Featured image for “The officer: Julia Nesheiwat”
January 25, 2020

The officer: Julia Nesheiwat

Julia Nesheiwat is Florida’s Chief Resilience Officer  Update: Julia Nesheiwat assumed the position of Florida’s first-ever Chief Resilience Officer in July 2019. Her appointment was announced by Gov. Ron DeSantis in August 2019. In February 2020, Nesheiwat announced she would be leaving the position of CRO to join the Trump administration as Deputy Assistant to the President working on homeland security and resilience.  

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Featured image for “The coordinator: Sean Lahav”
January 25, 2020

The coordinator: Sean Lahav

Sean Lahav is the Resiliency Coordinator for the Northeast Florida Regional Council What does a resiliency coordinator do?   A big focus of my position is to look at resilience from a community perspective. That starts with public awareness.   We work with rotary clubs and other similar groups on the ground to talk about what small-business owners can do to

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Featured image for “The planner: Shane Corbin”
January 25, 2020

The planner: Shane Corbin

Shane Corbin is the City Manager of Atlantic Beach  What in your background prepared you to work in Atlantic Beach?   I was born in Panama City, but I consider Louisville, Kentucky, my hometown. I began my planning career as a land use planner 15 or 20 years ago in Hardin County, Kentucky.   From there, I moved to Louisville and was

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Featured image for “The city’s tree guy: Richard Leon”
January 25, 2020

The city’s tree guy: Richard Leon

Richard Leon is Jacksonville’s Urban Forestry Manager   What is an urban forestry manager? What do you do?  Half the city thinks I’m a tree butcher, the other half thinks I’m a tree hugger.  Basically, I’m responsible for all the trees on city property in Jacksonville. The parks department reaches out to me to inspect their trees and assess if they

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Featured image for “The conversation starter: Lauren Watkins”
January 25, 2020

The conversation starter: Lauren Watkins

Lauren Watkins teaches people how to talk about climate change as the Director of Behavior Change Strategies for Impact By Design You train professionals in climate change communication. Who attends the sessions? Typically they’re for people who are working in institutions like museums and parks, where they’re trying to change audience behaviors, but the techniques we teach, called “strategic framing,”

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Featured image for “The scientist: Adam Rosenblatt”
January 25, 2020

The scientist: Adam Rosenblatt

Adam Rosenblatt is an assistant professor of biology at the University of North Florida  Tell me about the letter you and other scientists at UNF, Jacksonville University and Florida State College at Jacksonville recently wrote to city leaders.   My colleagues and I wrote asking the City Council and Mayor Lenny Curry to prioritize developing a climate action plan. We presented

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