Tallahassee, We Have a Problem: The Harm Done by Florida’s Climate Leadership Void

Erika Spanger-Siegfried, senior analyst, Climate & Energy Program March 9, 2015 What could justify the Governor of Florida, a state widely considered “ground-zero” for climate change in the U.S., to prohibit the use of that term by state staff? In Florida, more than a million people live within 3 feet of the high tide mark. Sea level is expected to easily rise that much along Florida’s shores later this century. Thousands of homes and businesses are in the path of that rising sea, and millions of lives would be impacted. A leader entrusted with Florida’s welfare would treat this problem like the unfolding crisis it is, right?

I can’t see what narrow politics motivate the Scott administration to do the opposite, but as long as such motivations hold sway, Floridians are going to be hurt. Florida has the greatest number of people of any U.S. state – more than a million – living within reach of sea level rise projected later this century.

I’m one of the lucky people that got to spend time in Florida this winter – in Miami and on Longboat Key. I was mostly in vacation mode. But you only have to know a fact or two about sea level rise to also be bewildered by what you see here: A landscape teeming with homes and businesses, lives and livelihoods, all well within reach of 21st century sea level rise. And many people operating like it’s business as usual. It is not. Something’s broken

We saw a friend in Holmes Beach who had put his much-loved home on the market recently because he can no longer afford the flood insurance. (The house is about a quarter mile from the water, not that that matters much in Florida, the flattest state. All of Holmes Beach is now within the Special Flood Hazard Area.) He and his wife were discouraged, having put decades of time, money and care into the house. But recently retired and on a fixed budget, the jump to a $10,000 annual insurance premium was just beyond their means. And most of ours! That’s the sad part.

This is the bewildering part: the day he put his house on the market, a realtor offered him $400,000 cash. The plan? To tear down his house, construct a 7-bedroom replacement, and somehow sell it for profit – on land that could flood daily in 40 years’ time. True, the new house would probably be elevated in some way. But what does that matter if it’s surrounded by water? In this example, one of presumably thousands across Florida, something fundamental is broken: sea level rise just isn’t part of the equation. Sure, it’s historically been safe to assume that land for sale will be dry land for the foreseeable future, but that is no longer the case. And we know it. So why, I wondered, is the real estate market acting like it doesn’t, and why are state leaders allowing this? At the time I assumed state leaders were playing too passive a role, and failing to take strong action. We’ve since learned they may have been overseers of climate inaction, prohibiting the use in state documents of “global warming” and “climate change,” the very processes foreclosing on the state’s future. Kept in the dark in the Sunshine State We can expect the neighborhood where I stayed on vacation to be underwater during every high tide with two feet of sea level rise—the amount of sea level rise expected in 40-50 years. And you only need a street to flood during some high tides – which is possible decades earlier – for it to start to feel unlivable. That neighborhood is like many hundreds of neighborhoods along Florida’s coast – in easy reach of a rising sea.

Every day, people in Florida are buying and selling homes that could face regular flooding within the lifetime of their mortgages. Every day people are making decisions for a future without climate change. But climate change is here. Editing it out of state documents and discourse serves only to keep people in the dark and increase their exposure to risk – financial and physical. Some have suggested that, as flood insurance premiums begin to align with real flood risks (hard enough news for a great many homeowners), property values will start to decline. Others have suggested they will decline as people decide that living with frequent tidal flooding is too difficult. Okay, but what happens then? A precipitous drop in values? Countless homeowners literally and figuratively holding underwater mortgages? The erosion of neighborhoods and communities as those who can get out do?

