According to Miami-Dade’s official website, the county is expecting about 10 to 17 inches of sea level rise by 2040. For reference, the 3D map shows that with only 4 inches we could already be expecting damage to residential areas close to the Miami River, such as Spring Gardens. Despite the increasing amount of climate change awareness, we continue to push back decisions regarding carbon emissions, which has led us to this point.

The plan is based on 5 key points: raising the land using artificial fill, elevating structures on pilings (similarly to the keys), promoting development along routes less likely to flood, making room for canals in neighborhoods more prone to flooding, and creating a network of small spaces for water in parks and yards. Some of these, such as raising the land using artificial fill, are only temporary solutions. They are not maintainable in the long term, and if water continues to rise, the land will need to be continuously raised at great expense.

Despite the plan’s best efforts, the only strategy to prevent the encroaching sea is to avoid the carbon emissions that cause it in the first place. Miami-Dade produced 3.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2018, according to the Yearly Greenhouse Gas Inventory. To put this into perspective, the amount of carbon emissions produced in 2018 is the equivalent to the sum of every single citizen leaving their cars running for three months straight. Many countries, such as Germany, have already begun tackling this issue. With the Energy Turnaround Act, Berlin seeks to become fully carbon neutral by 2050.