In South Florida, there is a tremendous consensus,# consistency of opinion about this climate change question is real, it's human caused, and we# need to do something about it.

Of course, then you're gonna have disagreements on more# specific questions of how and when and who pays, for example, but that that's to be expected.# The Center for Environmental Studies or CES at Florida Atlantic University is a standalone# research, education, and community engagement unit.

It involves people at the university# who are interested in research, teaching, or community engagement on any environmental topic# of relevance to South Florida.

What we do is try and raise awareness as well as ask questions.# In these conversations now I've been having with folks from all walks of society here for 11# years, there is a sense of great urgency.

We know, for example, that a bridge has a normal# life span before it needs to be repaired or replaced.

The same with buildings.

And when those# windows come up, you really want to take advantage of redesigning them to the future risk conditions# that we believe we'll be facing.

Climate resilience is largely a function of what we call# adaptive capacity.

So the ability to anticipate, do things in anticipation of climate impacts# or in response following climate impacts.

So what that looks like here is a remarkable# effort in Broward County, in particular, but also in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach and# Monroe counties to characterize flood risk, which is something that people in South Florida# have always had to deal with.

We're very low lying and flat, but the flood risk is increasing.# It's not easy to quantify it, so there's been tremendous work on science and policy to quantify# flood risk.

Also on the heat question.

In which groups of people do we see more exposed to# heat today than in recent years?

And also, which groups and locations do we expect to be# more exposed yet further in the coming decades?

The Robert J. Huckshorn Arboretum is a one-acre# manmade urban forest where members of the FAU community and the larger community can enjoy# nature and learn more about Florida's native plants.

The Arboretum demonstrates how# we use nature to manage the effects of climate change.

In a storm, like a bad# hurricane, a native tree is gonna fare better than an exotic tree.

And of course,# trees provide shade, so they keep us cool, but they also are gonna help with our home# energy bills.

And the arboretum is just a great example to show Floridians how they can# do that.

Native plants grow incredibly fast.

If you look at the aerials online,# you can see that just over 10 years, the arboretum grew to have a huge canopy with# tons of shade.

We started the development about 20 years ago, back in 2005.

The idea behind it# was to replicate some of our Florida ecosystems.

We have an addition to the butterfly garden.# There's a tropical hardwood hammock, a mixed hardwood swamp, pine flatwoods, and a cabbage palm# oak hammock.

And all of those ecosystems, because they're native, are meant to attract wildlife and# support biodiversity.

As we start developing and you know, adding more concrete and losing natural# areas, the species biodiversity is gonna be lost.

So by us creating native areas with native plants,# we can create some greenways and they're called wildlife corridors where animals can move from# place to place.

We're also talking about birds and butterflies.

So the more people that are planning# native, the better off these species are gonna be.

Climate ready is not just about the building and# it's not just about lot, but it's also about how do we look at community design?

And when we are# looking at community design, unplanning would allow us to take away some of the, maybe the# overbuilt environments, making more room for water, more room for nature-based features.

It's# all about the flooding, it's about the salt water, it's about sea level rise, but we have so# many other challenges.

We have hurricanes, wind, we also have challenges around future heat# and even current heat that we see.

And so this is a really unique environment, but it's also# our only subtropical slash tropical region in the continental United States that I think we# have a purpose in a way that we can thrive in this landscape, but it's also a place that we can# reimagine these challenges and how do we learn to live with them.

I grew up here in South Florida# through a little wind event called Hurricane Andrew back in 1992.

It destroyed my childhood# home in Homestead, Florida actually.

And it's what got me interested in architecture.

It got me# to really think about how do we begin to position ourselves around resiliency efforts and how we# begin to address that in a built environment.

The interdisciplinary nature of the climate# change problem is perhaps more pronounced than in any other field I'm aware of.

Architecture is# typically viewed as a structure design challenge, but the configuration of the plants and# the soil and other features are more of a landscape architecture domain and questions.# If you're talking about reducing flood risk, you really have to have both.

And Jeff is at# the forefront of bringing those two together.

We were introduced to what was happening# through the Climate Compact, the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact.

And that# four county compact was going through a resilient redesign.

Everybody was at this table to really# engage in three different case studies around our region for what we could do and begin to solve# for sea level rise, climate change related issues.

