TAMPA, Fla. — The Bay Area and the Netherlands are teaming up to raise awareness on climate change.
- Tampa working with Netherlands on climate change
- Tampa Chief of Staff John Bennett toured Netherlands to get ideas
- Tampa to develop action plan with ideas
Tampa Chief of Staff John Bennett was invited to the Netherlands by Dutch Leaders to learn how their country deals with climate change.
"When you're riding around the country, it looks like any other country, but when you know what you're looking at, you're like 'wow that's a neat project," Bennett said.
The Netherlands is very vulnerable to floods and storm surge. Their answer includes using natural resources as a defense. Something Bennett agrees with.
"Lets use nature as much as possible instead of putting more infrastructure in place," Bennett said.
In the Netherlands, each project served dual purposes — from the rooftop gardens to the sand dune that's used as a walking trail, while defending the area from storm surge. Bennett said it's all about sustainability, resiliency, and education.
"Every time I saw a project, I saw a community billboard that was communicating what that project actually did," Bennett said.
The City of Tampa will now consider those ideas as leaders evaluate the threats and vulnerabilities in the Bay Area.
Currently, Tampa is working on a vulnerability study with the Rockefeller Resilient Cities Catalyst Program. Once all the data is in, Bennett said the city can work on an action plan.
Their hope is to develop an action plan to keep the Bay Area thriving for generations to come.
Leaders from Houston, New Orleans, and South Florida also spent the week in the Netherlands.