May 30, 2024 • 24 mins
In this episode we speak with Nathaniel Rodefer about the Jacksonville Climate Coalition. Nathaniel is Vice-Curator of the Global Shapers, and is also on the Steering for the Climate Coalition.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, nathaniel, welcome to Sustainable North
Florida.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Hey Lorianne, Thanks for having me so much.
Appreciate it a lot.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Thanks, I'm really looking forward to this Today,
at least in the beginning.
Here we're going to turn thetables around a little bit and
you'll be asking some of thequestions, so I guess with that,
we'll just let you go for it.
What questions do you have?
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Yeah, so, regarding the Jacksonville Climate
Coalition, I was wondering ifyou could talk to us a little
bit about the mission of theorganization.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Our mission is to work collectively in
Jacksonville to prepareequitable and proactive
solutions that address both thecause and the effects of climate
change, through advocacy,education and community
involvement, and we do thisthrough a variety of ways.
That includes programs thatwe're putting together on our
own.
A variety of ways that includesprograms that we're putting
together on our own, but,importantly, we also are working
(00:49):
with our partner organizationsthat might be taking the lead on
some other projects where wejust play a supporting role.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
No, I greatly appreciate that context.
And speaking of context, couldyou tell me more about the
history of the JacksonvilleClimate Coalition and some of
the work that it's done?
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Sure, sure I'd love to.
Some of this actually predatesme, but the coalition started a
few years ago it was actuallyprior to COVID and back then we
were still not able to speakabout climate change at the city
level, but resiliency was anacceptable topic, so several
nonprofits in the community sawthe need for a chief resiliency
officer position within the city, and so those groups came
(01:24):
together to form the coalition,and back then the coalition was
actually known as Resilient Jaxand, as you know, nathaniel.
Eventually the city did hire achief resilience officer, and so
since then the group actuallywas renamed as the Jacksonville
Climate Coalition, and our scopehas increased so that we're not
just focused on resilience inthe face of climate change, but
(01:45):
we're also looking to addressthe cause of climate change,
which is plain and simplegreenhouse gas emissions,
primarily due to the burning offossil fuels.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Quite interesting.
It's always fun learning aboutthe metamorphoses that
organizations can go through.
You answered a little bit withthe history question, but why
does Jacksonville need a climatecoalition specifically?
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Okay, where do I start?
So earlier this month, governorRon DeSantis signed legislation
that means that the stategovernment will no longer be
required to consider climatechange when crafting state
energy policies, and thislegislation will also repeal
grants aimed at encouraginginvestments in energy efficiency
and renewable energy.
It also removes requirementsthat state agencies use
fuel-efficient vehicles, forexample, and last year, the
(02:33):
federal government allocated$346 million in federal funds to
assist Floridians in makingtheir homes more efficient.
Desantis rejected those federalfunds.
So, to be clear, those arefederal funds that were paid for
by my federal taxes, by yourfederal taxes, and our governor
rejected that money.
You know Florida is ground zerofor the climate crisis in the US
.
Flooding and extreme weatherevents are becoming more and
(02:55):
more frequent, and really theimpact is not just environmental
.
Major insurers are leaving thestate due to the increased risk
of losses, and the instabilityin the insurance market has
already had an effect on thestate economy as a whole.
Okay, so I can go on and onabout this, but one could really
argue that it's a statewideissue, right?
Not just Jacksonville.
So why do we need a climatecoalition in Jacksonville?
(03:17):
From my personal experience,when I first started getting
involved in climate-relatedissues.
You know, you and I have talkedabout this before, but my
background's in biotech, notclimate.
So when I first starteddevoting more time to climate,
it was really hard for me to getconnected with others in
Jacksonville that had the sameconcerns.
Other cities such as Miami,fort Lauderdale, tampa, sarasota
(03:40):
they all already have activeclimate communities, and what I
found in my own personal journeywas that there are several
great organizations locally thatkind of tangentially work on
climate change, but none thatwere solely focused on that.
That's a really big reason whyI see that there's a need for a
climate coalition inJacksonville.
What about you, nathaniel?
Why are you here?
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Yeah, climate change and the related issues
surrounding it are things thatI've been very interested in
since my senior year in highschool, when I took AP
Environmental Science.
You know, growing up in theearly 2000s, climate change was
something that did kind of enterthe cultural zeitgeist and was
a topic of conversation.
(04:20):
It was something that was, youknow, increased to the forefront
of everyone's attention, but Inever really had the opportunity
to like academically dive intoit.
You know, studying climatechange and climate related
issues is something that's anapplicable conversation to quite
literally anything that we doon this earth, so it was
(04:40):
something that I found just veryinteresting to continue to
learn about.
And then there is that externaland existential component to it
that you know our planet ischanging in ways that we have a
conceptual idea of, but thechange itself is going to be
something that we haven'texperienced until it comes,
(05:06):
until it comes.
And so there's a real, realaspect to it where learning
about climate change and reallybecoming educated about it isn't
just about education but it'salso a call to action.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
So my sense, and I think the data bears out that
there's a difference between thegenerations as far as who is
more concerned about climatechange.
Obviously, you are of adifferent generation than I am.
Within your generation.
Do you feel that most peoplearound you are concerned about
climate change, want to dosomething about climate change?
Obviously, you are of adifferent generation than I am.
Within your generation, do youfeel that most people around you
are concerned about climatechange, want to do something
about climate change?
