Higher Ground Pensacola, founded in 2018, is dedicated to finding solutions to environmental injustices in the Tanyard neighborhood of Pensacola, FL. The organization is fighting gentrification and fill-and-build development that is happening at a rapid pace, and an infrastructure that can’t keep up. They face high tides and stronger, more frequent storms due to climate change, as well as soil and groundwater contamination from five Superfund sites within the city limits. The area has ranked No. 12 for total toxic releases per square mile, 35 million pounds of industrial waste each year, according to the EPA. Residents most threatened are in the historically underserved and disenfranchised Tanyard neighborhood. Currently, Higher Ground Pensacola is fighting what it calls “the big build,” a public/private development, part of which will be built upon an old Emerald Coast Utilities Authority sewer treatment plant, nicknamed “Old Stinky.” The 19-acre green space helps mitigate frequent floodwaters, but that space is now in peril.
Anthropocene Alliance’s The United Flooded States of America banner in the Tanyard neighborhood.
Higher Ground Pensacola, founded by Gloria Horning, is dedicated to finding solutions in Florida’s environmentally fragile panhandle. Arriving as an AmeriCorps volunteer after 2010’s BP Oil Disaster, Horning was struck by the injustices she witnessed. A trained journalist and environmental justice advocate, she helped residents in shutting down non-compliant landfills which were polluting their predominately African American communities and pushed the county to impose a moratorium on new dump permits. In 2020, the community was slammed by Hurricane Sally, wreaking $30 million in damages in Escambia County alone. Horning’s 101-year-old house – still not fully repaired – was ravaged. Her community’s homes, yards, and streets were inundated for weeks with raw sewage mixed with salt and fresh water. “The infrastructure is so old that it can’t handle all of it. Now add to that all the building they want to put in. It could be a disaster,” she said. Higher Ground Pensacola is working to change all that.