And some suggest that the next major storm could force the issue, as hard decisions are made about what does and doesn’t get rebuilt. But if this is what we’re talking about – waiting around for circumstances to overtake us – then the only people who should be invested in Florida’s at-risk coastal communities are those who can afford not to care what happens. If that’s where we’re headed, then regular people are going to get hurt. Florida badly needs open-eyed policies that drive disclosure, better information-sharing, and a statewide conversation about the future of coastal communities. Now turn that inside out and you have what state officials have delivered. http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-city-deerfield-beach-pompano-image7210661 What climate leadership looks like In Florida, the climate science has come through with stunning clarity – look at the problem from any angle and it’s the same thing: rising seas are going to claim large areas of this low, flat state this century (starting in the first half), and we have to do… something. But–with the notable exception of Southeast Florida’s hard work and other pockets–state leadership is behaving as if the science doesn’t exist, and insisting others do as well. Now, Florida is a very big and populous state, and I’ve been told it’s like several states stitched together. Are the solutions obvious? No. Is it going to be hard? Very. That’s why we elect leaders. Governor Scott, along with Senators Rubio and Nelson, should be playing Paul Revere on this issue, alerting anyone who will listen about the urgency, and appealing far and wide for help for their state. They should be passionately petitioning the federal government for aid for Florida’s vast coastal adaptation challenge. Stopping short of that, Governor Scott should be mobilizing state resources and capacity to the effort, and implementing policies to bring sea level rise squarely into relevant decisions. That’s leadership in the face of crisis, and exceptional leadership is what Florida needs. What they have too often gotten, however, is a distortion of the facts, distraction from the issues, an unwillingness to act, and now, we’re learning, obstructionism. Tallahassee, we have a problem and it’s you. About the author: Erika Spanger-Siegfried is a senior analyst in the Climate & Energy program at UCS. She currently manages UCS’s coastal and Mountain West climate impacts projects, designed to shed light through new research and outreach on ongoing local impacts, current efforts to cope, and the urgency of high-level action. Erika formerly managed the Energy-Water Initiative (EW3) and, prior to that, the Northeast Climate Impacts Assessment, a research effort to explore climate change, impacts, and solutions in the northeastern United States. She holds a master’s degree in energy and environmental analysis from Boston University. See Erika's full bio.

PRESS RELEASE - STORY FROM YESTERDAY'S PRESS CONFERENCE March 6, 2015 For further information, contact Peggy Salazar or Tom Shepherd, Southeast Environmental Task Force - (773) 370-3305 ------------------------- With a backdrop of the frozen Calumet River, towering salt piles, and the ominous, black petcoke hills at the KCBX North Terminal, the Southeast Environmental Task Force, the Southeast Side Coalition to Ban Petcoke, National Nurses United, along with neighborhood residents and several students held a joint press conference to call attention to the overwhelming community support for a ban on pet coke in the 10th ward, and to clear up some of the confusion caused by the flurry of recent news articles regarding KCBX's operations. The news that KCBX will be removing the pet coke piles from it's original northern site is not a new development but rather an update. The plan all along was to move and consolidate their northern operations to the southern site, but due to a number of delays, it has taken this long to accomplish. The company has said that they will have removed all petcoke and coal from the north site by June of this year. Secondly, KCBX's announcement that it will no longer store pet coke in open piles on the ground but instead do direct transfer from rail to water brings a whole new set of concerns. Rail cars full of pet coke will remain uncovered, and if parked for any length of time could release particulate matter into the air and the community. Another concern was if the new technique might increase vehicle and vessel traffic, thereby causing more dust-ups. "KCBX's recent announcement of it's plans to discontinue the storage of pet coke and instead use direct transfer from rail to water did not allay residents' concerns," stated Peggy Salazar, director at the Southeast Environmental Task Force. In the February 24th city elections, a non-binding referendum question was on the ballot in the 10th Ward asking: "Shall the storing, handling, and transporting of petroleum coke be banned in the 10th Ward?" This measure passed resoundingly by an 86% to 14% margin. "The people have spoken, and we stand with the neighbors on this are who have suffered with the petcoke long enough. They have said they want the stuff out!" said Tom Shepherd, one of the organizers with the Southeast Environmental Task Force. Olga Bautista, a local resident and organizer with the S.E. Coalition to Ban Petcoke spoke of the harm that having this dirty business so close to homes, parks, and schools is having. Also speaking was Ramona Cetnar of the National Nurses United, who lives within a few blocks of the facility. The nurses have joined with the others who are concerned with the health affects of the dust that blows off the piles and is sent into the air whenever it is being loaded, unloaded, or moved about. The groups plan a community meeting on March 19 at East Side Methodist Church to update the community, and to continue to pressure public officials to take stronger action regarding the petcoke issue.

