Supporter,
Like many Floridians today, I am picking up debris.
Folks like me along the Gulf Coast are waiting for the record-breaking storm surges to clear, to go home after evacuation (if there are homes to go to), for power to come back on – this is the eerie wait for safety to return after the climate crisis directly enters our lives.
The forecasters say Hurricane Idalia “only” hit our coast with 125 MPH winds. It was enough to destroy thousands of homes, and it will not be the last time our state will see rapidly developing storms wreak havoc from wind, fallen trees, and the dangerous depths of knee-deep water and mud everywhere. Just everywhere.
This is climate change in action, scientifically proven to be intensified by warming temperatures and the unmatched greed and public manipulation of the fossil fuel industry. As I experience it firsthand, I find myself asking two questions: How many more times will we have to pack up everything we can carry to leave at a moment's notice? And when the climate crisis announces itself like this, how will we say we acted on it?
There is a solution: Today you can directly support the Sierra Club Florida Chapter and our partner, The Smile Trust, to help restore our communities and keep our work going to make our environments safer, stronger, and more sustainable.
Sierra Club Florida is always here to support people, our lands, and our wildlife. We continue to follow the leadership of those most impacted as we support disaster resilience and recovery networks across the state, including Smile Trust. Right now, Smile Trust is ensuring supplies and resources are getting to the people that need them most.
Your gift today also supports our bigger fights against politicians, policymakers, and the courts to make way for a clean energy future. The health of Florida's economy, water resources, and our quality of life will decline without reversing climate change on a larger scale and conserving essential ecosystems. We're working hard in the long run, too.
Please support us and the Smile Trust today. We are at our best when we come together and support one another in these moments, not allowing the news cycle to move us on too quickly or forget real people right now with families and jobs and normal lives who are still facing challenges.
Thank you,
Emily Gorman
Director, Sierra Club Florida Chapter | 
