“It gave me the resources to meet the people I need to meet outside the School of the Environment, and it gave me the confidence, academically, to feel like I was capable of taking those positions,” Shenefelt said. “The most meaningful part was becoming president of genCLEO, because that is where I achieved the most hands-on environmental policy work.”
“Duke Energy gets 90% of its electricity from burning gas or coal,” Maguire said. “They are an extremely dirty and polluting utility, and they essentially get to do that polluting for free because it’s the young people today that are going to deal with a warmer environment and stronger storms and more flooding in the decades to come.”
“I see it as a freedom issue,” said Raymer Maguire, Director of Campaigns and Policy at The CLEO Institute, a Miami-based organization focused on climate education and advocacy. “Every year, Florida is getting a little less free.” SB 180 is Florida’s most expansive preemption law, but it is far from the only one. In the past decade, state lawmakers have passed a spate of prohibitions limiting local control over issues such as firearms, LGBTQ issues and, increasingly, environment and climate regulation.
Because some teachers are hesitant to discuss climate change in class because of the possibility of community backlash, "some schools are turning to organizations like the [CLEO] Institute in Florida. This organization trains teachers, provides them with educational resources, and raises students' awareness of the climate crisis."
“ While Resilient Florida is necessary, it's not sufficient,” said Yoca Arditi-Rocha, CEO of The CLEO Institute, a nonpartisan, climate-focused nonprofit. Local governments are bringing forward projects to protect critical assets like main roads, hospitals and water treatment facilities. “The state is not keeping pace with the demand,” Arditi-Rocha said.
Protecting Americans' lives from hurricanes or wildfires or extreme heat is not a partisan issue. Every family and every community can benefit from accurate forecasts.
Yoca Arditi-Rocha, CEO of The CLEO Institute, described the program as important but not enough, saying, "The state is not keeping pace with the demand."
“In 2023, JEA claimed a new methane gas plant was the most affordable option for Jacksonville’s energy needs. Just two years later, projected costs have increased 139%, and an independent analysis found the project could cost customers an additional $2.5 billion over its lifetime, plus roughly $1 billion in health impacts from pollution,” said Susan Glickman, vice president of Policy and Partnerships at The CLEO Institute.
The initiative includes 10 heat and hurricane preparedness workshops hosted by The CLEO Institute and community distribution events focused on reaching neighborhoods at-risk during hurricane season.
“We keep mopping the floor of this overflowing bathtub,” Yoca Arditi-Rocha, CEO of The CLEO Institute, said, “and we're cleaning it with taxpayers' dollars.” She’d like to see state legislators turn off the tap.
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