If future sea level rise is gonna become such a# challenge for our communities, we don't need to look at it as an environmental liability.

We can# flip it around as an asset.

And how do we begin to think about how we live on, with, and over water?# How do we look at green infrastructure?

How do we look at landscape architecture, architecture# planning, all of these different design aspects and how to begin to weave them together in# an integrated way that began to solve for it.

The city is taking an effort along the whole# beach A1A area from Las Olas up to about the BHotel.

They're calling this and branding it The# Loop.

It even goes down to North Beach Village where we were first incubating these ideas about# salty urbanism.

They're looking at investments in the streetscape, they're looking at investments# of the public spaces.

And so DC Alexander Park and Oceanside Park are probably the two parks most# people know.

DC Alexander Park, one of the things that when the city of Fort Lauderdale came to our# team to look at was they asked for three things.

They asked for one, an Instagram moment, two,# they wanted a playground, and then third was a resilient design that could go ahead and be a# showcase and a model for how do we think about climate readiness in the future.

I kind of said,# "I think we need to turn the third one to the first one", and you know, kind of moving things# around because what was interesting is we just had Hurricane Irma.

Hurricane Irma had just put about# two feet of the sand that we just renourished the beach onto beach A1A.

They spent about $8 million# to do that of the taxpayer's money.

It all had to be going ahead and brought to a landfill because# it picked up everything from the streets and the urban areas.

And so one of the things that we# wanted to do there was how could we rewild the landscape, bringing back nature, specifically# the coastal uplands, and the root dunes, because they need vegetation to hold the sand# in place and the sand being in place is what actually would've protected beach A1A during# Hurricane Irma.

When you go into the park, you see these kind of mounded landscapes in this# kind of urban plaza.

We started to integrate what's called the coastal strand, which is# the line of vegetation right behind that.

And that's where you kind of see the palm trees.# And then behind that's another thing called the maritime hardwood hammock.

And so that's where# we're integrating sea grapes, green buttonwoods.

We're integrating other trees in landscapes like# the Gumbo Limbo and elements that you would've seen naturally.

Nobody should notice that it's# climate-ready.

When you should notice is when we're having, you know, problems like storm# surge, hurricanes, or even when the power's out afterwards.

Climateready design doesn't# have to look different.

You know, I always say, you know, every project we design is sustainable,# but at the end of the day, it's still beautiful.

The county now is putting out a proposal for 20,# $30 billion worth of repairs to our flood control system and other flood risk reduction projects.# That's a major ask, but it is a very sophisticated plan and it's the type of thing that wouldn't have# happened if there hadn't been lots of concerted conversations over the years, every month,# every other month and so on in the last decade.

In essence, the way we've designed our# infrastructure in the past is for a climate that no longer exists.

Our climate in the future# is gonna change.

We're gonna have more intense storms.

There're gonna be less frequent, but# there's gonna be more water, there's gonna be more heat, there's gonna be more extreme drought.# It's not about resisting, it's not about fighting.

I think that is a losing battle.

I think it's how# do we learn how to live and manage these extreme cases, these what could be catastrophe if we don't# design for 'em.

And that timeframe of 50 years out is a great timeframe 'cause that's when we design# most infrastructure to have a lifespan for 50 years.

If we start thinking in those terms and we# start to manage and understand where we're gonna be at at those dates, we can start to find ways# in which we can not only survive here but thrive.

This topic is not pleasant.

It's fascinating,# but it's a little scary, especially if you're a property owner.

Sometimes the conversations around# sea level rise and flood risk lead to the image, explicit sometimes or implicit, of three# feet of water in the streets all the time.

That's not gonna happen anytime soon.

What# I say instead is that we're gonna have some neighborhoods that have enough water in the# streets, enough hours per day that they become more and more unlivable.

It's actually quite# risky.

Three inches.

Is that a big deal?

Well, it is if you have a walker, right?# Or other situations you can imagine.

The smartest thing that we can do is we have# to trust the science.

We have to work with engineers.

We have to understand and listen to# the folks that are giving us the information, the data sets for how we begin# to design for.

Because what's the worst thing that can happen is that# we've overdesigned for the challenge.