In May 2019, St. Augustine will explore the impacts of sea level rise on historic coastal and river communities and cultural resources through the lens of time. With the theme of Envision 2050, emphasis is placed on policies, programs, and projects that address the situation in the short-term (defined as 30 years). Presenters will share research, strategies, and case studies of real-world applications that will physically, socially, and economically transform the world as we adapt the world to sea level rise over the next few decades. Presentation and workshop proposals are encouraged from professionals, policymakers, researchers, scholars, students, and others studying and addressing rising waters and its impact on historic places and cultural resources. Leaders in the fields of historic preservation, business, culture, tourism, economics, urban planning, environment, sustainability, design, engineering and public policy are encouraged to submit proposals for lectures and workshops that focus on applied research, practical solutions, and community engagement. Presentations will be organized by resource type over seven sessions: archaeology, architecture, cities and historic districts, cultural and natural landscapes, underrepresented heritage and communities, intangible heritage, and archives and collections. A range of topics will be explored within each session including climate science and projections, adaptation strategies, public engagement and programs, and economic impacts, among others. CALL FOR PRESENTERS - Submissions due September 28, 2018.

Many cities across the globe are facing difficult challenges in managing their food, water, and energy systems. The challenges stem from the fact that the issues of food, water, and energy are often tightly connected with each other, not only locally but also globally. This is known as the Food-Water-Energy (FWE) nexus. An effective solution to a local water problem may cause new local problems with food or energy, or cause new water problems at the global level. On a local scale, it is difficult to anticipate whether solutions to one issue in the nexus are sustainable across food, water, and energy systems, both at the local and the global scale. Innovative solutions that encompass the nexus are particularly important to enable cities to better manage their food, water and energy systems and understand the benefits and tradeoffs for different solutions.

	Dr. Ni-Bin Chang

Ni-Bin Chang, PhD, Professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental Engineering, and Construction Engineering at the University of Central Florida, has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant entitled: "(ENLARGE) Enabling large-scale adaptive integration of technology hubs to enhance community resilience through decentralized urban food-water-energy nexus decision support." The project aims to generate actionable information by analyzing the distributed production and storage of materials and energy flows into, out of, and within a community/city given their consumption patterns and supply chains associated with various FWE nexuses. This project will develop a multi-scale modeling framework to address the inter-relationship between multiple stressors affecting the food-water-energy nexus in three urban environments, Amsterdam, Miami, and Marshall. The models will investigate the impacts of increasing metropolitan populations, rapid land use change, shifting social, economic and governance norms, escalating climate variability, and changing ecosystem services within each of the investigated FWE nexus to elucidate the resultant water, carbon, and ecological footprint for each location. Read more. Read more >>

Researchers at Florida A&M have developed a decision support tool that could reduce the disconnect between the supply and demand for climate information in making decisions from climate change impacts, assessment, of natural and man-made ecosystems. The tool developed by this study has three major components: 1) perform meta-analysis --synthesize and combine recent relevant studies to arrive at conclusions about a body of research on temperature and precipitation changes, 2) develop climate scenario(s) [synthetic or incremental] from meta-analysis, Incremental scenario refers to a method of scenario development where a climatic variable is changed incrementally by arbitrary amounts and 3) development causal chain and loops. Although the developed decision tool is demonstrated by applying it to selected ecosystems and environments in Florida, USA, the tool can be used by multiple stakeholders in ecosystems and environments throughout the world. Read more >>

Dr. Daniel Solis, Assistant Professor at FAMU, has been awarded a US Forest Service grant to study the impact of invasive species and climate variability on the Forest sector in Florida. The main goal of this study is to document and assess the economic impact of natural threats for the forest industry in Florida. Specifically, it will focus on the impact of invasive species and extreme weather on Florida's timber production. Solis' award is an Undergraduate Experiential Learning Grant, so it will enlist the help of undergraduate students who will learn how to conduct economic impact assessments, collect relevant data, and present their results. Dr. Solis is a leader in the FAMU Agribusiness Program.   

The editorial boards of the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, along with WLRN Public Media are collaborating to address the threat South Florida faces from sea-level rise through a series of newspaper editorials, reports, roundtable discussions, and other community engagement events. Visit TheInvadingSea.com to learn more.

NASA launching advanced laser to measure Earth's changing ice (NASA)

How can we address the effects of climate change on communities of color? (Miami Herald)

Sep 12-14, 2018 | Global Climate Action Summit | San Francisco, CA

Sept 19, 2018 | Trouble in Paradise | Webinar

Oct 1-3, 2018 | PLAM Reflections on a Decade | Sarasota, FL

Oct 5, 2018 | Pam Beach County 2070 Workshop | West Palm Beach, FL

Oct 24-25, 2018 | Southeast Florida Regional Climate Leadership Summit | Miami Beach, FL

NOAA Climate Program Office FY 2019 | LOI due Sept 10, 2018; Application due Nov 20, 2018

EPA Gulf of Mexico Program Farmer to Farmer Cooperative Agreements | Due Sept 12, 2018 

NSF Computational and Data-Enabled Science and Engineering in Mathematical and Statistical Sciences | Due Sep 17, 2018

NSF EAR Postdoctoral Fellowships | Sep 19, 2018

NAS Enhancing Coastal Community Resilience and Well-Being in the Gulf of Mexico Region | LOI due Sept 19, 2018; Proposal due Nov 28, 2018

USGS - National Climate Adaptation Science Center Program | Application Due Sept 21, 2018

NSF Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy and Water Systems (INFEWS) | Due Sep 26, 2018

Clif Bar Foundation Small Grants to Non-profits | Application Due Oct 1, 2018

NSF Environmental Sustainability | Due Oct 22, 2018

FY 2019 Marine Fisheries Initiative (MARFIN) | Due Oct 23

NOAA RESTORE Science Program | Due Oct 29, 2018

Florida's Climate: Changes, Variations, & Impacts provides a thorough review of the current state of research on Florida's climate, including physical climate benchmarks; climate prediction, projection, and attribution; and the impacts of climate and climate change on the people and natural resources in the state. The book is available for purchase in paperback and Kindle format at Amazon.com.

Individual chapters may be accessed on the FCI website.

FCI affiliates and/or authors from FCI member universities are in bold.

 

Stachelek, J., Kelly, S. P., Sklar, F. H., Coronado-Molina, C., Troxler, T., Bauman, L., et al. (2018). In situ simulation of sea-level rise impacts on coastal wetlands using a flow-through mesocosm approach. Methods Ecol Evol, 9(8), 1908-1915.

 

The Florida Climate Institute (FCI) is a multi-disciplinary network of national and international research and public organizations, scientists, and individuals concerned with achieving a better understanding of climate variability and change.     

Member Universities