Birmingham’s new resilience chief looks to protect residents from climate change

The city of Birmingham has a new position focused solely on climate change and its effect on area residents. Sherry-Lea Bloodworth Botop joined the city as its Chief Resilience and Sustainability Officer in December 2024. WBHM’s Richard Banks spoke with Botop and asked how resilience efforts in the heart of Alabama can have an impact on such a global issue.

The following conversation has been edited for clarity.

Tell us about how you got into this line of work.

I started work in resilience and sustainability following Hurricane Katrina. And so I felt like I got a master class in what we could do better, which is in a lot of ways what resilience is. And on the sustainability side it’s about trying to put the world back into balance in some way, where resilience is more about managing in an imbalanced world.

Granted, you’ve only been in this position for a few weeks, but what are some of the projects you’re working on.

So, a couple things we’re doing, a climate action plan that will help us understand how much greenhouse gas emissions we are creating as a city and how we can reduce them. Also, we have an effort going on right now to reduce barriers to food production. For example, urban farming, the ability to grow and sell food. So, these are just examples. It encompasses a lot of different areas that create a stable and successful and robust community.

Part of your role working with Birmingham is to address climate injustice. Tell us about that.

So when we’re looking at climate injustice, it’s not just emissions. It’s not just about clean water. It’s not just about land that people might be living on that was contaminated. But it’s also about working with the people that are impacted by this every day, to make sure that they have access to support. So that’s health care. It’s mobility, getting out of areas that may take years to clean up.

A popular explanation of climate change in many conservative circles is that’s happening but cyclical; it’s natural. Yet, the overwhelming majority of climate scientists say the main driver in climate change is human activity. What’s your perspective on this debate? And I ask because the answer is critical to how we approach solutions to climate change, perhaps even slow down that change.

I do think humans have been contributing to what we’re now experiencing. And I think there’s some change that needs to happen, and maybe some sacrifices or just adaptations of behavior that can help slow this down.  Fundamentally, to me, it’s about survival. It’s about looking at green energy for our homeowners, so that their bills are more affordable, things like that. So when I look at sustainability, I’m looking at it through that lens, looking at our most vulnerable first.

Given that Birmingham is just one city, one relatively small place on this planet, can an office of reliance and sustainability here have a meaningful impact on a global issue like climate change?

We absolutely can. And that’s why I love working at this level, at a city level. All change as local. And yes, not only will our work — and all of the departments’ work — affect residents of Birmingham in a positive way, but also we have the opportunity to influence other municipalities, people in the region. There are some that are doing great work already, but others that we can lead by example. Can we stop global warming right here in this department or in the city of Birmingham? I don’t think that’s our charge. But we, again, can do everything we can do to protect the residents of Birmingham and keep them safe, improve their quality of life and contribute to those that are working to reverse the effects of climate change.