Category:Florida

Florida, the Sunshine State

http://eros.usgs.gov/sites/all/files/external/imagegallery/2429.jpg

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Natural environmental issues
Green Issues/documents from governments within the State of Florida...

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Natural springs -- http://www.floridasprings.org/learn/questions/

Florida has more first-magnitude springs than any other state or any other nation in the world -- http://apalacheehills.com/springs/Springbook/FirstMagnitude.htm

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February 2016

Once Parched, Florida's Everglades Finds Its Flow Again/National Public Radio -- http://www.npr.org/2016/02/19/466582238/once-parched-floridas-everglades-finds-its-flow-again

Audubon Florida/The Roseate Spoonbills of Florida Bay -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvQnUKEBVsI&feature=share

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http://eros.usgs.gov/imagegallery/landsat-state-mosaics#http://eros.usgs.gov/sites/all/files/external/imagegallery/2429

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2015

More Solar Power Needed

Why is Florida, the 'Sunshine State', Blocking Effective Solar Energy Policy?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_the_United_States

http://fcir.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/rooftop_solar.jpg

2016

Why Are So Many Florida Politicians in Denial about the Reality of Climate Change?

Updates from Florida

The Presidential campaign comes to the 'Sunshine State'

Sunshine state pol updates -- Some environmental Carl Hiaasen riffing on Florida's Gov Scott, and an e-bit of Clinton & Sanders from today's Miami Herald & TampaBay Times.

Clinton "mocked the Scott administration's directive to state employees not to use the words "climate change" and pledged to support renewable energy in Florida."

"Of Scott's order to state employees, she said: "I found this one hard to believe. I mean, you've just got to shake your head at that."

"When Republicans say they can't talk about climate change because they're not scientists, Clinston said, there's a cure for that: "Go talk to a scientist."

Sanders "also criticized Republicans for their obstinance on climate change, which he said is holding Florida back from becoming a leader in renewable energy."

"The state of Florida has an extraordinary natural resource: its called sunlight," Sanders said, "and this state should be a leader in the world in producing solar energy."

And from Florida, an Editorial re: political moves in the 'Sunshine State'... misnaming a constitutional amendment that would, in effect, *prevent sunshine/solar energy* from competing w/ the fossil fuel industry. The issue is now before the Court. Ivan Penn formerly w/ the St Pete Times, now w/ the LA Times, wrote extensively about energy issues in Florida. What a long-running story it is. Today's Tampa Bay Times Editorial speaks of the latest chapter of public good v energy industry-lobbying power...

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Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and Rising Seas

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"Florida is Screwed"

(What say you climate-change denying Florida politicians?)

The RealDeal: South Florida Real Estate News... Miami Beach property values may fall as sea levels rise: experts

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How Miami Beach Is Keeping the Florida Dream Alive — And Dry

Beset by rising seas and indifferent legislators, the city is spending big to keep its economy above water

Politico / March 14, 2016

There’s just no getting away from the rising sea...

Across the country, even the world, coastal cities are the front lines of climate-change planning, leap-frogging past the political debate to hatch immediate and often very expensive plans to fight the effects they are already living with. Miami Beach, all seven square miles of it, has placed itself at the leading edge of an existential fight facing the entirety of South Florida—230 miles of coastline running from Key West to Palm Beach. Driven by global warming, the sea level here has risen 9 inches over the past century and is predicted to rise at an accelerating pace by as much as another 6½ feet by 2100. Even the most conservative scientists anticipate a rise of at least 2 feet by 2060...

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Florida mayors press presidential debate moderators for climate airtime

Mayors of 21 cities in Florida called on the moderators of presidential debates in Miami to ask candidates how they would deal with rising sea levels caused by climate change, a concern of the state's coastal communities.

"It would be unconscionable for these issues of grave concern for the people of Florida to not be addressed in the upcoming debate you will be hosting in the state," the mayors wrote in an letter to CNN, The Washington Post, Univision and the other media outlets hosting the Democratic and Republican debates on March 9 and March 10 in Miami.