Message from EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy The Year Ahead - 2015 Public health is critical to a strong economy. Since EPA's founding, the agency has cut air pollution by 70%, cleaned up waterways, and redeveloped Brownfields sites; meanwhile the economy has tripled. Administrator McCarthy created a video for EPA staff where she walks through the agency's plans and priorities for 2015. We wanted to give you a special look, too. See below for shorter clips on the topics she covers and watch the full video here. http://youtu.be/ph5frEX6mPs

Setting the record straight...

SETF, the Southeast Side Coalition to Ban Petcoke and the National Nurses United along held a joint press conference to call attention to the overwhelming community support for a ban on the handling, shipping and transport of pet coke in the 10th ward and to clear up some of the confusion caused by the flurry of recent news articles regarding KCBX's operations. Firstly, the news that KCBX will be removing the pet coke piles from it's original northern site is not a new development but rather an update. The plan along was to move and consolidate their northern operations to the southern site, but due to a number of delays, it has taken this long. Secondly, KCBX's announcement that it will no longer store pet coke in open piles on the ground but instead do direct transfer from rail to water brings a whole new set of concerns. Rail cars full of pet coke will remain uncovered, and if parked for any length of time could release particulate matter into the air and the community. Might not direct transfer require an increase in vehicle and vessel traffic too. And why should KCBX have until 2016 to operate with open piles when there will be no major construction

Gotham Greens to Add 'World's Largest Rooftop Farm' to Pullman Soap Factory By Mark Konkol on October 7, 2014 4:18pm @KonkolsKorner Gotham Greens 75,000-square-foot greenhouse atop Method's soap factory in Pullman could produce 40 jobs and up to a million pounds of produce per year. PULLMAN — Vacant land where railroad mogul George Pullman built palace cars and Joseph Ryerson’s company later fabricated steel soon will be home to new industry that's environmentally friendly and literally green. Eco-friendly cleaning products maker, Method Products, plan to top their new Pullman soap factory — which will be partially powered by solar and wind energy — with the “worlds largest rooftop farm,” a 75,000-square-foot greenhouse run by Gotham Greens. By this spring, the rooftop farm — Gotham Green’s first outside New York City — is expected to hire 40 workers and begin growing up to 1 million pounds of vegetables and leafy greens per year that the company expects to harvest and package the same day it’s sold at local farmers markets and stores. In New York City, Gotham Greens specializes in hydroponically grown gourmet leafy lettuce, herbs and tomatoes, including butterhead lettuce, bok choy, arugula, Swiss chard and a variety of cherry tomatoes. "This is an exciting opportunity to bring fresh, healthy produce year-round to Pullman, which is underserved for food, and going through an exciting resurgence in economic development,” Gotham Greens CEO Viraj Puri said. The dual-use factory project is the latest part of a slow-but-steady interest in the Pullman Park site near 111th and the Bishop Ford Freeway, which is anchored by WalMart. Method, which sells its cleaning products at Target and Lowes, could start making soap at the Pullman factory in January. Last month, Method installed an on-site windmill and solar panels that will produce about half the soap plant’s energy needs. Recently, construction started on an Advocate health center and urgent care in the strip mall parking lot. “There will be doctors offices and outpatient care that’s really needed in the community,” said project developer David Doig, president of Community Neighborhood Initiatives. On Tuesday, Doig was at the Chicago Deal Making Conference at Navy Pier courting restaurants that he hopes to lure to Pullman Park. “Development is incremental, but we’re trying to line up other tenants and get some restaurants here,” Doig said. “With Method, Gotham Greens and Walmart we’re probably close to 700 to 800 employees working here. Where will those people go to eat. And if Pullman gets designated a National Park, where are all those visitors and tourists going to eat. We’re going to need a lot of restaurants. That’s the pitch I’m making today.”

