ABSTRACT
In 2014, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) contained within its 5th Assessment Report four climate futures, all of which were considered possible depending on how much greenhouse gases are emitted in the years to come. The four scenarios were called Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) and the RCPs contained projections regarding worldwide global warming, sea level rise, and other effects. In 2014, some 26 years after the creation of the IPCC, climate was finally on the minds of most urban planners, but the crisis still was not part of the dialogue in Florida. Those Seven50 presentations to the Kiwanis Club were, astoundingly, the first time that many in the audience had ever heard of climate change. To combat flooding, Key West has invested in one-way valves on storm drains to block seawaters from surging on to city streets and prevent sunny day flooding like in Miami Beach.
