Community leaders recently came together for a one-day workshop where expert panelists walked us through the evolving climate conditions and how it is impacting our way of life. This led to open group discussions among attendees where we considered areas of most concern for Southwest Florida and ways we can work together as a region to create feasible solutions. Key takeaways include:

• Essential to instill a sense of urgency in our various communities on the different implications of climate change, from rising energy usage to replacing current infrastructures to addressing natural weather phenomena.
• More work needs to be done to understand how we can help people of greater social vulnerability (e.g., lower-income families, those with no or inadequate housing, senior citizens, etc.) to ensure their health and wellbeing.
• Determine viable strategies to empower our different communities to come together as one region to combat and adapt to environmental changes to preserve our way of life in Southwest Florida.
• Continue to move these community conversations forward.