Starve a Landfill --Efficiency in the Kitchen to Reduce Food Waste

Starve a Landfill -- Efficiency in the Kitchen to Reduce Food Waste -- By KIM SEVERSONMARCH 3, 2015 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/04/dining/efficiency-in-the-kitchen-to-reduce-food-waste.html?ref=dining&_r=1 SEATTLE — The nation’s first citywide composting program based largely on shame began here in January. City sanitation workers who find garbage cans filled with aging lettuce, leftover pizza or even the box it came in are slapping on bright red tags to inform the offending household (and, presumably, the whole neighborhood) that the city’s new composting law has been violated. San Francisco may have been the first city to make its citizens compost food, but Seattle is the first to punish people with a fine if they don’t. In a country that loses about 31 percent of its food to waste, policies like Seattle’s are driven by environmental, social and economic pressure. But mandated composting reflects a deeper shift in the mood of the nation’s cooks, one in which wasting food is unfashionable. Running an efficient kitchen — where bruised fruit is blended into smoothies, carrot tops are pulsed into pesto, and a juicy pork shoulder can move seamlessly from Sunday supper to Monday’s carnitas to a rich pot of broth for the freezer — is becoming as satisfying as the food itself. The ethos stretches from Manhattan’s best restaurants to the homes of people like Kathleen Whitson, 44, who cooks for her family of four in West Seattle. Ms. Whitson, who didn’t discover fresh garlic until she was out of college, now drops vegetable trimmings in a compost bucket on the counter and keeps a list of what’s in her chest freezer on the refrigerator door. A stockpot simmers on the stove and kombucha ferments in the pantry. She cooks more like her grandmother than her mother, a woman she said raised her to believe in the magic of processed food. “In spite of the fact that it drives me crazy sometimes, I can’t imagine cooking any other way now,” Ms. Whitson said. “It just makes me feel better. Like, I love knowing I have raspberries from our yard in the freezer.” To be sure, the cook’s pursuit of thrift and efficiency is not new to American food culture. Sausage, home-churned butter and fermented cabbage were as much delicious foundations of farm life as they were essential to Depression-era survival. Homemakers during World War II considered themselves soldiers of the kitchen, with conservation their battle cry. In the 1970s, ecology drove the urge to make good use of kitchen waste. Somewhere along the line, the art of kitchen efficiency was lost amid grocery stores packed with pre-made pizza shells, bagged lettuce and fruit so perfect it needed no knife work. Dinner was almost as likely to come from the drive-through or the new corner bistro as from the stove. Continue reading the main story How were home cooks supposed to know what to do with a leftover chicken carcass if they didn’t know how to roast the chicken in the first place? Now, in this era of nose-to-tail eating, by-catch seafood suppers and farmers’ markets, the discarded is becoming delicious. “We are starting to really celebrate the curve of the vegetable,” said the Atlanta chef Steven Satterfield, “and not peeling things and showing off a little of the tap root or the green on the top of the radish to remind you of where the vegetable came from.” His new book, “Root to Leaf,” is a deep study of vegetable cookery, with instructions for making stocks from corn cobs and mushroom stems. Wasting less in the kitchen is just smart economics, said Dana Gunders, a project scientist for the Natural Resources Defense Council whose book, “Waste-Free Kitchen Handbook,” comes out in May. Eating better may cost more, she said, but an efficient cook can make up the difference. “We are so price sensitive in the store, and 10 cents will swing us one way or other,” she said. “But in the kitchen we throw out so much money without even thinking about price.” Reducing food waste is moving so quickly into the cultural mainstream that it ranked ninth among the top 20 food trends on the National Restaurant Association’s annual “What’s Hot in 2015” list, based on a survey of almost 1,300 chefs. Imperfect fruits and vegetables are being promoted by grocery stores and organizations like endfoodwaste.org, whose social media campaign includes a stream of misshapen produce photographs on its Twitter feed, @UglyFruitAndVeg. In October, the organization helped create what was billed as the