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| Nancy Clark, Daniella Levine Cava, District 8 Commissioner, Miami-Dade County, Julie Harrington, Director Center for Economic Forecasting and Analysis, Florida State University, Jayantha Obeysekera, Director Hydrologic & Environmental Systems
Modeling Department South Florida Water Management District, Don't know the BIG guy but he is with the University of Florida, and Martha Kohen. (Martha and Nancy organized the presentation they are from the Land-Locked University of Florida in Gainesville.) |
I asked Jayantha Obeysekera about
Hal Wanless's new model forecasting gloom sooner than previously indicated (sea level rise) and he said he would rely on the Wanless new forecast. 2040 seems to be a date that will go down in infamy for Florida. Julie Harrington had some interesting comments on insurance rates, saying they will be based on the elevation of where you live. The big guy was blown away by the Governor not allowing sea level rise to be uttered. He said we are getting water from 6 sides here and that we should be drawing energy from the Gulf Stream as Turkey Point is flood prone.
The kids from the University of Florida were pushing the envelope on solutions. Here are a few pictures from their presentations. They were great, explaining their presentations. On each one two students worked as a team to investigate and plan for sea level rise in Miami's future. I am just throwing some photos out there - I did not take photos of all of them.
"Florida 3.0: Reinventing our Future engages this debate by proposing new
urban possibilities framed through the perspective of five priorities:
Infrastructure, Mobility, Hydrological Ecosystems, The Resilient City,
and The New Economy. The exhibition brings together the research
conducted through the Consortium for Hydro-generated Urbanism (CHU) at
the University of Florida that is focused on the history and future of
Florida's water based settlements and hydro-environments within the
broader context of new paradigms for the evolution of cities on water
from around the world."
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| Part of their presentation is missing |
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| This student gave me a detailed description. The islands would be built out of fill on the backside of Miami Beach. I asked why he put them where he did. He said he put them in shallow areas so you would need less fill. I asked why are we killing sea grass to save people. He apparently felt people were more important. I, of course, disagreed. The spoil island people behind his island buffer would have to be relocated he said. No saving them. The condos on the beach, they would not use their lower levels. He gave Chicago and Seattle as examples. |
6 comments:
These architects are all about growth - at any costs, including the environment- it is what keeps them employed. Let's not listen to them. It is not organic growth. It is not sustainable growth. Miami is already beyond capacity. And you're right, humans are not more important than other species. Our hubris is what has gotten us into the Sixth extinction, which by the way, we will be swept up into, too.
Love the idea of the Virginia Key water park, whatever that is. Tell that to the City of Miami which is borrowing $23 million to pave over tens of acres of waterfront land for a massive event space and would no doubt build another Bayside shopping plaza and convention hotel. It's a race against the tides. I hope the City realizes how unsuitable their plan is before more money is wasted.
It's obvious the University of Florida students put a lot of work into this and they and their professors put together a dazzling, futuristic multimedia exhibit. Here's the rub. Some renderings -- like the Atlas Islands (new skyscraper-packed floating islands in Biscayne Bay) not only violate dozens of existing environmental laws but would severely devastate future Biscayne Bay, what we hope would still be a state-designated aquatic preserve. Turning Port of Miami into high-rise condos and moving the new combined Airport-Seaport to a floating island (or maybe a filled-in island) next to Key Biscayne) is another environmental non-starter. I think the lesson we learned from the recent Miami Beach pumping fiasco where just 10 percent of the city's planned pumps has forced large amounts of untreated storm water into the Bay turning it dark, is that there is an ecological cost to climate adaptation, especially when you don't consider the environment ahead of time. I'm all for letting young minds run loose, but I think the next round of student projects would be remiss not ask the question -- is this an environmentally bad idea? The students and professors should consult with top ecologists, geologists, and marine biologists and then put pencil to paper. We could call that Florida 4.0 -- a new beginning.
Dreams, pump and pipe dreams.
"You can drive nature out of town with a pitchfork but she'll come right back in again." ~ Horace, 600 ce.
"Nature Always Wins." ~ me, 2015.
Where do they plan on getting all the dirt from for their projects? Sand won't pack down it will wash away like the beaches do.
Welcome to the new Venice except without drinking water.
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