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I know 800 things are happening rn but down here in FL, Hurricane Eta made landfall (twice) & it sucked! We’ve got a record hurricane season with more to come. If you wanna read more about what’s happening down here & how it relates to environmental justice, here’s some info 
So, I feel like a lot of people who aren’t likely to be affected by the hurricane heard “slow speed” and “only 50mph winds” and thought everything was good. Well, no. Check out these photos of the storm surge in Tampa Bay, miles south of where Eta made landfall in Cedar Key: https://twitter.com/TB_Times/status/1326860518863360000
Also, Eta had such a bizarre storm path, landing as a Cat4 in Honduras & Nicaragua, weakening, & then bouncing back to completely drown the Florida Keys before turning around, landing again on Florida’s west coast last night. Like, look at this: (source: https://www.justinweather.com/2020/11/06/zombie-storm-eta-back-to-life-and-could-impact-us-next-week/)
The storm path matters because this one was hard to predict. Hard to predict = hard to plan, fine for people who can just pick up and go when the water starts rising (white, higher income, housed, able-bodied folks, for example) - but others who can’t are left behind.
This article does a good job of laying out what was new (and not new) about Eta. Florida’s dry season has still not arrived, meaning that the 16 inches of rainfall Miami received over the weekend had literally nowhere to go. https://twitter.com/miamiherald/status/1326869336389283840
But what that article doesn’t mention is the impact storms like this, that drown areas that aren’t often flooded, will have on CLIMATE GENTRIFICATION, which is rampant in Florida. Hmm, what’s climate gentrification? Read: https://sph.umich.edu/pursuit/2020posts/weathering-the-storm-climate-gentrification-in-miami.html
In the article: “Scientific projections estimate that 13 million people in the continental US could experience six feet of sea level rise by the year 2100. Of those 13 million, nearly 25% reside in the Miami-Dade & Broward counties of Florida.” Where are those people gonna go?
They’re gonna move to higher elevation areas. In Miami, because of segregation, racism, and redlining, BIPOC communities were not allowed to own beachfront property and therefore they live, you guessed it, in the higher elevation areas. That’s where the gentrification comes in.
When affluent white families move out of beachfront areas to escape flooding and sea level rise, they’re pricing out, for example, the Black Haitians who live in Miami’s Little Haiti. This is happening statewide, too - people moving to Florida’s inland from the coast.
SO, none of this is new information. We know Miami and most of coastal Florida is generally in trouble because of climate change, and that we need intentional action to solve these problems w/ an equity lens. But I’m a big fan of solutions: What can we do about it?
One, support people and organizations who are doing the work, like @KilanBishop, who I had the pleasure of interviewing back in May about her advocacy in Miami’s city govt. Also, grassroots orgs like @FWAFL @CatalystMiami @WeCount_Fl @FANMOrg @FLImmigrant @seiufl @MiamiWorkersCtr
But the other thing you can do, especially if you don’t live here, is to help change the conversation. If you’re reading an article about a hurricane or a flash flood or another kind of climate disaster, ask yourself, ask others, yell about it on Twitter like I do:
Why aren’t mainstream news outlets routinely making climate gentrification and environmental justice part of the narrative? Many amazing local journos and activists are doing big, impactful things. But NYT, WashPost... they write one article and walk away.
We need sustained, constant coverage. We need to be embedding environmental justice and all its branches into every single conversation about climate change. Every. Single. One. You can help make that happen by changing the way YOU talk about climate.
If you’re trying to find local orgs in your community to support, groups like @CJAOurPower, who build national networks of local orgs, are a great resource. Also, Twitter search is very effective. Go out into the world and make it better!! Thx for reading, folks.