And I guess I'm speaking aboutpeople of your generation that
are here in Jacksonville.
(05:33):
What's the sense of urgency ornon-urgency around the issue?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yeah, I'd say that there is a high level of concern
that is present in a lot ofpeople's minds.
You know, for a lot of us, we'rekind of entering that young
adult stage of life where youknow, we're graduating from
college, we're getting settled,we're beginning our careers and
there's a real kind of questionthat's staring us in the face in
terms of just like you know,what choices do we have to make
(06:07):
now in regards to how theclimate is going to change and
how that's going to affect ourlives?
So I do very much know thatclimate changed, even if it
isn't in people's fields ofstudy or in people's, you know,
top concerns or interests, it'ssomething they're definitely
aware about.
One of the things that is amajor problem, especially in the
younger generation, is a littlebit of a feeling of apathy.
You know we were born into.
It's an issue that we've beenaware about since we've been
(06:30):
able to conceptualize, thoughtin a sense, and through that
entire span of time it has onlycontinued to be exasperated to
worsening degrees.
But there's also a degree towhich people haven't witnessed
any change occurring, and to adegree that creates a sense of
(06:50):
powerlessness and even a senseof hopelessness regarding the
issue, which is a real problem.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Yeah, that definitely is a problem.
Hopefully we can address thatin some of the efforts that we
have going on through thecoalition.
So my stage of life isdifferent.
My circle is mostly kind ofmid-career professionals lots of
soccer moms, things like thatand I would say you know, I've
lived in different parts of theUnited States and other parts of
the United States.
(07:16):
I do feel that and this isfeeling right We'll talk about
data in a second but this isfeeling I have felt that other
people around me were concernedabout climate change, wanted to
do something about climatechange and expected that you
know, that was the directionthat society should be moving in
, that our economy should bemoving in, and in Jacksonville I
really haven't felt that asmuch.
But you know my background's inbiotech, I like data.
(07:40):
So here are a few interestingstatistics and one that I think
most people wouldn't reallybelieve.
So, nathaniel, what percentageof people in Duval County do you
think believe climate change isreal?
Speaker 2 (07:51):
You know I'm going to go out on a limb.
I'm going to place my bet on 75percent.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Oh man, See, I would have thought it was less, but
it's actually 72 percent, OK, OK.
So that actually is about thesame as the national average.
So when you hear things youknow in the news about climate
change in Florida and whatFlorida is or isn't doing to
address climate change, somebodythat's outside the state might
expect it to be less than that,but 72% do think climate change
(08:18):
is real.
Okay.
So what about this?
How many people do you think inDuval County believe that our
government needs to be doingmore?
(08:40):
Hmm, that's interesting, I gotto think about the
cross-tabulation piece thereacross those two questions.
That'd probably be a lesserpercent so I'd guess around 60.
Than I had anticipated.
And so 56% of people in DuvalCounty think our governor needs
to do more and 59% think ourlocal government needs to be
doing more to address climatechange.
And each of those numbers isactually higher than in the rest
(09:02):
of the United States.
So I'm not talking aboutFlorida, I'm not talking about
Miami.
People in Jacksonville really doexpect their governor and their
local officials to be doingmore to address climate change
and you know, as I mentioned,like when I'm speaking to my
friends and family, it doesn'treally feel like it's an issue
of concern.
I think that's because in ourstate we're not the loudest
voices in the room.
(09:23):
We are the majority, but unlessyou look at the data, you might
not feel that way, and for thatreason I think it's really
important to have anorganization in Jacksonville
that's dedicated to climatechange so that we can get the
conversation going, normalizethe topic.
You know, talking about this isa necessary prerequisite to
(09:43):
understanding it and to cometogether as a community to
address both the cause andeffects of climate change going
forward.
And importantly, in a way thatmakes sense for Jacksonville.
Sorry, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
No, yeah, you bring up a lot of good points,
especially a little bit aroundthe psychology, around how
people navigate climate changeas a conceptual issue, and it's
an interesting thing to thinkabout because, in sort of
navigating climate change andbeing proactive about it and
being intentional aboutadvocating for climate friendly
policies or for a better future,it does necessitate holding a
(10:18):
certain level of constantuncomfortability with the ways
things are going currently, um,which does have an emotional
strength yeah, you see more andmore articles about climate
optimism or, I guess, just theeffect of climate change on
mental health and the importanceto have something to look
(10:39):
forward to, right, if it's allgloom and doom, it's not
enticing, it's not motivating toconstantly hear about how
everything is, you know, fallingapart.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
The world is heating up and everything's going to die
.
We're all going to die.
I mean that doesn't makeanybody want to do anything.
I think it's important to knowthat we can do something about
it.
There are clear steps that weneed to take and it's just a
matter of you know figuring outwhat the right steps are for any
given community and makingaction happen.
And I think once people realizethat there are steps that you
can take, that helps to relievesome of that mental stress.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Yeah, knowing that path forward and having hope for
a better future is importantfor the longevity of being
inclined to movement.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
One vision that I have for the coalition going
forward is that we really kindof unite all of these
organizations and even otherorganizations that are not
officially part of our coalitionyet and focus efforts so that
we're not working in silos.
If somebody has an educationalprogram that they're working on,
let's work together on that,let's co-promote it.
We don't need to reinvent thewheel, we should just be working
(11:40):
together.
A great example of that isGlobal Shapers, and on the
Climate Coalition you arecurrently representing Global
Shapers.
