Florida Gulf Coast University is hosting the 2015 Southwest Florida Sea Level Rise Summit on Thursday. Sea level rise is an issue Floridians hear a lot about on the west coast, but those behind the summit say they want to highlight what it will mean for the environment and businesses locally.Ray Judah, coordinator for the Florida Coastal and Ocean Coalition, said there’s no debate over whether sea level rise is happening. He used Miami Beach as an example.
“You can actually visually see during high tides events the flooding of the streets on Miami Beach,” he said.
Because of that, many southeastern counties have developed plans to address the issue.
Judah spearheaded putting the summit together to generate more local awareness about sea level rise.
“And actually have the professionals, the scientists explain what’s actually going on here on the west coast with coastal erosion and the potential impacts to our tourism and real estate-based economy,” he said.
Judah said one outcome he would like to see from the summit is for elected officials on the local municipality and county levels to follow the east coast’s lead and adopt measures addressing the impacts of sea level rise.
