.  To learn how we can improve the county’s capabilities for restoring and safeguarding our invaluable estuaries and waterways before irreparable damage occurs, please read this Oct 2019 report:  Ideas for Enhancing Charlotte County’s Management of Our Exceptional Estuaries, Waterways and Water Quality – NOW.

 

Also see this April 2022 presentation that explains

·        How do we know we are at a tipping point in Charlotte estuaries?

·        What’s at stake?

·        Local Causes

·        Local Solutions

·        What we each can do

·        Take home messages

Click here to see Charlotte’s Estuary Health & Water Quality Declining Rapidly

 

Water Quality –It’s Not Just Nutrients: How Climate Change is Necessitating New Restoration Strategies

Water quality impairments, rising water temperatures and increasing filamentous algae blooms have recently been documented in the Charlotte Harbor estuaries. As our water quality declines, we face an estuary resource crisis which threatens our economy and lifestyle. The causes of water quality degradation include increasing nutrients from stormwater runoff and wastewater, and increasing sea levels, water temperatures and storm intensities associated with climate change. A combination of federal, state, regional, local and citizen actions are needed to identify and implement innovative, comprehensive strategies for protecting and restoring our local estuaries’ health while it is still physically and fiscally feasible.

Addressing water quality and climate change issues is time sensitive and requires immediate action on all levels of government and society. Charlotte County has initiated steps toward increasing understanding and management of water quality. But we must also begin adapting to and mitigating climate change through local, state and federal programs. Climate change adaptation is our process for adjusting to anticipated changes by protecting existing infrastructure, homes, and people from rising seas, fires, and stronger weather. Mitigation intervenes with climate changes by reducing heat-trapping emissions and removing carbon already in the atmosphere.

Resistance to climate change mitigation is dangerous, especially for Florida. For example, while Florida’s Governor has acknowledged climate change exists, the title for the new climate change director is “Chief Resilience Officer”, reflecting focus on adaptation but not mitigation. Charlotte County’s Comprehensive Plan updates do not consider the causes of sea level rise and warming, thereby ignoring mitigation. And, while Lee, Collier and Charlotte Counties are developing a “Southwest Florida Resiliency Compact”, a comprehensive “climate compact” is more critical. The city of Punta Gorda was named one of the most progressive cities in the world in the 2014 National Climate Assessment.  But the city’s comprehensive plan is almost exclusively about adaptation, with little if any explicit mitigation. We must expand our focus beyond adaptation and resiliency. Without mitigation, the climate will continue to change and long-term impacts will become too severe to manage. To avoid rapidly increasing algae blooms, water quality decline and other devastating consequences we must enhance our mitigation strategies immediately.

Mitigating climate change causes and effects is urgent. Scientist estimate that we must implement significant actions and policies within 10 years or rapid natural processes, such as melting of the permafrost and associated methane release, will render us incapable of slowing the runaway heating of our plant. Critical goals include:
1)      reducing emissions by 70-100% by 2030 through conservation and transition to non-emitting energy sources; and
2)      removing excess carbon from the atmosphere by reforestation and soil management.

Action by businesses and individuals is essential, but the greatest leverage comes from federal, state and local governments utilizing their specific authorities and policies, including:  

·       Federal: Pass laws which put a rising price on carbon and return revenues to consumers, such as the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, which could reduce emissions by 40% in 10 years, create jobs, and stimulate the economy.  Global cooperation is essential to achieve the degree of climate mitigation to achieve the level of carbon removal needed.  We need, at a minimum, support for participation in the Paris agreement.  Pandemic Action: Incorporate clean energy initiatives & economic strategies in pandemic recovery plans.

·       State: Adopt regulations which: a) require energy providers to create carbon energy portfolios with 100% zero emission electricity by 2030;  b) prohibit utilities from earning higher profits from selling more electricity; c) eliminate barriers to using and distributing solar energy; and d) ban fracking.

·       Local: Adopt rules and comprehensive plans which include: a) building codes, landscaping and farming rules, and public transportation policies which conserve, sequester and transition to zero emission fuels; and b) climate change adaption and mitigation, especially as it protects and restores water quality and native habitats.

Click HERE to see a presentation at CHNEP’s Watershed Summit June 1, 2020

Click HERE to see a list of additional readings and references about water quality and climate change

 

Killer heat in Charlotte County


A course offered in February 2020 at Florida SouthWestern College in Punta Gorda explored the impact of rising temperatures projected by the Union of Concerned Scientists - Killer Heat in the United States.  In addition to learning what sort of temperatures we will be experiencing in our region as early as 16 years from now, the course explored our choices and their consequences, economic implications, other uncertainties, and what actions can be taken by various levels of government to get the most leverage.

The slide show for the course is available by clicking here.

Extreme Heat in Florida’s 17th District. The projected impact of Killer Heat in Florida’s 17th congressional district is described in this two-page handout.  This informative bulletin puts our choices and consequences in context of extreme heat across the whole United States. It explains what needs to be done to limit future extreme heat (climate mitigation) and making heat less harmful (climate adaptation/resilience).

Take the quiz to review what was learned.  Click here for a similar quiz for Sarasota County.

 

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