Cynthia Barnett Comments on How to Cultivate Community Support for Confronting Climate Change
Cynthia Barnett, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications senior Journalism lecturer and director of climate and environment reporting initiatives, is the author of “Safe Home, Safe Harbor: Confronting Climate Change Through Community” published on theinvadingsea.com.
The commentary is based on her presentation at the Alachua County Climate Summit held in Gainesville, Florida, on Nov. 17.
According to Barnett, “To be a Floridian, and to be an Alachua County citizen, is to hold profoundly different realities. One moment you swoon at the black-edged wings of a swallow-tailed kite in the most luminous light you’ve ever seen. The next moment you wonder when you’ll be called upon to take a stand for more than the birds and the water, against injustices that may range from a talented climate colleague who has been laid off … to a roundup of immigrant families.”
She offers three lessons based on the County’s history that will help make Alachua County a safe home and a safe harbor in the face of climate change. First, expect the unexpected – “certainty about climate change is the uncertainty it will bring.” Second, focus on the center of the community to build human connections to help solve climate problems together. And third, remember that “the past cries out for us to choose the right side of history.”
“As you conceptualize climate action, keep the right side of history at the forefront. The climate-conscious strategies in the county and city’s plans take vulnerable people into account. They take vulnerable infrastructure into account. They take vulnerable ecosystems into account, with a call to protect a third of our land and water by 2030,” Barnett writes. “With your help, these strategies can cultivate the safe home and safe harbor that drew many of us here, keep many of us here, and prepare us and our new neighbors for the stormy times we will face as a community.”
Posted: December 11, 2024
Category: College News, Environmental News
Tagged as: Alachua County, Climate change, Cynthia Barnett, Journalism