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Sea-level Rise Globally

Seas Are Rising at Fastest Rate in Last 28 Centuries

Temperature-driven global sea-level

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Florida Is Sinking: Where Is Marco Rubio?"

15 South Florida Mayors Request Climate Change Mtg with Senator Rubio

MIAMI, FL — Mayors representing more than 920,000 South Florida residents released a letter sent to Senator Marco Rubio requesting a meeting to discuss the risks facing Florida communities due to climate change. The letter, sent to Rubio’s campaign offices last Thursday, highlights the economic toll of climate change in South Florida and asks the candidate to “acknowledge the reality and urgency of climate change and to address the crisis it presents our communities.”

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Heat absorbed by oceans doubles since 1997

2015

The Siege of Miami

Disappearing coastlines and rising seas:

"How the GOP is killing Florida"

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Oh Miami

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Mapping Sea-level Rise (US)

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Inundation?

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NASA: "What's up with sea-level rise?"

Data from NASA coming i/o from JPL US/Euro mission control

http://www.nasa.gov/goddard/risingseas --- http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/details.cgi?aid=11978 --- https://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/ --- http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/08/26/the-troubling-reasons-why-nasa-is-so-focused-on-studying-on-sea-level-rise/ --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_Surface_Topography_Mission

Why NASA’s so worried that Greenland’s melting could speed up

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Sea-Level Rise and Coastal Response

United States -- Case Studies

Adaptation Action Planning

Florida

2013/2014/2015

Five Reasons Why Florida's Senator Rubio (Might Want To) Should Re-think Climate Change

"Climate change could leave the Florida Keys and large parts of the south of the state underwater"

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Contrasting Visions

Environmental Protection Agency Goes After Emissions and the Koch's Gathering at the Monarch Bay on the Beach in Southern California Preps to Push Nearly a Billion Dollars into a Presidential Campaign and Opposition to Environmental Policies

In Florida, One of the Koch-supported Congressional delegation, David Jolly, announces campaign run for Rubio Senate seat

http://atr.rollcall.com/david-jolly-2016-florida-senate-primary-election/

http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/us-rep-david-jolly-enters-race-for-us-senate/2237980

http://content.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2014/02/new-ad-campaign-hits-david-jolly-denying-facts-climate-change

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2014/02/florida-republican-house-candidate-blasted-over-climate-denial

Why Does Florida Have So Many Climate Change Deniers?

Billionaires Charles and David Koch have helped to fuel conservative activism in Florida, by spending millions over the years to establish elaborate political operations in the state. As a result, Florida has become something of a testing ground for anti-government campaigning from the Kochs’ primary group, Americans for Prosperity. A New York Times story last March noted that AFP used a special election for a House seat and “turned the Florida contest into its personal electoral laboratory to fine-tune get-out-the-vote tools and messaging for future elections as it pursues its overarching goal of convincing Americans that big government is bad government.” David Jolly, AFP’s candidate of choice, won that election. Like many of his Florida colleagues, Jolly said he doesn’t think “the impact that humans have had on our climate is so dramatic” that it warrants government action...

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Miami Could Be a New Atlantis - from a Dutch engineer point of view

“If we look around the world and take into account sea level rise and the increase of water related disasters, among the places in the world that have the most assets and investments at risk, Miami is leading that list,” Henry Ovink tells New Times. “Miami will no longer be a land city, but a city in the sea.” Last year, a New York Times Magazine article about Ovink and Dutch water management efforts showed just how behind the U.S. is in its thinking around water.

Miami is Sinking Already Under Rising Sea Levels

At the University of Miami’s Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Brian McNoldy and other researchers have been accumulating sea-level data from Virginia Key (a small island just south of Miami Beach) since 1996. Over those 19 years, sea levels around the Miami coast have already gone up 3.7 inches. In a post, McNoldy highlights three big problems that follow from those numbers...

