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.
Lee County
May
25
Collier County
May
26
Video of Lee County Panel Discussion
Courtesy of WGCU
SWFL Climate & Community Summit
The significant points and outcomes from our Climate Community Conversations will help frame and continue the conversation at the upcoming SWFL Climate & Community Summit on Thursday, October 6.
Hosted by SWFL Climate & Community Initiative and powered by Hertz, this inaugural event will gather the Southwest Florida community together as we learn, develop, and enact solutions to protect our region.
Thank You!
Thank you to all our attendees for the honest, respectful, diverse conversations and exchange of ideas. The concerns, thoughts, and input from our unique perspectives highlighted not only how we are different but that those in our community can come together united towards a common goal.
Additionally, we are grateful to our distinguished panelists who provided vital and clear information that helped fuel our open community conversations:
- Dr. Brian Bovard / bbovard@fgcu.edu
- Dr. Edwin Everham / eeverham@fgcu.edu
- Dr. Jayanta Gupta / jgupta@fgcu.edu
- Mr. Gene McAvoy / gmcavoy@ufl.edu
- Dr. Joanne Muller / jmuller@fgcu.edu
- Dr. Molly Nation / mnation@fgcu.edu
- Dr. Fritz Roka / froka@fgcu.edu
- Dr. Michael Savarese / msavares@fgcu.edu
- Dr. Seneshaw Tsegaye / stsegaye@fgcu.edu
- Dr. Shelton Weeks / sweeks@fgcu.edu
These Community Conversations would not be possible without the generosity of our sponsors.