Resilience Matters Transformative Thinking in a Year of Crisis Introduction by Laurie Mazur ABOUT THE URBAN RESILIENCE PROJECT Over the last three decades, Island Press has published seminal works on resilience, ecosystems, and sustainable urban design. As our cities confront turbulent times, much depends on how resilience is defined and implemented. Seeing an opportunity to shape that outcome, Island Press launched the Urban Resilience Project in 2013, with the support of The JPB Foundation and The Kresge Foundation. The project’s goal is to advance a holistic, transformative approach to thinking and action on urban resilience in the era of climate change, an approach grounded in a commitment to sustainability and equity. We bring together leading thinkers with a broad range of expertise to generate and cross pollinate ideas. And we share those ideas in a variety of media— books, articles, interviews, webinars, podcasts, and educational courses. For more information, and to find out how you can get involved, visit www.islandpress.org/URP ABOUT THE KRESGE FOUNDATION and its environment program The Kresge Foundation is a $3.5 billion private, national foundation that works to expand opportunities in America’s cities through grant making and investing in arts and culture, education, environment, health, human services, and community development in Detroit. Its Environment Program helps communities build environmental, economic, and social resilience in the face of climate change. For Kresge, resilience is more than just withstanding stresses—it also includes the capacity to prosper under a wide range of climate-influenced circumstances. In the long term, resilience is possible only if society reduces greenhouse gas emissions and avoids the worst impacts of climate change. So, strengthening a community’s resilience requires efforts to: • Reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change; • Plan for the changes that already are under way or anticipated; • Foster social cohesion and inclusion. As a foundation committed to creating opportunity for low-income people and communities, Kresge is particularly concerned with the effect climate change has on people with limited economic resources. It works to engage people from historically underrepresented groups in efforts to build resilient communities and plan for climate change. ABOUT THE JPB FOUNDATION AND ITS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAM The JPB Foundation’s mission is to advance opportunity in the United States through transformational initiatives that empower those living in poverty, enrich and sustain our environment, and enable pioneering medical research. The JPB Environment Program’s goal is to enable healthy and resilient communities by enriching and supporting the environment because JPB believes it measurably impacts the well being of our human and natural systems. All of JPB's Environment grant making is focused in low-income communities and underserved communities of color. ABOUT ISLAND PRESS Since 1984, the nonprofit organization Island Press has been stimulating, shaping, and communicating ideas that are essential for solving environ- mental problems worldwide. With more than 1,000 titles in print and some 30 new releases each year, we are the nation’s leading publisher on environmental issues. We identify innovative thinkers and emerging trends in the environmental field. We work with world-renowned experts and authors to develop cross-disciplinary solutions to environmental challenges. Island Press designs and executes educational campaigns in conjunc- tion with our authors to communicate their critical messages in print, in person, and online using the latest technologies, innovative programs, and the media. Our goal is to reach targeted audiences—scientists, policymak- ers, environmental advocates, urban planners, the media, and concerned citizens—with information that can be used to create the framework for long-term ecological health and human well-being. Island Press gratefully acknowledges the support of The JPB Founda- tion and The Kresge Foundation, without whose partnership this journal would not be possible. Resilience Matters Transformative Thinking in a Year of Crisis Introduction by Laurie Mazur | Washington | Covelo | London Copyright © 2018 Island Press All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this e-book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher: Island Press, 2000 M Street, NW, Suite 650, Washington, DC 20036 Island Press is a trademark of The Center for Resource Economics. Keywords: resilience, sustainability, economic justice, social justice, environmental justice, equality, urban resilience, climate change, environment, urban design, urban development, sustainable