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Home and High Water FAU’s New Science Documentary Podcast on Coastal Resilience Research in South Florida
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rom a flooded neighborhood street in urban South Florida to Georgia’s salt marshes, FAU’s Center for Environmental Studies (CES) new podcast dives into research that explores how people live, adapt and thrive in a changing climate. CES, led by director Colin Polsky, Ph.D., is a state university research center with a mission to conduct research, education and community engagement activities related to coastal resilience, wetlands ecology and energy sustainability, including informing community-wide strategies for adapting to social and environmental changes. It’s these stories about how people are coping with climate in their daily lives, the associated research and how that research is done that are highlighted in the new podcast. Titled Home and High Water, the podcast name is a nod to the increasing problem of sea-level rise and flooding in South Florida, said Polsky, a professor of geosciences in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science.
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“We have all this research underway and it struck me that it’s of some public interest, but it’s hard to find it, or engage with it, based on scientific publications or conference presentations,” Polsky said. “We’re trying to provide a place where we make bite-sized presentations of what we’re doing on the research side.” In the first two episodes, for instance, listeners learn about a 2019 study involving the Estates of Fort Lauderdale community in Dania Beach by Polsky and a graduate student. The researchers wanted to gauge both the vulnerability and resilience of this community to events such as flooding, severe wind and extreme heat. They surveyed 100 households questions each, ranging from their knowledge of the community’s emergency preparedness to seawall installation projects. Throughout the episodes, listeners can hear from the researchers themselves about how the work was done, to demystify that process, as well as from the people surveyed who share their personal experiences, and other experts involved in the study. Ultimately, the podcast addresses “what it means for one community, one neighborhood, facing a changing climate,” said Cameron Peters, producer of the new podcast.