Head in Sand / Mar 2015 Florida Officials Say They Were Banned From Saying 'Climate Change' and 'Global Warming'

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Karst formation/underground will have added impact on sea-level rise/salt water intursion in Florida

Re: Florida topography: Karst topography is the geological name given to an area of limestone bedrock featuring caves, sinkholes, underground streams and natural springs (Florida has one of the highest concentrations of springs on Earth). In laymen terms, karst topography is anywhere the lower levels of the soil horizon has been dissolved by the physical or chemical weathering of the bedrock. These environments are comprised of carbonate rocks, such as dolomite and limestone, or having high amounts of evaporites, for example, salt and gypsum, as these materials tend to be highly soluble in water. Having these conditions within humid climate like Florida invites faster weathering. Another erosion accelerator is groundwater mixed with vegetation creates a weak acid that dissolves the limestone. (think baking soda mixing with vinegar) Over time, cracks become caves, and when caves collapse they form exposed openings known as karst windows.

Rising seas/climate change will have a special impact on FL due to the underground systems -- saltwater intrusion will be and already is an issue.....

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Read more on Florida risks:

Banned in Florida: Government Frowns on the Use of the Term -- "Climate Change"

http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/05/10/sea-rise-threatens-florida-coast-but-statewide-plan/QMdrryJGQKQz6m49kKZsDN/story.html

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-03-08/florida-officials-say-they-were-banned-from-saying-climate-change-and-global-warming-

http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/03/09/us-usa-florida-climatechange-idINKBN0M51P520150309

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article12983720.html

http://mashable.com/2015/03/09/florida-bans-global-warming/

http://qz.com/358675/floridas-authorities-want-to-wish-climate-change-away/

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2015/0309/Can-Florida-prepare-for-climate-change-without-saying-the-words

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/03/09/florida-state-most-affected-by-climate-change-reportedly-bans-term-climate-change/

http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2015/03/florida-climate-change

http://www.citylab.com/weather/2015/03/why-its-so-dangerous-that-floridas-governor-banned-the-term-climate-change/387226/

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/09/florida-quietly-bans-the-words-climate-change-in-environmental-protection-docs.html

http://www.salon.com/2015/03/09/the_term_climate_change_is_reportedly_banned_in_florida/

http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/09/rick-scott-climate-change-denial-in-florida/

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/08/florida-banned-terms-climate-change-global-warming

http://arstechnica.com/science/2015/03/report-officials-at-florida-environment-office-told-not-to-say-climate-change/

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/09/politics/florida-officials-climate-change-banned/

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Florida International University Researchers Tackle Sea Level Rise

Rising seas in South Florida, PBS-2014 - South Florida Rising Seas - PBS

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Big Energy companies in Florida look to "gut energy savings goals"

In Florida, fossil fuel energy co's have their way in a pro-fossil fueled legis and w/ the gov. Today we read the energy co's are officially against renewables, incl solar in the "Sunshine State", claiming to the PSC that energy 'savings' are bad (for them) and then there's the 'if they can't grow, they'll die' argument (so pay more, use more, pollute more, greenhouse more, sea rise more, not to worry, bigger better, more better.) What's wrong w/ this picture?

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Scientists petition the governor

Southeast Florida Climate Compact

Adaptation action-ICLEI model

Resiliency against sea-level rise

NASA study of Southeast Florida Vulnerability to Sea-Level Rise

Florida and the Surging Seas, a Vulnerability Assessment

Miami in Deep

South Florida Faces Ominous Prospects from Rising Waters / NYT

Rising Seas: South Florida, Inching toward Disaster

Florida - Impact of Sea Level Rise on Energy and Water

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A 2014 report released by the research and journalism group Climate Central found that 2,120 square miles of land lie less than 3 feet above the high tide line in Florida. That means 300,000 homes, or around $145 billion in property value, are at risk.... Climate Central found that $71 billion of Florida property sits on land less than two feet above the high tide line.

http://sealevel.climatecentral.org/uploads/ssrf/FL-Report.pdf

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