Likely the "sunny day flooding" that is already happening in Florida has caught people's attention. Plus, as more data is shared, people who own property are beginning to ask questions like, "What are you doing to protect me?"
See thisClimate Central Flood Risk Map and the fact that 17 of the 25 most vulnerable cities in the United States are in Florida.
The first linked article says there is $300B in property at risk in Florida. That number seems way too low to me, given all the development that already exists and continues to be built near the water's edge.
The governor of Florida is a Republican and is talking resilience. It may be that the cause of sea rise is not the issue and they are only "attacking adaptation." However, this is a "sea change" in thinking and action in a political body that has resisted all thoughts of something changing in the environment and now they are trying to react.
According to most thinking, it is already too late. While this story is two days old, UN climate talks near end as countries divided on emissions, funding, the news this morning is that everyone has gone home without any new worldwide commitment to ratcheting up emission reduction goals.
There is unlikely there will be one momentous disaster that will change the worldwide slow-roll on emissions reductions. It will take many more disasters that are catastrophic before world-wide attention is focused on saving the planet. I did note that representatives from the Northern Mariana Islands (A United States commonwealth) have much more concern than industrial nations. Being surrounded by an ocean seems to do that.
