Dozens of concerned Floridians filled the cramped back room of Ybor City's Blind Tiger Cafe Thursday evening for a discussion panel on the politics and science behind climate change in the United States and the world.
The event, presented by voter mobilization group For Florida’s Future, was led by a panel of experts, including Susan Glickman, the Florida director for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy Action Fund; David Hastings, a chemist and climate change scientist employed as a professor at Eckerd College; and Tony Selvaggio, founder of E-smart Recycling, a company that uses revenue from recycled electronics to build computer labs for low-income youth.
“The heavy lifting on this issue in some ways is going to be borne on to this generation… we want to give people some kind of understanding of the science," said Glickman prior to the proceedings. "We want to talk about solutions and policy implications — you know, what’s holding us back… there’s a lot of science out there and you still have to ask yourself why we’re not taking action.”
When questioned about the validity of claims made by politicians about the dangers of sustainable energy practices — including job loss, energy bill spikes, and tax dollars funneled into other countries emission reduction efforts — Glickman called them scare tactics to protect political and financial interests.
“They’re false," she said. "First off, there’s been a number of analyses by reputable organizations that [claim] if we do it the right way, we can meet our greenhouse gas emissions with very modest costs and in some cases even save money.”
“Generally speaking, politicians care about two things: they care about money and they care about votes. And at the end of the day, votes speak louder even than money… we must get people voting."
She added that gestures such as the recent, overwhelming passage of Amendment 4 "sends a powerful message that Florida Voters want access to solar.”
When the panel began, Melissa Baldwin, Tampa Bay Regional Press Secretary and representative of For Florida’s Future, served as moderator. Questions covered a variety of topics relating to climate change with a focus on politics and policy. The panelists were in agreement that the election of a candidate such as Donald Trump, who has repeatedly denounced the concept of climate change, would be catastrophic to clean energy, and voiced hope for the policies championed by Secretary Clinton.
David Hasting felt that the U.S. was moving forward in terms of recognizing and acting on climate change. He offered a scientist's perspective on the matter and the difference between observing changes in daily weather and the more long-term observations of climate:
"What we care about are long-term trends, so something that happens over five to ten years… right now, we’re seeing these remarkable events, these thousand-year floods back to back," he said. "The scientific community can now attribute these events to human-induced climate change."
Recycling was another hot topic of the night; Tony Selvaggio shed light on the dangers of discarded electronics and batteries, known as e-waste, calling it the fastest-growing category of refuse in the country and saying it's now accounting for as much as 80% of the nation's toxic waste. He urged consumers to dispose of their e-waste responsibly by finding ways in their community to recycle or dispose of their unwanted or outdated devices.
During the Q&A session, audience members voiced curiosity on a number of topics: how they could recycle more effectively; issues concerning water sustainability; and the effectiveness of third-party candidates such as the Green Party's Jill Stein (short answer: a vote for Stein is a vote for the GOP).
Finally, the panel closed with a musical performance by Lanny "Earthman" Smith of Float the Vote, an organization focused on educating voters on climate change. Earthman performed a soulful rendition of "Earthman Blues" in a large, spherical earth suit.
The evening's message can be appropriately summed up in a tagline used by the American Lung Association, said Glickman:
“When we can’t breathe, nothing else matters.”
Climate Week will conclude with Float the Vote’s waterside flotilla event protest taking place Saturday morning at 10 a.m. on the Riverwalk next to the Tampa Convention Center.
This article appears in Sep 15-22, 2016.