Can you tell us a little bitabout that organization?
Speaker 2 (11:50):
currently representing Global Shapers.
Can you tell us a little bitabout that organization?
Yeah, so the Global Shaperscommunity is an international
project that is a subsidiary ofthe World Economic Forum and
with over 500 hubs around theworld and on every major
continent except Antarctica.
What it's working to do is tocreate local hubs of
(12:12):
interdisciplinary young adultswho are working to create
programs and solutions forproblems their communities are
experiencing on a local level.
In regards to climate change,we're doing some projects right
now, called ClimateConversations, around
understanding when people havedifferent opinions or thoughts
(12:33):
or convictions regarding issuesaround climate change.
How do you have a productive,fruitful conversation regarding
that?
You know, if you're enteringthe room with people who might
not believe climate change evenexists, you know and sort of
understanding that, as a hostileenvironment to some of the
conversations climate changenecessitates, how do you still
(12:55):
navigate that environment with aproductive conversation in
which you're still engaging ingood faith with each other?
Speaker 1 (13:05):
So Global Shapers, you guys really are a tenacious
bunch.
I'll tell you as I go aroundtown, like trying to connect
with different organizations ordifferent people that are
concerned about climate changethat might want to join our
coalition.
It seems like everybody that Ispeak with says, oh, have you
talked to Global Shapers yet?
I just had a conversation withthem last week and you guys are
really just a couple of yearsold and really making a big
(13:25):
impact within, within thecommunity, which is really,
which is really fun to seecommunity, which is really fun
to see as an outside personlooking in at your organization.
One of the things that Iappreciate that I hope we can
also recreate within the ClimateCoalition is it seems like
there really is an opportunityfor learning In order to join us
and to help and to volunteer.
You definitely don't need to bean expert, and, in fact, this
(13:49):
is something that we as aspecies haven't really gone
through before.
As a culture, we've not gonethrough this before, so there
really aren't that many experts.
We're all learning thistogether and I think the only
prerequisite that you need to bepart of the coalition is just
to be motivated to do somethingright.
You just need to be interestedand have the desire to do
(14:09):
something, and then we'll takeit from there.
When you become part of thecoalition, you're giving of your
time, but you're gettingsomething back in return, right,
whether that's, you know, justin the satisfaction of making a
difference in climate change,but also in the opportunity to
learn, you know, new skill sets,and I think actually, nathaniel
, the meeting that we had todaywas a perfect example.
(14:31):
Can you talk a little bit aboutthat?
Speaker 2 (14:34):
In the forming of our advocacy committee, one of the
things that we realized that weneeded to do was to conduct a
landscape analysis For thepurposes of just sort of
understanding as we navigate,you know, climate-related
initiatives in the Jacksonvillecontext, like who are the
players, who has a hat in thisrace and you know who might be
(14:56):
either be resources or people toreach out to um in the
conducting of this work.
You know, currently either beingin our collegiate careers or
being freshly out of them, um, alandscape analysis was
something that we hadn't donebefore um, so it was really
impactful in terms of beingexposed to that experience, of
(15:16):
being able to participate inthis professional activity.
It was really sort ofilluminating in terms of being
able to go from a place of beingrelatively a novice to being
able to, you know, walk out ofthat room with a finished
product and really sort ofhaving a greater understanding
for who all was involved inclimate-related issues as it
(15:38):
pertains to Jacksonville, butalso being able to have all that
research conducted, compiledand readily accessible for any
future needs.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
So it was a great knowledge-building activity, not
only in the activity itself butalso the products really need
(16:12):
to get this dialogue going andproviding some educational
opportunities and normalizingthe conversation, I think, is
really the most important firststep that we can be taking and
everything else will come fromthere.
So, kind of to that end, wehave two different avenues that
we're going down.
One is we've got a newsletterthat comes out every other week
and I think it's fantastic.
I am certainly biased, but I dothink it's fantastic.
It's written by John Burr andJohn's a longtime journalist and
(16:34):
he's been focused onenvironmental issues.
I love reading it each week.
He does a great job taking atopic whether it be energy,
urban heat, you name it and hedistills it down to what does it
mean for Jacksonville?
And since he started writing itin January, it's been picked up
by several outlets, includingthe Invading Sea, also Sun
(16:58):
Sentinel, the Orlando Sentineland, of course, the Times Union.
So that is one avenue toincrease the community awareness
around climate change.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
We also include at the end of the newsletter
climate related events that aregoing on in the community, and
also, and equally as important,is the Sustainable Northeast
Florida podcast that you'relistening to right now.
It's a wonderful tool ofreaching the climate-based
community as well.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Pertaining to Jacksonville issues, Thank you
for the plug.
Yeah, so I agree, that'sanother way that we're
increasing the level ofawareness in the community and
we try to interview local peoplethat are making a difference
here in Northeast Florida,people that are making this a
(17:38):
more sustainable place to live.
And you know, climate changecan be scary to think about,
even depressing, as we weretalking about before.
Nobody wants to be stuck in agloomy place and I think for me,
it's really important to knowthat we can do something and,
(17:58):
speaking with people in ourcommunity that are already
making a difference, that givesme hope and motivates me to do
more, and I'm hoping that it hasthe same effect on other people
as well.
We've had a few events recentlyin the community.
Can you talk about that?
