Can Vice Mayor Kristin Jacobs Save Broward From Climate Change?

Broward Vice Mayor Kristin Jacobs, who last year tried banning the sale of bongs, is the newest member of the Intergovernmental Coastal Oceans Task Force, a group of lawmakers and eco-experts appointed to protect us from the forthcoming watery woe of climate change.

The group is said to represent the "philosophy of Southeast Florida Climate Change Task Force," which recently issued a monster report on ways to stave off rising oceans. Among the suggestions was identifying zoos at which we can stash "animals under imminent threat of local expiration due to sea-level rise."

Jacobs and the rest of the new task force have their work cut out for them.

Broward, Palm Beach, Miami-Dade, and Monroe are some of the areas most prone in the continental United States when it comes to rising sea levels, and slightly more saltwater could cost billions in property damage and lost revenue down the line.

This isn't some distant possibility. It seems quiet likely that Broward will experience
some sort of rise in sea level within the new few decades.

By 2040, according to the Broward County Natural Resources and Planning Management Division, slivers of Fort Lauderdale will be partially flooded due to higher seas.

Meanwhile, the Southeast Florida Climate Compact was a bit more grim and suggested that we should be prepping for a one-foot rise in ocean levels between 2040 and 2070. Fred Bloetscher, an engineering professor at Florida Atlantic University, then warned that a three-foot increase would permanently flood large swathes of western Broward.

Needless to say, Broward and its neighbors are in sore need of strategies that can be implemented quickly to mitigate the potential of getting drenched. Jacobs has been active in similar efforts and last year was appointed to the White House's National Ocean Council.

The newly created board includes members from federal and state agencies, as well as three elected officials from each county. Here's hoping they get along.