development, city planning, urban planning, infrastructure, nature, cities, agriculture, energy, coal, climate science, environmental science, community development, food systems, Donald Trump, Hurricane Harvey, Superstorm Sandy, bike lanes, automobiles, cars, street planning, racial justice, Clean Power Plan, conservation, solar power, green infrastructure, stormwater infrastructure, war on science, flooding, hurricanes, wildfires, social cost of carbon, Clean Water Rule, urban gardening, urban agriculture, water systems, affordable health care, public health, water shutoffs, labor, WaterSense, New Urbanism, urban diary, urban parks, transportation, ecological resilience, anti-racism, just transition, climate justice, alternative energy, renewable energy, energy democracy, clean energy, solar energy Designed by Kyler Geoffroy using Adobe® InDesign.® Cover design by Maureen Gately Cover image credit: Abstract 3D rendering by polesnoy, courtesy of Alamy.com ISBN: 978-1-61091-968-5 Contents INTRODUCTION A Year of Crisis and Resistance 2 Laurie Mazur SECTION I: CLIMATE CHANGE AND ADapTATION Trump is Wrong About Climate Change, and Jobs Too 5 Laurie Mazur Scientists Must Earn and Maintain the Public’s Trust 7 Ann Kinzig South Florida’s Compact is a Model for Local Climate Solutions 9 John Dos Passos Coggin Interdependence and Its Discontents 12 Shade Shutters and Laurie Mazur President Trump’s Climate Inaction Sells the Future Short 16 Keith Kozloff SECTION II: HEALTH, FOOD, AND WATER Fight the Attempt to Kill the Clean Water Rule 19 Rebecca Wodder Milwaukee is Showing How Urban Gardening Can Heal a City 21 Laurie Mazur Water Systems Are in Crisis. How Can Funders Help? 28 Laurie Mazur viii • Contents Climate Change Raises the Stakes for Affordable Health Care Coverage 31 Dr. Richard Allen Williams and Dr. Elena Rios Safe, Affordable Water for All—It’s Not a Pipe Dream 33 Lila Cabbil, Steve Burrington and Diana Toledo Think Immigrants Are Taking Our Jobs? Try Picking Strawberries for a Day 35 Michael Carolan Trump Cutting the EPA WaterSense Program Makes No Sense at All 39 Mary Ann Dickinson SECTION III: URBAN DEVELOPMENT New Urbanism Isn’t Dead— But Thanks to Climate Change, It’s Evolving 42 Laurie Mazur How to Turn Neighborhoods Into Hubs of Resilience 45 Taj James and Rosa Gonzáles To Prevent Disaster, Rethink Development 50 Ed Thomas and Laurie Mazur Urban Planning Can’t Happen Without Black People—Yet It Does 53 Charles D. Ellison Building Resilience? There’s a Standard for That 56 Laurie Mazur With an “Urban Diary,” Everyone’s a City Planner 59 Charles R. Wolfe Parks for (All) the People 62 Laurie Mazur SECTION IV: INFRASTRUCTURE Resilient Infrastructure Can Help Us Adapt to a Warmer World 66 Emil Frankel Contents • ix Rampant Wildfires Will Affect Our Drinking Water and Infrastructure 68 Edward Struzik Climate Denial Puts Infrastructure At Risk 70 Cathleen Kelly Water-Smart Green Infrastructure: The Private Sector Steps Up 72 Katharine Burgess Trumping the Transportation Progress Our Cities Need 75 Linda Bailey What JFK Fliers Owe Jamaica Bay Wildlife 77 Eric W. Sanderson and John R. Waldman Trump’s Executive Order Puts Infrastructure and Taxpayers at Risk 80 Cathleen Kelly The Effective Management Our Urban Parks Need 83 Douglas Blonsky SECTION V: ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE What Does Environmental Justice Organizing Look Like in the Time of Trump 87 Laurie Mazur The Climate Change Debate: Black People Are Being Left Out and that Can Be Deadly 92 Charles D. Ellison Diversity is Not Enough— and Done Alone, It Can Be Counterproductive 96 Jacqueline Patterson Trump Can’t Stop the Transition From a Fossil Fuel Economy to a Greener, Fairer Future 101 Samantha Harvey Reflections on Houston in a Time of Contradiction 104 Samantha Harvey x • Contents SECTION VI: ENERGY Championing Alternative Energy Systems in the Trump Era 111 Laurie Mazur Energy and Climate Change Are Civil Rights Issues 118 Charles Fanniel Solar Power with Storage for All? Philanthropy Can Help Make It Happen 122 Lewis Milford and Rob Sanders Getting Energy Efficiency to the People Who Need It Most 125 Laurie Mazur Cities’ Path to 100% Clean, Renewable Energy 128 Laurie Mazur Author Biographies 131 INTRODUCTION A Year of Crisis and Resistance Laurie Mazur hese are trying times for those who care about equity, sustainability Tand climate change—the issues that will shape our common future. In 2017, we saw the ascension of a US presidential administration that denies the reality of climate change, emboldens hate groups, and borrows from the future to bestow massive tax breaks on the wealthiest people and corporations. Many of us watched in horror as police turned water cannons on peaceful protesters at Standing