Watch CBS News

Miami-Dade County Mayor Announces New Climate Action Strategy Ahead Of World Conference

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava has a new climate action strategy – one that she hopes will reduce 50% of greenhouse gases by 2030.

"South Dade was heavily impacted by Hurricane Andrew my mom was impacted at that time," Genesis Cosme said.

Cosme lives in South Miami Dade.

"This neighborhood has varying elevations," she said.

Her neighborhood is the Palmetto Estates. It's far away from the waterfront.

"We're also surrounded by manmade canals and lakes that dredge the water south, and during heavy rains that alone is enough to flood. Last Friday we had a flood advisory closer to the eastern side," she said.

The southeast region has steadily seen climate change impacts, with extreme heat, flooding, sea-level rise, and stronger hurricanes in recent years.

"I know that a lot of my friends and peers are fully expecting at some point in their lives we might be climate refugees," she said.

This is part of the reason why Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava outlined a new strategy.

The strategy focuses on four areas: energy and buildings, land use and transportation, scaling back fuel consumption, and water and waste.

To save energy expect to see more EV charging stations, meanwhile government buildings will be retrofitted to lower energy use, and part of the effort to reduce waste is to convert some of it to energy.

"Our fourth is developing a green economy," Levine Cava explained.

The mayor will now share all this at the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland this weekend. Her team will also share unique name tags to illustrate the plight of people living in South Florida.

"Instead of saying hello my name is Mary, you can say hello my elevation is 6 feet," Xavier Cortada, an artist and professor at UM.

Cortada said the design came form melting ice in Antarctica which causes sea rise.  It's also a project Miami-Dade residents can take part of at home by creating their own tags, at Cortada.com.

"So I need you to reduce global emissions in every country across this planet so that my home doesn't sink," he said.

Or so home values don't collapse or flood insurance doesn't skyrocket.

"You in Miami need to be heard 4,000 miles away," he emphasized.

However, not everyone needs to attend a climate change conference to affect change.

"The solution to climate change is not a one size fits all answer, it's going to be a lot of little things that we each need to contribute to," Cosme added.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.