Miami has experienced various issues related to climate change, including hurricanes, storm surge, and floods. Still, the city was able to recover after significant crises and thrive in the face of adversity. However, over the previous years, the situation associated with the excess of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere and groundwater level in Miami has deteriorated substantially. This paper will analyze the article “Miami sets ambitious emissions goal: carbon neutral by 2050. How to get there isn’t clear” by Alex Harris (2020), highlighting emerging policies affecting Miami.
To ensure a sustainable life for citizens and the city’s development, the authorities aim to implement a different approach to mitigate the crisis. The article discusses the city government plans to achieve carbon-neutral status by 2050, a policy that will change the city’s operations, citizens’ habits, and how the city powers itself. Miami became the first city in Florida to join an international climate organization called C40 Cities, which helps municipalities decrease their carbon footprint.
Miami’s Climate Ready Plan strategy that facilitates the activities of the authorities to go carbon neutral status by 2050 has broad objectives that the city must implement, such as moving from gas-powered city cars to electric vehicles, installing more solar panels, and focusing on energy efficiency in city buildings. Harris (2020) emphasizes that under activist pressure, authorities decided to declare a “climate emergency” and address the pollution from traffic jams, emissions from plants, and carbon footprint from citizens’ and businesses’ activities.
The author of the article presents the view of experts that the public authorities’ initiative will positively impact the citizens of Miami. It is suggested that people will benefit from the cleaner air and new job opportunities that solar farms will provide Harris (2020). However, the same public policy in 2008 did not achieve significant results towards lowering the emission rate by 25% and getting control over climate change due to other priorities Harris (2020). Moreover, Miami-Dade’s Chief Resilience Officer stated that the emission level increased from industrial activities. Overall, the author says that the major changes and initiatives are going to be done soon to achieve the ambitious goal of going carbon neutral by 2050 in Miami.
The article by Harris is relatively neutral but leans towards a positive overview of public policy decisions regarding climate change and presents a favorable opinion of leaders in different organizations that support new plans. At the end of the article, Harris (2020) presents the words of Miami-Dade’s Chief Resilience Officer, who told the media that the previous initiatives and projects did not have a significant impact on the climate change consequences and reduction of emissions in Miami. Summarizing the article, one can say that the author aimed to show different points of opinion leaders that support changes without presenting adverse consequences that might arise for citizens due to the implementation of the policy.
It can be stated that the challenge to gain carbon neutral status by 2050 and implement a Climate Ready Plan will affect my life and the lives of Miami citizens, commercial organizations, and interactions among communities. Experts suggest that the public policy objective to decrease the emissions will help create jobs and business opportunities in the low-income areas of the city that can help reduce criminal issues and enhance the safety of citizens and me (Miami-Dade County, n.d.). Simultaneously, the plan might include the increase of taxation on gas-powered cars that will be a burden for me as a citizen and organizations, which will be allocated to the development of solar energy and water energy plants to mitigate the carbon footprint.
Experts state that to reduce carbon emissions, all stakeholders in the city should be involved and will be influenced by the introduced plans (The International Energy Agency, 2020). The purchases of electric vehicles, energy efficiency programs, IT systems to track the usage of electricity are useful options (The International Energy Agency, 2020). Still, they might require changing behavior, raising awareness about the situation among citizens and business owners. Harris also emphasizes public representatives’ opinion that to achieve the goal, “the community will need to implement meaningful resource conservation measures that include fuel, energy and waste reduction as well as investments in renewable energy” (Harris, 2020, para. 2).
Besides the activities that I already mentioned, I would influence the new policy to make businesses and citizens more compliant by introducing fines or taxes that would motivate stakeholders to track their energy spent and use the resources efficiently. Electric vehicles should be taxed according to specific rules, and the usage of fuel and energy should be more expensive than the utilization of renewable sources of energy. Waste recycling and water usage reduction might also be needed, according to analysts, to address climate change and reduce floods in Miami (Harris, 2020).
Finally, partnerships with international organizations and local communities should support sustainable initiatives and create impactful events (The City of Miami Government, n.d.). To conclude, one can say that the necessity to respond faster to climate change has emerged as a new factor influencing the public authorities and their policy in Miami. To address the situation, all stakeholders must unite to change their activities and ensure that the city area will be thriving in the future.
References
Harris, A. (2020). Miami sets ambitious emissions goal: carbon neutral by 2050. How to get there isn’t clear. Miami Herald. Web.
Harris, A. (2020). Miami’s plan to survive impacts of climate change: figure out a way to pay for it. Miami Herald. Web.
Miami-Dade County. (n.d.). Climate Change Action Plan.
The City of Miami Government. (n.d.). What is City of Miami doing about climate change? Web.
The International Energy Agency. Global EV Outlook 2020. Web.