Mayors, scientists join Spotlight Tampa Bay’s climate change panel

Florida temperatures continue to climb. Its waters keep rising and warming. The storms headed here promise to grow stronger.

Climate change is the defining challenge for Florida and the Tampa Bay region for this generation and beyond. What, if anything, are we doing to brace for it?

Policymakers, scientists and the mayors of Tampa Bay’s two largest cities converge to discuss climate change on Tuesday, May 21, in the third installment of Spotlight Tampa Bay, a series of community conversations hosted by the Tampa Bay Times.

Held at The Palladium in downtown St. Petersburg, the 5 p.m. event explores how rising seas are flooding our low-lying coastal communities, ecosystems are pushed to the brink and extreme weather is swamping our streets, pipes and collapsing insurance market. Is there any hope in battling this seemingly existential threat?

“The impacts of climate change across our region may be among the most pressing matters facing our community,” said Mark Katches, editor and vice president of the Times. “We are glad to be convening such an exceptional panel for this important conversation.”

The panelists are:

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor

After joining the Tampa Police Department in 1984, Castor steadily rose through the ranks. From 2009 to 2015, she served as police chief. In 2019, she defeated five other candidates to become Tampa’s 59th mayor. Her administration established the first sustainability and resilience officer position and Tampa’s first climate action and equity plan, which focuses on reducing carbon emissions while bolstering infrastructure to withstand intensifying weather. She won reelection in 2023 by a wide margin. A lifelong Tampa resident, Castor graduated from Chamberlain High School and the University of Tampa, where she was a basketball and volleyball Hall of Famer.

Gary Mitchum, USF professor of oceanography

A faculty member in the College of Marine Science at the University of South Florida since 1996, Mitchum is now associate dean for research at the college. Before arriving at USF, Mitchum was the director of the University of Hawaii Sea Level Center, where he developed an interest in sea-level rise. He remains especially interested in the study of 20th-century sea-level rise. Mitchum also works on a wide variety of problems in the general area of ocean physics, including ocean eddies, the El Niño phenomenon, internal tides and various types of ocean waves.

Terry Root, senior fellow emerita at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University

Root primarily studies how wild animals and plants are affected by climate change, with a current focus on the possible mass extinction of species with warming. She was a lead author of an assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change, a body of the United Nations, in 2007 when it was co-awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice President Al Gore. She served on the National Audubon Society Board of Directors from 2010 to 2016, and is assistant secretary for the nonprofit.

St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch

After serving 20 years as a Pinellas County commissioner, Welch was sworn in as the 54th mayor of St. Petersburg in January 2022. He’s the city’s first Black mayor. Since he took office, the city’s received more than $30 million in state grants to address flooding and sea-level rise. His administration has launched several major projects and programs that mitigate and protect neighborhoods from climate change while the city’s Office of Sustainability and Resilience has doubled in size. Welch graduated from Lakewood High, USF St. Petersburg and Florida A&M University.

Cara Woods Serra, director of resiliency for the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council

Woods Serra’s role with the council involves supporting the Regional Resiliency Coalition, hazard mitigation planning and resiliency policy. She has a land-use planning background and previously worked on special area plans, long range plans, development review and flood plain management at the local government level.

Moderating the panel will be Max Chesnes, the Times’ climate and environmental reporter. He reports on issues including water quality, climate justice, pollution and wildlife. Prior to working for the Times, Chesnes covered environmental issues for Treasure Coast Newspapers and the USA Today network, writing about Lake Okeechobee, the Indian River Lagoon and Florida’s wondrous Everglades.

The event begins with registration and a social hour, followed by the panel discussion starting at 6 p.m. and ending with 45 minutes for questions.

Presenting sponsor for the event is Suncoast Credit Union. Other sponsors are Duckwall Foundation and Lari and Charlie Johnson.

Tickets are $20, or $10 for students with IDs. A limited number of $50 VIP tickets are available. Proceeds will support the Tampa Bay Times Journalism Fund. If you’d like to purchase tickets, click here.

The Times began hosting Spotlight Tampa Bay last year to foster enlightened conversations between its journalists, community leaders and readers like you on important issues facing the region and state. The first event was held Aug. 16 at The Palladium, focusing on Florida’s housing crisis. A second Spotlight Tampa Bay about Florida’s education battles was held Jan. 30 in downtown Tampa at the Tampa Theatre.