In Florida, resiliency is an evolving concept, but one that is critical for the future health and safety of our communities. With our low elevations, hurricane exposure, droughts and floods, resiliency planning is something that is starting to be integrated into emergency management. The idea that our communities can "bounce back" once impacted by a disaster, or the slower, but no less important, reality of climate change and rising seas. In a peninsular State, all 67 Florida counties will face more impacts from climate change and sea level rise, whether located directly on the coast or inland. Those impacts range from vulnerability and exposure to tidal inundation and flooding to unusually high rates of precipitation during the dry season. Regardless of the impacts, our communities, infrastructure and buildings should be designed considering the impacts from a changing planet.
The USGBC supports resilient buildings that allow communities to be ready, not surprised. USGBC believes we must continuously look over the horizon to foreseeable and unforeseeable crises and see what plans are on the table, what preparations need to be made, and what assets are in place. And when these tragedies do occur, we need to deploy the resources and assistance to help communities recover smarter, greener and better.