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Yeah, so most recently, on May 18th, we hosted
a Lit Chat with theJacksonville Public Library
Assistant.
We brought Jeff Goodall, authorof the Heat Will Kill you First
, to participate in this LitChat and it was quite a great
turnout.
That room was pretty full andpretty lively.
Um, so that was, uh, that was are-convent in the community
(18:30):
that was really successful.
Um, would you like to talkabout the food policy, urban
agriculture a bit?
Speaker 1 (18:37):
yeah, sure.
So, um, as I mentioned before,we want to coordinate with other
groups that have programs thatare already going on where it
makes sense.
So one example of that there isa group in town called the
Duval County Food Policy Council, and one of the initiatives
that they're working on is urbanagriculture, and there
(18:59):
definitely is an overlap.
This group mostly focuses onfood security and making sure
that there is equitable accessto clean and healthy food, which
actually is not the case rightnow.
But there certainly is anoverlap between that and climate
, right?
So agriculture, depending onwhere you look, is responsible
for 16 to 20 percent of carbonemissions.
(19:21):
So certainly how we grow, how weproduce, how we transport our
food makes a big impact.
So the more we can do thatlocally, we are absolutely
reducing emissions.
Reducing food waste alsoreduces emissions susceptible to
(19:46):
drought, more susceptible toextreme weather events, and it's
always the people that are mostvulnerable to begin with that
will be impacted by that.
So there certainly are manyareas of intersection between
climate change and food policy.
So the Climate Coalition isworking with the Food Policy
Council in developing theirurban agriculture strategy.
Another thing that we havegoing is the Renew Jax campaign.
You want to talk about that,nathaniel.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Another thing that we have going is the RenewJax
campaign.
You want to talk about that,nathaniel?
Yeah, so the RenewJax campaign,which has been a fun campaign
to get involved in myself, butit focuses on urging our local
utility to adopt 100% renewableenergy by or before 2050.
You know we're trying to.
You know, take action right nowto convince their leaders that
(20:30):
renewable energy is the futureand that the earlier that we
adopt this, the better off we'regoing to be as well.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
One of our partner organizations, the Sierra Club,
is actually leading the RenewJaxcampaign.
But we, the JacksonvilleClimate Coalition has signed on
as a supporter and we have had afew of our members go out to
the monthly JA board meetings.
But we, the JacksonvilleClimate Coalition, has signed on
as a supporter and we have hada few of our members go out to
the monthly JA board meetingsand speak in support of moving
to 100% renewable energy, so itwas a lot of fun to see you
(20:58):
there last time, Nathaniel.
We've had a few other speakersas well, and that's another
example of a learningopportunity.
A lot of our members have neverdone anything like that before,
but you know, if you havequestions, we help you through
it.
It's three minutes that you getjust to speak before the board.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
No, it's definitely an aspect of becoming, you know,
an active participant in onecivic community.
You're taking advantage of allopportunities that you have to
voice your opinion to thedecision makers.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
So some of the questions, or one of the main
questions that I get from peoplethat are looking to get more
involved is what can I do?
So we've got, in addition tojust becoming a volunteer in
general and you know, signing upon our website and saying, hey,
I'd like to do more.
If you do that, that's awesome.
I will personally give you acall back and we'll talk about
what you're interested, howyou're interested in helping and
(21:46):
you know where, where you mightfit.
But in addition to that, wealso have kind of three working
groups that were were that havedifferent focus areas right now.
So one of those is advocacy,which, nathaniel, you are
leading.
Another group that we have iscommunity engagement.
So there we are looking atsetting up various climate
(22:07):
conversations throughout thecommunity and developing a
speakers bureau, so wherespeakers can go out and give
presentations.
If you would like apresentation to to your
community, be that be that yourchurch group, your school, any
other type of community groupthat you have we would have a
(22:28):
bureau of speakers to be able togo out and talk about climate
change.
And we also have book talksthat we're scheduling, which
we'll talk about in a second.
And the last group that where wereally need help is just
communications in general.
So help with our website ornewsletter, social media If
you're a really techie person,if you're really into marketing
and you have some time that youcan devote, we could certainly
use help on that.
(22:48):
In that regard, we have somespecific upcoming events.
We will be doing book talks thefourth Thursday of the month
and it's kind of like a bookclub, but we want to keep it
open.
So if you haven't read the book, it's kind of okay, we'll still
talk about it.
You can get the cliff notesfrom the group and I guess
that's also a generational thing.
Probably you guys have sparknotes or maybe just a chat GPT I
don't know.
Nathaniel, what do you guys usethese days?
Speaker 2 (23:10):
I don't use spark notes that much, but I do like
finding a good website that hasa summary of things.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Okay, so we can provide that service.
The most important thing isthat we're getting together to
talk about a specificclimate-related topic.
This is all virtual.
In the month of June, we'll becovering Saving Us, which is a
great book by Dr CatherineHayhom, and it touches on a lot
of the climate communicationsissues that we spoke about
earlier in our conversation.
(23:35):
And how can you get involved?
Anybody that's listening, youcan volunteer on our website and
you can also sign up for ournewsletter.
You can participate in our booktalks.
We have also upcoming greendrinks, so once a month the
dates are still TBD we'reworking this out, but once a
month we will be having a greendrink networking series
(23:57):
throughout the community.
Thank you so much, nathaniel.
It's been great to work withyou on the Climate Coalition and
I really appreciate you comingon the podcast.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Yeah, florianne, thanks for having me so much.
