Together with environmental activists in Alachua County, Bob Tancig hopes for a better future through local politics in the face of global climate change.
“It’s about the children alive today, the future generations,” he said.
Following the August 20 primary, local candidates began campaigning in November with a focus on environmental policy as the City of Gainesville and Alachua County jointly develop strategies for climate action. The county’s recently completed Climate Vulnerability Assessment will serve as a blueprint for climate-related goals as voters develop a stance on solutions tailored to local needs.
The assessment, completed in July, analyzed global warming from a local perspective, detailing the threats posed by heat waves, heavy rainfall and sea level rise. It concluded that extreme weather and lower water quality, coupled with strained food supplies and a declining economy, could affect the country as a result.
As a Gainesville resident, pasta maker Tancig of Vine Sourdough Bakery is looking for a response to the climate crisis that meets the needs of the city.
Implementing adaptive climate strategies will be a key consideration in his voting decision as the threat of global warming becomes more pressing. While national and international policies offer a path to global cooperation, he said, the bulk of action takes place at the local level.
The city and county intend to collect public input on their respective climate action measures by the end of 2024. This process is recommended by the Joint Committee on Water and Climate Policy and the Citizens’ Advisory Council on Climate Protection.
“Resilience of the district” during the election season
A few days after the general election, the county will hold a summit on November 16 to gather public opinion on a draft climate action plan, a measure recommended by local candidates running for re-election.
Alachua County Commissioner Anna Prizzia will run for her Third District seat in the November general election. Her focus is on ensuring water quality and land protection, goals she plans to pursue as a current member of the Joint Committee on Water and Climate Policy.
The board, comprised of three county and three city councillors and one member from a remote community, advises the local government on cross-cutting environmental priorities for the city and county.
Regardless of the election season, developing a climate action plan involving the community and science remains a top priority for the county, Prizzia said.
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“The climate problem is here to stay, and it’s a county priority to make sure we have good mitigation and adaptation strategies in place … regardless of who’s in office,” she said. “Politics have really stayed out of it.”
Mary Alford, county commissioner and Alachua County Board member, shared a similar sentiment. In her bid to be re-elected as District 1 representative, Alford said her campaign will maintain carbon neutrality through tree planting and sustainable infrastructure.
When the public came into contact with discussions on climate action plans this fall, she emphasized the need for “county resilience” in the face of the unpredictable impacts of climate change.
“We take the economic needs and the equity needs of our county very seriously and all of those things are tied to our resilience,” she said.
Alford said her priorities are addressing the potential increase in climate migration to North Central Florida as citizens flee rising sea levels on the coast. According to the county’s climate vulnerability assessment, Alachua County’s population could grow by 8% by the end of the century due to climate migrants alone, exacerbating concerns about housing and food supplies.
Prizzia and Alford’s Republican challengers, Jenn Garrett and Lizabeth Doebler, respectively, did not respond in time for publication.
Mitigation and adaptation of the urban environment
Dan Zhu, Gainesville’s climate change officer, said the city’s plan will focus on mitigating existing climate-related challenges and adapting to future risks.
The strategy is based on a $24.6 million grant awarded in July by the Federal Transit Administration to develop sustainable infrastructure, including replacing diesel buses in the Regional Transit System with hybrid electric buses.
The city will also continue to pursue its stated goals of producing zero waste by 2040 and zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045. Zhu said these goals would be incorporated into the city’s future climate change policy.
“While the plan includes some initiatives that are already underway, all measures will be evaluated in both the short and long term after the plan is adopted to ensure their effectiveness and adaptability,” Zhu wrote through a city spokesperson.
Voters of the “urban jungle” express their opinions
Armed with a classified ad in the newspaper and an interest in local environmental policy, Gainesville-based scientist James Fulton began his involvement with the Citizen Climate Advisory Committee in 2020.
The committee members appointed by the Joint Committee on Water and Climate Policy provide guidance to the Community on the environmental policies of cities and counties, including the development of climate action plans.
Before his three-year term on the committee ends on Aug. 30, Fulton advised on pressing city and county issues, including energy, recycling, water use and climate change, but he said conscious infrastructure development should be a priority for local candidates during election season.
“One of the reasons I love Gainesville so much is because we’re known as an urban jungle,” he said. “We want to make sure that development is smart and that we go about expanding the city in a way that makes the city more efficient.”
And Tancig combines his duties as a pasta chef with another responsibility: He is campaign director for the Gainesville chapter of the Climate Reality Project, a global nonprofit founded by former Vice President Al Gore.
The organization focuses on several “areas of impact,” which Tancig said include expanding renewable energy, carbon-free transportation, green communities, environmental justice and public health.
“Our task is to raise awareness in society about the impacts of climate change,” said Tancig. “Our challenge is to create the political will to drive either individual action or public action.”
Contact Rylan DiGiacomo-Rapp at [email protected]. Follow her on X @rylan_digirapp.
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Rylan DiGiacomo-Rapp is a third-year journalism and environmental studies student and city editor at The Alligator. Outside of the newsroom, she can usually be found at local music venues.
