About
SanCap Resilience
On September 28, 2022, Sanibel and Captiva suffered a direct hit from Hurricane Ian. The storm brought Category 5 strength winds of 130 miles per hour and a storm surge up to 12 feet causing significant damage to the region.
In the wake of the hurricane, citizens and local nonprofits came together to form the SanCap Resilience, a citizens-based initiative to protect and strengthen our unique barrier island communities.
Who We Are
SanCap Resilience is a a citizen-led initiative to improve the resilience of our island communities. We are a coalition of community organizations and concerned citizens. We believe that by working together, we can create a safer and more sustainable future.
Our Mission
Lead a community-based initiative to build resilience and protect the vibrancy of our sanctuary islands long into the future.
We are committed to working with government agencies, non-profit organizations, companies, and concerned citizens to achieve our goals.
Join us in our mission to build a more resilient future for Sanibel and Captiva Islands.
Values, Vision & Purpose
SanCap Resilience is dedicated to planning, educating, and taking action to protect our natural and built environments. We are committed to advancing mitigation and adaptation strategies to reduce risks from climate change and other environmental threats. We believe in the values of the Sanibel Plan and the Captiva Community Plan, including promoting a diverse community, conservation, and living in harmony with one another and with nature to promote a high quality of life for our citizens.
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Provide near-term support, information, and resources to residents and business owners.
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Lead a community-based effort to plan for our future resilience. That includes ways to adapt to changing conditions and to mitigate future impacts.
Goals
The Challenge of Climate Change
Sanibel and Captiva are special places. Over the years, many people and groups have worked to preserve our sanctuary islands in the face of over-development pressures. In recent years, water quality impacted by nutrient pollution and algal blooms have been an additional threat to the quality of life and economic success of our communities.
Today these pressures continue. In addition, we are facing another, even more significant threat. Climate change presents existential challenges to our barrier island communities. The science of climate change is established and well understood. We are already facing accelerating sea level rise, more days of dangerous heat, stronger storms, more frequent flooding, increased risk of drought and fires, and greater risk of storm surge. These changes demand new thinking about how we need to adapt our built and natural systems to future conditions.
These changes also demand that we evaluate how we power our homes, cars, and economy. In just the last 150 years, pollution from the mining and burning of fossil fuels has elevated heat trapping gasses in the atmosphere to their highest level in over four million years.
“Business as usual” scenarios present devastating futures for Sanibel and Captiva and other coastal communities across the state and country. For example, recently updated data from NOAA project sea levels to rise 4 to 8 feet above current levels by the end of this century if we do not make significant changes quickly. Choices we make now will determine whether our barrier islands are inhabitable for future generations.
Given the severity of the issue of climate change, the task force will seek to highlight the importance of planning to address both mitigation strategies to reduce the future impacts of climate change and adaptation strategies to harden critical infrastructure necessary for our communities to function.