I really appreciate it and Ilook forward to seeing you next
time.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Thank you, take care.
Hi, nathaniel, welcome to Sustainable North
Florida.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Hey Lorianne, Thanks for having me so much.
Appreciate it a lot.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Thanks, I'm really looking forward to this Today,
at least in the beginning.
Here we're going to turn thetables around a little bit and
you'll be asking some of thequestions, so I guess with that,
we'll just let you go for it.
What questions do you have?
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Yeah, so, regarding the Jacksonville Climate
Coalition, I was wondering ifyou could talk to us a little
bit about the mission of theorganization.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Our mission is to work collectively in
Jacksonville to prepareequitable and proactive
solutions that address both thecause and the effects of climate
change, through advocacy,education and community
involvement, and we do thisthrough a variety of ways.
That includes programs thatwe're putting together on our
own.
A variety of ways that includesprograms that we're putting
together on our own, but,importantly, we also are working
(00:49):
with our partner organizationsthat might be taking the lead on
some other projects where wejust play a supporting role.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
No, I greatly appreciate that context.
And speaking of context, couldyou tell me more about the
history of the JacksonvilleClimate Coalition and some of
the work that it's done?
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Sure, sure I'd love to.
Some of this actually predatesme, but the coalition started a
few years ago it was actuallyprior to COVID and back then we
were still not able to speakabout climate change at the city
level, but resiliency was anacceptable topic, so several
nonprofits in the community sawthe need for a chief resiliency
officer position within the city, and so those groups came
(01:24):
together to form the coalition,and back then the coalition was
actually known as Resilient Jaxand, as you know, nathaniel.
Eventually the city did hire achief resilience officer, and so
since then the group actuallywas renamed as the Jacksonville
Climate Coalition, and our scopehas increased so that we're not
just focused on resilience inthe face of climate change, but
(01:45):
we're also looking to addressthe cause of climate change,
which is plain and simplegreenhouse gas emissions,
primarily due to the burning offossil fuels.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Quite interesting.
It's always fun learning aboutthe metamorphoses that
organizations can go through.
You answered a little bit withthe history question, but why
does Jacksonville need a climatecoalition specifically?
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Okay, where do I start?
So earlier this month, governorRon DeSantis signed legislation
that means that the stategovernment will no longer be
required to consider climatechange when crafting state
energy policies, and thislegislation will also repeal
grants aimed at encouraginginvestments in energy efficiency
and renewable energy.
It also removes requirementsthat state agencies use
fuel-efficient vehicles, forexample, and last year, the
(02:33):
federal government allocated$346 million in federal funds to
assist Floridians in makingtheir homes more efficient.
Desantis rejected those federalfunds.
So, to be clear, those arefederal funds that were paid for
by my federal taxes, by yourfederal taxes, and our governor
rejected that money.
You know Florida is ground zerofor the climate crisis in the US
.
Flooding and extreme weatherevents are becoming more and
(02:55):
more frequent, and really theimpact is not just environmental
.
Major insurers are leaving thestate due to the increased risk
of losses, and the instabilityin the insurance market has
already had an effect on thestate economy as a whole.
Okay, so I can go on and onabout this, but one could really
argue that it's a statewideissue, right?
Not just Jacksonville.
So why do we need a climatecoalition in Jacksonville?
(03:17):
From my personal experience,when I first started getting
involved in climate-relatedissues.
You know, you and I have talkedabout this before, but my
background's in biotech, notclimate.
So when I first starteddevoting more time to climate,
it was really hard for me to getconnected with others in
Jacksonville that had the sameconcerns.
Other cities such as Miami,fort Lauderdale, tampa, sarasota
(03:40):
they all already have activeclimate communities, and what I
found in my own personal journeywas that there are several
great organizations locally thatkind of tangentially work on
climate change, but none thatwere solely focused on that.
That's a really big reason whyI see that there's a need for a
climate coalition inJacksonville.
What about you, nathaniel?
Why are you here?
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Yeah, climate change and the related issues
surrounding it are things thatI've been very interested in
since my senior year in highschool, when I took AP
Environmental Science.
You know, growing up in theearly 2000s, climate change was
something that did kind of enterthe cultural zeitgeist and was
a topic of conversation.
(04:20):
It was something that was, youknow, increased to the forefront
of everyone's attention, but Inever really had the opportunity
to like academically dive intoit.
You know, studying climatechange and climate related
issues is something that's anapplicable conversation to quite
literally anything that we doon this earth, so it was
(04:40):
something that I found just veryinteresting to continue to
learn about.
And then there is that externaland existential component to it
that you know our planet ischanging in ways that we have a
conceptual idea of, but thechange itself is going to be
something that we haven'texperienced until it comes,
(05:06):
until it comes.
And so there's a real, realaspect to it where learning
about climate change and reallybecoming educated about it isn't
just about education but it'salso a call to action.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
So my sense, and I think the data bears out that
there's a difference between thegenerations as far as who is
more concerned about climatechange.
Obviously, you are of adifferent generation than I am.
Within your generation.
Do you feel that most peoplearound you are concerned about
climate change, want to dosomething about climate change?
Obviously, you are of adifferent generation than I am.
Within your generation, do youfeel that most people around you
are concerned about climatechange, want to do something
about climate change?
And I guess I'm speaking aboutpeople of your generation that
are here in Jacksonville.
