Climate solutions for communities that need them most
Michael Berkowitz offers a brief look at how Miami’s climate ecosystem is collaborating to apply solutions emerging from the region, starting with new infrastructure.
Featured Content
This newsletter was written by Michael Berkowitz, the Executive Director of the University of Miami Climate Resilience Academy. You can watch our previous interview with Berkowitz here.Register here to learn more about the future of the cruise industry. Space is limited!
South Florida made national headlines in June as hurricane season kicked off with significant, disruptive rainfall and flooding from an unnamed storm. This early taste of what is predicted to be a record-breaking year for tropical storms and hurricanes suggests just how costly the impacts may be on multiple levels. All eyes are on Miami, intrigued not only by the threat of disaster but also by the confidence that solutions are emerging from the region.
As Executive Director of the University of Miami Climate Resilience Academy, a collaborative institute poised to advance resilience education, research, and implementation across the University in partnership with communities across the region, I was honored to attend the Pontifical Academy of Science’s spring summit, “From Climate Crisis to Climate Resilience,” in Vatican City. I can report that national and international groups looking at resilience issues recognize South Florida as a hub of leadership and innovation.
The work is well underway.
Our region is a rich ecosystem of collaborators, including the Miami-Dade County government, partner academic institutions like Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University, community-based organizations, and entrepreneur-innovators working on the next generation of resilient coastal infrastructure through the South Florida ClimateReady tech hub, which is led by Miami-Dade County. Many of these solutions incorporate hardscape solutions made of concrete and nature-based and biophilic designs that promote marine life and healthy oceans. Unsurprisingly, our region has many efforts to develop this new infrastructure including:
Kind Designs is creating 3D-printed living seawalls. Instead of using flat concrete, the grooves, and ridges on their seawall panels both mimic the wave-dissipating shape of mangrove roots and encourage all sorts of marine organisms to move in and take hold.
Marine Living Structures Initiative has developed a modular artificial reef system by Singer Studio LLC and The Reef Institute.
Solutions4shore, based in Jupiter, has designed the D*U*N*E Defender coastal protection system for urban shorelines, which elegantly hides a concrete box culvert able to capture and direct floodwaters underneath an elevated, landscaped public boardwalk.
SEAHIVE, coming out of an interdisciplinary University of Miami partnership, is a hybrid system that effectively funnels wave energy into hollow hexagonal concrete structures carefully engineered to also become sustainable artificial reefs.
Additionally, there is exciting and important work on heat-resilient corals including through the Department of Defense-supported program X-REEFS, which is hosted here at UM.
Implementation, of course, is the looming challenge. Innovative infrastructure calls for novel financing structures to better capture the value of green and social infrastructure. Many of the new resilience-building solutions above create value both because they protect coastlines and communities from storm surges and sea-level rise, and also because they promote a healthy ocean ecosystem. UM researchers across the Miller School of Medicine, the School of Architecture, the College of Engineering, the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science, and the Herbert Business School are all working on aspects of how hybrid gray-green infrastructure protects communities from climate hazards like heat and flooding but also builds community strengths by reducing chronic disease, improving mental health and delivering other resilience-building benefits associated with enhanced ecosystem services.
This interdisciplinary work requires new and inclusive approaches. Encouragingly, we have seen that collaborative planning and action have become a priority across government, the private sector, and community-based and non-profit organizations. That is critical because resilience brings us back to the heart of innovation: that solutions must be delivered with and for the communities that need them most.
LIVING LABORATORY
This is our third newsletter written by a community leader who has been featured previously on Opportunity Miami. We interviewed Berkowitz in March to learn more about his role at the Climate Resilience Academy, how he plans to help make our region the climate solutions hub, and how Miami is already serving as a living laboratory for climate solutions. Watch that interview here.
JOIN THE CRUISING CONVERSATION
Speaking of climate solutions, we will be hearing from MSC Cruises on how the cruise industry is turning to sustainability as part of its economic future. Please join us for this Conversation on our Future event at The Miami-Dade Beacon Council on Aug. 7th by registering here. Space is limited.
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Hope to hear from you.
– Suzette