Woodstock of food waste in Oakland, Calif. — a meal for 5,000 people from food that would have otherwise been thrown out before it made its way to the grocery store. Later this spring, a former Trader Joe’s executive will open Daily Table, a restaurant and grocery store in Roxbury, Mass., that is dedicated to ugly fruit and food past its sell-by date. Even in Europe, where classic dishes like pot-au-feu or the Tuscan soup ribollita sprang from a history of kitchen efficiency, 2014 was declared the year against food waste, a move that came six years after the European Union lifted its ban on selling produce that was knobby, excessively curved or otherwise misshapen. Last year, the French grocery chain Intermarché took things one step further and started a campaign to celebrate and sell what it called “inglorious fruits and vegetables” with special pricing and ads. Dan Barber, the chef and author, is so dedicated to ending food waste that he is turning his Greenwich Village restaurant, Blue Hill, into a pop-up in which every dish is based on waste. It’s an extreme extension of what many chefs already do. “The best restaurants today are focusing on how to utilize what’s unknown and largely uncoveted,” Mr. Barber said. “That has turned dining on its head so fast we tend to not even recognize it.” For his project, which begins on March 13, Mr. Barber and his cooks are putting kale ribs into a pressure cooker and turning them into vegetable rice and deep-frying skate bones with fish-head sauce for dipping. He has created a burger from the vegetable pulp left over from a fresh juice company. He tops it with cheese trimmings from Jasper Hill Farm in Vermont and serves it with pickles made from cucumber butts and ketchup rendered from beets rejected by plant breeders at the University of Wisconsin. Even the food left on diners’ plates at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, his restaurant in Pocantico Hills, N.Y., feeds the restaurant’s laying hens. A list of the country’s best chefs have volunteered to do cameos at Mr. Barber’s pop-up this month. One of them is Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park and the NoMad in Manhattan. Considering how to use all the food that comes into Mr. Humm’s restaurants is a constant concern but offers opportunities for innovation. For a while, he was preparing a broccoli dish that produced copious amounts of stems. They became a gratin for the staff meal. “Then I started liking the stems better,” he said. “If you cook it right, it’s as great as an asparagus. We ended up just using the stems for the dish and serving the florets to staff.” Mr. Barber admits that waste is perhaps not the best selling point on a menu, but he hopes that if he can inspire his fellow high-end chefs to turn it into something delicious, using waste will trickle down to the menus at restaurants like Ruby Tuesday, and into home kitchens, too. Some cooks are already there, particularly a generation of millennial cooks enamored with D.I.Y. projects, kitchen hacks and social causes like hunger and agricultural reform, said Brandi Henderson, an architect who became a pastry chef and blogger. She teaches about 40 cooking classes a month at the Pantry in Seattle, a city whose environmental sensibility made the composting mandate less controversial than it might be in a city like New York. Many of her students are younger and interested in everything from how to coax the best out of a handful of beans to making jams and salami. They care as much about where the ingredients come from as what’s going into the garbage. Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story Like other cooking teachers and authors, she has shifted her emphasis to a kind of freestyle, technique-based instruction that is untethered from recipes. “So much home kitchen waste is from people shopping from a recipe,” she said. “Someone will use that weird curry paste once and then won’t have the confidence to think: ‘Hey, this curry paste is really good. I’m going to make some fried rice with it or sauté some shrimp.’ ” So, she teaches the mechanics of a pan sauce, the science behind braising and a pie class in which pie is presented as a formula with endless variation. She recommends “The Flavor Bible,” a book by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg that features no recipes but encourages intuitive cooking using lists of ingredients and complementary flavors and techniques. “If we leave the recipe behind and get back to technique cooking,” she said, “kitchen waste will go away.”