(05:33):
What's the sense of urgency ornon-urgency around the issue?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yeah, I'd say that there is a high level of concern
that is present in a lot ofpeople's minds.
You know, for a lot of us, we'rekind of entering that young
adult stage of life where youknow, we're graduating from
college, we're getting settled,we're beginning our careers and
there's a real kind of questionthat's staring us in the face in
terms of just like you know,what choices do we have to make
(06:07):
now in regards to how theclimate is going to change and
how that's going to affect ourlives?
So I do very much know thatclimate changed, even if it
isn't in people's fields ofstudy or in people's, you know,
top concerns or interests, it'ssomething they're definitely
aware about.
One of the things that is amajor problem, especially in the
younger generation, is a littlebit of a feeling of apathy.
You know we were born into.
It's an issue that we've beenaware about since we've been
(06:30):
able to conceptualize, thoughtin a sense, and through that
entire span of time it has onlycontinued to be exasperated to
worsening degrees.
But there's also a degree towhich people haven't witnessed
any change occurring, and to adegree that creates a sense of
(06:50):
powerlessness and even a senseof hopelessness regarding the
issue, which is a real problem.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Yeah, that definitely is a problem.
Hopefully we can address thatin some of the efforts that we
have going on through thecoalition.
So my stage of life isdifferent.
My circle is mostly kind ofmid-career professionals lots of
soccer moms, things like thatand I would say you know, I've
lived in different parts of theUnited States and other parts of
the United States.
(07:16):
I do feel that and this isfeeling right We'll talk about
data in a second but this isfeeling I have felt that other
people around me were concernedabout climate change, wanted to
do something about climatechange and expected that you
know, that was the directionthat society should be moving in
, that our economy should bemoving in, and in Jacksonville I
really haven't felt that asmuch.
But you know my background's inbiotech, I like data.
(07:40):
So here are a few interestingstatistics and one that I think
most people wouldn't reallybelieve.
So, nathaniel, what percentageof people in Duval County do you
think believe climate change isreal?
Speaker 2 (07:51):
You know I'm going to go out on a limb.
I'm going to place my bet on 75percent.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Oh man, See, I would have thought it was less, but
it's actually 72 percent, OK, OK.
So that actually is about thesame as the national average.
So when you hear things youknow in the news about climate
change in Florida and whatFlorida is or isn't doing to
address climate change, somebodythat's outside the state might
expect it to be less than that,but 72% do think climate change
(08:18):
is real.
Okay.
So what about this?
How many people do you think inDuval County believe that our
government needs to be doingmore?
(08:40):
Hmm, that's interesting, I gotto think about the
cross-tabulation piece thereacross those two questions.
That'd probably be a lesserpercent so I'd guess around 60.
Than I had anticipated.
And so 56% of people in DuvalCounty think our governor needs
to do more and 59% think ourlocal government needs to be
doing more to address climatechange.
And each of those numbers isactually higher than in the rest
(09:02):
of the United States.
So I'm not talking aboutFlorida, I'm not talking about
Miami.
People in Jacksonville really doexpect their governor and their
local officials to be doingmore to address climate change
and you know, as I mentioned,like when I'm speaking to my
friends and family, it doesn'treally feel like it's an issue
of concern.
I think that's because in ourstate we're not the loudest
voices in the room.
(09:23):
We are the majority, but unlessyou look at the data, you might
not feel that way, and for thatreason I think it's really
important to have anorganization in Jacksonville
that's dedicated to climatechange so that we can get the
conversation going, normalizethe topic.
You know, talking about this isa necessary prerequisite to
(09:43):
understanding it and to cometogether as a community to
address both the cause andeffects of climate change going
forward.
And importantly, in a way thatmakes sense for Jacksonville.
Sorry, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
No, yeah, you bring up a lot of good points,
especially a little bit aroundthe psychology, around how
people navigate climate changeas a conceptual issue, and it's
an interesting thing to thinkabout because, in sort of
navigating climate change andbeing proactive about it and
being intentional aboutadvocating for climate friendly
policies or for a better future,it does necessitate holding a
(10:18):
certain level of constantuncomfortability with the ways
things are going currently, um,which does have an emotional
strength yeah, you see more andmore articles about climate
optimism or, I guess, just theeffect of climate change on
mental health and the importanceto have something to look
(10:39):
forward to, right, if it's allgloom and doom, it's not
enticing, it's not motivating toconstantly hear about how
everything is, you know, fallingapart.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
The world is heating up and everything's going to die
.
We're all going to die.
I mean that doesn't makeanybody want to do anything.
I think it's important to knowthat we can do something about
it.
There are clear steps that weneed to take and it's just a
matter of you know figuring outwhat the right steps are for any
given community and makingaction happen.
And I think once people realizethat there are steps that you
can take, that helps to relievesome of that mental stress.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Yeah, knowing that path forward and having hope for
a better future is importantfor the longevity of being
inclined to movement.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
One vision that I have for the coalition going
forward is that we really kindof unite all of these
organizations and even otherorganizations that are not
officially part of our coalitionyet and focus efforts so that
we're not working in silos.
If somebody has an educationalprogram that they're working on,
let's work together on that,let's co-promote it.
We don't need to reinvent thewheel, we should just be working
(11:40):
together.
A great example of that isGlobal Shapers, and on the
Climate Coalition you arecurrently representing Global
Shapers.
Can you tell us a little bitabout that organization?
