Climate resilience is the ability to anticipate, prepare for, and respond to hazardous events, trends, or disturbances related to climate. Improving climate resilience involves assessing how climate change will create new, or alter current, climate-related risks, and taking steps to better cope with these risks.
As greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, climate change will continue to accelerate. Even if emissions were to stop today, the climate would continue to change for some time as the Earth’s system responds to the warming already underway. It makes sense to anticipate changes and act now to minimize future economic and social risks.
Climate resilience is often associated with acute events – like heavy downpours, hurricanes, or wildfires – that will become more frequent or intense as the climate changes. However, good resilience planning also accounts for chronic events, like rising sea levels, worsening air quality, and population migration. Businesses, governments, and citizens alike are planning now for the environment and economy they will face in the future.
City of Miami has always been vulnerable to hurricanes, storm surge, and flooding, and we have a strong history of thriving in the face of adversity. However, over the past decade Miami's acceptance and response to climate change has emerged as a new factor influencing the growth, and future trajectory, of the City.
The Miami Forever Climate Ready strategy, if implemented as articulated, will significantly reduce the increasing risks of flood, heat, and storm impacts over the next 40 years. It will do so in ways our residents and other stakeholders have expressed support for, all the while maximizing social, environmental, and economic co-benefits.
Strengthening Resilience in Miami Dade County
Learn more about county climate programs, sea level rise, and other sustainable
Catalyst Miami’s mission is to identify and collectively solve issues adversely affecting low-wealth communities throughout Miami-Dade County. We help ensure that families’ basic needs are met, provide coaching and tools to establish long-term wellness, and create effective coalitions of change-makers. Our vision is a just and equitable society in which all communities thrive.
An organization that empowers communities across all levels of society with climate science education and demand climate policies from our elected leaders. We highlight the urgency of climate action, while championing solutions for a resilient future.
The Miami Climate Alliance works for equity and resilience by activating community through strategic action, increasing understanding of climate change as a threat to all forms of justice, and building urgency around our shared community well-being. Our mission is to achieve justice for all of Miami's communities in the face of climate change and its effects.
FIU Sea Level Solutions Center
Our center, now housed in the Coastlines and Oceans Division, was created to address the emerging need for an organizational mechanism to develop useful and sustained sea level and other climate change-related responses for both the human and natural environments.
Extreme Events Institute
FIU created an Extreme Events Institute to be both multi-hazard and transdisciplinary in its approach to understanding emergencies, disasters, and catastrophes.
Miami Waterkeeper (MWK) is a Miami-based 501(c)3 non-profit organization that advocates for South Florida's watershed and wildlife.
Citizens for a Better South Florida
Citizens for a Better South Florida is dedicated to providing environmental education, particularly to the underserved community, which inspires active stewardship and the preservation of the South Florida environment.
To protect and enjoy the natural places in South Florida, to teach others to understand and respect the fragile environment in which we live, to promote the responsible use of South Florida’s ecosystems and resources , and to encourage all to be sustained through a plant based diet and minimize or mitigate their personal environmental footprint.
Adapting Cities for Climate Change: The Role of the Green Infrastructure
Being Prepared for Climate Change: A Workbook for Developing Risk-Based Adaptation Plans
Community resilience to climate change (Minnesita Pollution Control Agency)
Green Works for Climate Resilience: A Community Guide to Climate Planning
Guidelines for Considering Traditional Knowledges in Climate Change Initiatives
How to Make Cities More Resilient: a Handbook for Local Government Leaders
Meeting Summary: Green Resilience Climate Adaptation + Mitigation Synergies
Natural Connections: Green Infrastructure in Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana
Resources for Local Officials and Community Members (U.S. EPA)
Smart community infrastructures — Review of existing activities relevant to metrics
Smart Growth Strategies for Disaster Recovery and Resilience
Tipping Points & Indicators: Supporting Sustainable Communities in Great Lakes States
Designed to help assess individual impact.
Use this tool to equate your personal consumption of various fuels to a more tangible reference.
Helpful tool that provides an order of magnitude estimate for potential energy savings in your home.
For household emissions