Drowning City to Host G7 Summit, but "Climate Change Will Not Be on the Agenda"

Nobody should be surprised that President Donald Trump selected his South Florida golf resort to host the G7 summit. Ever since this year's summit wrapped up in France, he's been pushing the Trump National Doral Miami as a venue and dismissed allegations of Emoluments Clause violations.

But when acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney took the lectern yesterday for a news conference, he revealed that when seven leaders of some of the world's largest economies meet next summer, "climate change will not be on the agenda."

Miami is in a race against time to avoid becoming the next Atlantis. The seas here are rising faster than most other parts of the world due to the ocean currents and Miami's geographic coordinates. South Florida is built mostly on porous limestone, which allows water to seep through the city's foundation like Swiss cheese. The heating of the ocean and melting of the ice caps is an imminent threat to South Florida, and that's aside from the fact that Atlantic hurricanes will grow larger, intensify faster, and dump more rain on the Sunshine State.

Trump's Doral resort is already located in a vulnerable low-lying area susceptible to flooding, and it will eventually be underwater when the sea rises six feet, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The most recent report from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that, without systemic change, oceans will rise faster than humans can adapt.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the new Democratic presidential frontrunner according to recent polls, took to Twitter this morning to critique the Trump administration's failure to put climate change on the agenda. Warren has unveiled several detailed climate change plans, including one concerning environmental justice.

Miami will be underwater if world leaders don’t take action on climate change. This is an existential crisis and it’s outrageous that it won't even be on the agenda of next year’s G-7 summit. We need to make big, structural change now to fight this crisis before it's too late. https://t.co/AdCY3GdcIz

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) October 18, 2019

The G7 summit — or G8 summit if Trump invites Russia, an idea he has toyed with — takes place annually in the summer. As any Miamian knows, that's during hurricane season. It's also the time of the year when the scorching sun burns with the most intensity. According to NOAA, this past June was the hottest month on record for the planet until July took the crown, marking the 416th month with above-average global temperatures. Extreme heat events in South Florida will only increase due to climate change.

Miamians know that climate change is real and that it will affect their everyday ways of living. A majority of locals understand climate change is caused by human activity, according to Yale University's Climate Change Communication program. The last king tide that flooded Miami 14 inches above NOAA's predicted number offers a sneak peek of what's to come. Miami Beach declared a climate change emergency just this week, joining New York City, San Francisco, and Austin. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom, France, and Canada — all members of the group of seven set to attend next year's summit — have also declared climate emergencies.