Speaker 2 (11:50):
currently representing Global Shapers.
Can you tell us a little bitabout that organization?
Yeah, so the Global Shaperscommunity is an international
project that is a subsidiary ofthe World Economic Forum and
with over 500 hubs around theworld and on every major
continent except Antarctica.
What it's working to do is tocreate local hubs of
(12:12):
interdisciplinary young adultswho are working to create
programs and solutions forproblems their communities are
experiencing on a local level.
In regards to climate change,we're doing some projects right
now, called ClimateConversations, around
understanding when people havedifferent opinions or thoughts
(12:33):
or convictions regarding issuesaround climate change.
How do you have a productive,fruitful conversation regarding
that?
You know, if you're enteringthe room with people who might
not believe climate change evenexists, you know and sort of
understanding that, as a hostileenvironment to some of the
conversations climate changenecessitates, how do you still
(12:55):
navigate that environment with aproductive conversation in
which you're still engaging ingood faith with each other?
Speaker 1 (13:05):
So Global Shapers, you guys really are a tenacious
bunch.
I'll tell you as I go aroundtown, like trying to connect
with different organizations ordifferent people that are
concerned about climate changethat might want to join our
coalition.
It seems like everybody that Ispeak with says, oh, have you
talked to Global Shapers yet?
I just had a conversation withthem last week and you guys are
really just a couple of yearsold and really making a big
(13:25):
impact within, within thecommunity, which is really,
which is really fun to seecommunity, which is really fun
to see as an outside personlooking in at your organization.
One of the things that Iappreciate that I hope we can
also recreate within the ClimateCoalition is it seems like
there really is an opportunityfor learning In order to join us
and to help and to volunteer.
You definitely don't need to bean expert, and, in fact, this
(13:49):
is something that we as aspecies haven't really gone
through before.
As a culture, we've not gonethrough this before, so there
really aren't that many experts.
We're all learning thistogether and I think the only
prerequisite that you need to bepart of the coalition is just
to be motivated to do somethingright.
You just need to be interestedand have the desire to do
(14:09):
something, and then we'll takeit from there.
When you become part of thecoalition, you're giving of your
time, but you're gettingsomething back in return, right,
whether that's, you know, justin the satisfaction of making a
difference in climate change,but also in the opportunity to
learn, you know, new skill sets,and I think actually, nathaniel
, the meeting that we had todaywas a perfect example.
(14:31):
Can you talk a little bit aboutthat?
Speaker 2 (14:34):
In the forming of our advocacy committee, one of the
things that we realized that weneeded to do was to conduct a
landscape analysis For thepurposes of just sort of
understanding as we navigate,you know, climate-related
initiatives in the Jacksonvillecontext, like who are the
players, who has a hat in thisrace and you know who might be
(14:56):
either be resources or people toreach out to um in the
conducting of this work.
You know, currently either beingin our collegiate careers or
being freshly out of them, um, alandscape analysis was
something that we hadn't donebefore um, so it was really
impactful in terms of beingexposed to that experience, of
(15:16):
being able to participate inthis professional activity.
It was really sort ofilluminating in terms of being
able to go from a place of beingrelatively a novice to being
able to, you know, walk out ofthat room with a finished
product and really sort ofhaving a greater understanding
for who all was involved inclimate-related issues as it
(15:38):
pertains to Jacksonville, butalso being able to have all that
research conducted, compiledand readily accessible for any
future needs.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
So it was a great knowledge-building activity, not
only in the activity itself butalso the products really need
(16:12):
to get this dialogue going andproviding some educational
opportunities and normalizingthe conversation, I think, is
really the most important firststep that we can be taking and
everything else will come fromthere.
So, kind of to that end, wehave two different avenues that
we're going down.
One is we've got a newsletterthat comes out every other week
and I think it's fantastic.
I am certainly biased, but I dothink it's fantastic.
It's written by John Burr andJohn's a longtime journalist and
(16:34):
he's been focused onenvironmental issues.
I love reading it each week.
He does a great job taking atopic whether it be energy,
urban heat, you name it and hedistills it down to what does it
mean for Jacksonville?
And since he started writing itin January, it's been picked up
by several outlets, includingthe Invading Sea, also Sun
(16:58):
Sentinel, the Orlando Sentineland, of course, the Times Union.
So that is one avenue toincrease the community awareness
around climate change.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
We also include at the end of the newsletter
climate related events that aregoing on in the community, and
also, and equally as important,is the Sustainable Northeast
Florida podcast that you'relistening to right now.
It's a wonderful tool ofreaching the climate-based
community as well.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Pertaining to Jacksonville issues, Thank you
for the plug.
Yeah, so I agree, that'sanother way that we're
increasing the level ofawareness in the community and
we try to interview local peoplethat are making a difference
here in Northeast Florida,people that are making this a
(17:38):
more sustainable place to live.
And you know, climate changecan be scary to think about,
even depressing, as we weretalking about before.
Nobody wants to be stuck in agloomy place and I think for me,
it's really important to knowthat we can do something and,
(17:58):
speaking with people in ourcommunity that are already
making a difference, that givesme hope and motivates me to do
more, and I'm hoping that it hasthe same effect on other people
as well.
We've had a few events recentlyin the community.
Can you talk about that?
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Yeah, so most recently, on May 18th, we hosted
a Lit Chat with theJacksonville Public Library
Assistant.
