Do you know how much taxpayer money is being spent to fight climate change? In the next decade, our elected leaders could be spending billions.
This time of year, in the Miami Beach area, is known as king tide season. It’s a time when tides wash to record levels.
Residents like Chris Johnson wonder why the salty seas seem to keep rising.
"It makes you think, is global warming real?” Johnson says. “Or is it just the moon that pulls the tide up?”
Many people seem to pose the same question, and if you ask local leaders, they all agree climate is changing.
"Something is going on that wasn't going on 40 to 50 years ago,” says Jimmy Morales, a Miami Beach city manager.
Most leaders in the area say there’s no questioning climate change.
"Places that used to be above water are now below water,” Morales says. “Islands that are disappearing, you see it, it's there.”
Morales is attending the annual Global Action Climate Summit, where policy makers discuss ways to curb the consequences that come with shrinking shorelines.
Over 10 years, the plan is to invest up to a $1 billion to raise roads and install more pumps, in order to prevent the Atlantic from swallowing the city. It’s an issue he says everyone should care about.
"Don't think, 'Well, I don't live in a coastal town, it doesn't matter.’ It does matter,” Morales says. “The only way to really make a change and a difference is to throw your vote in a box and hope that enough people agree with you.”