We brought Jeff Goodall, authorof the Heat Will Kill you First
, to participate in this LitChat and it was quite a great
turnout.
That room was pretty full andpretty lively.
Um, so that was, uh, that was are-convent in the community
(18:30):
that was really successful.
Um, would you like to talkabout the food policy, urban
agriculture a bit?
Speaker 1 (18:37):
yeah, sure.
So, um, as I mentioned before,we want to coordinate with other
groups that have programs thatare already going on where it
makes sense.
So one example of that there isa group in town called the
Duval County Food Policy Council, and one of the initiatives
that they're working on is urbanagriculture, and there
(18:59):
definitely is an overlap.
This group mostly focuses onfood security and making sure
that there is equitable accessto clean and healthy food, which
actually is not the case rightnow.
But there certainly is anoverlap between that and climate
, right?
So agriculture, depending onwhere you look, is responsible
for 16 to 20 percent of carbonemissions.
(19:21):
So certainly how we grow, how weproduce, how we transport our
food makes a big impact.
So the more we can do thatlocally, we are absolutely
reducing emissions.
Reducing food waste alsoreduces emissions susceptible to
(19:46):
drought, more susceptible toextreme weather events, and it's
always the people that are mostvulnerable to begin with that
will be impacted by that.
So there certainly are manyareas of intersection between
climate change and food policy.
So the Climate Coalition isworking with the Food Policy
Council in developing theirurban agriculture strategy.
Another thing that we havegoing is the Renew Jax campaign.
You want to talk about that,nathaniel.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Another thing that we have going is the RenewJax
campaign.
You want to talk about that,nathaniel?
Yeah, so the RenewJax campaign,which has been a fun campaign
to get involved in myself, butit focuses on urging our local
utility to adopt 100% renewableenergy by or before 2050.
You know we're trying to.
You know, take action right nowto convince their leaders that
(20:30):
renewable energy is the futureand that the earlier that we
adopt this, the better off we'regoing to be as well.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
One of our partner organizations, the Sierra Club,
is actually leading the RenewJaxcampaign.
But we, the JacksonvilleClimate Coalition has signed on
as a supporter and we have had afew of our members go out to
the monthly JA board meetings.
But we, the JacksonvilleClimate Coalition, has signed on
as a supporter and we have hada few of our members go out to
the monthly JA board meetingsand speak in support of moving
to 100% renewable energy, so itwas a lot of fun to see you
(20:58):
there last time, Nathaniel.
We've had a few other speakersas well, and that's another
example of a learningopportunity.
A lot of our members have neverdone anything like that before,
but you know, if you havequestions, we help you through
it.
It's three minutes that you getjust to speak before the board.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
No, it's definitely an aspect of becoming, you know,
an active participant in onecivic community.
You're taking advantage of allopportunities that you have to
voice your opinion to thedecision makers.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
So some of the questions, or one of the main
questions that I get from peoplethat are looking to get more
involved is what can I do?
So we've got, in addition tojust becoming a volunteer in
general and you know, signing upon our website and saying, hey,
I'd like to do more.
If you do that, that's awesome.
I will personally give you acall back and we'll talk about
what you're interested, howyou're interested in helping and
(21:46):
you know where, where you mightfit.
But in addition to that, wealso have kind of three working
groups that were were that havedifferent focus areas right now.
So one of those is advocacy,which, nathaniel, you are
leading.
Another group that we have iscommunity engagement.
So there we are looking atsetting up various climate
(22:07):
conversations throughout thecommunity and developing a
speakers bureau, so wherespeakers can go out and give
presentations.
If you would like apresentation to to your
community, be that be that yourchurch group, your school, any
other type of community groupthat you have we would have a
(22:28):
bureau of speakers to be able togo out and talk about climate
change.
And we also have book talksthat we're scheduling, which
we'll talk about in a second.
And the last group that where wereally need help is just
communications in general.
So help with our website ornewsletter, social media If
you're a really techie person,if you're really into marketing
and you have some time that youcan devote, we could certainly
use help on that.
(22:48):
In that regard, we have somespecific upcoming events.
We will be doing book talks thefourth Thursday of the month
and it's kind of like a bookclub, but we want to keep it
open.
So if you haven't read the book, it's kind of okay, we'll still
talk about it.
You can get the cliff notesfrom the group and I guess
that's also a generational thing.
Probably you guys have sparknotes or maybe just a chat GPT I
don't know.
Nathaniel, what do you guys usethese days?
Speaker 2 (23:10):
I don't use spark notes that much, but I do like
finding a good website that hasa summary of things.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Okay, so we can provide that service.
The most important thing isthat we're getting together to
talk about a specificclimate-related topic.
This is all virtual.
In the month of June, we'll becovering Saving Us, which is a
great book by Dr CatherineHayhom, and it touches on a lot
of the climate communicationsissues that we spoke about
earlier in our conversation.
(23:35):
And how can you get involved?
Anybody that's listening, youcan volunteer on our website and
you can also sign up for ournewsletter.
You can participate in our booktalks.
We have also upcoming greendrinks, so once a month the
dates are still TBD we'reworking this out, but once a
month we will be having a greendrink networking series
(23:57):
throughout the community.
Thank you so much, nathaniel.
It's been great to work withyou on the Climate Coalition and
I really appreciate you comingon the podcast.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Yeah, florianne, thanks for having me so much.
I really appreciate it and Ilook forward to seeing you next
time.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Thank you, take care.
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