2018 has not been a good year for Florida’s iconic manatees. A total of 540 sea cows have died in the last eight months, surpassing last year’s total of 538 deaths, according to figures posted Monday by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The figure will likely climb higher before the year’s end amid the […]
Bees are vital pollinators, and the consequences of their dying population could have far-reaching impacts to our food chain. That’s why a woman in Cape Coral in southwest Florida expressed regret after calling pest control to exterminate thousands of honeybees that swarmed her garage and SUV on Saturday. “I just wish it could have been […]
By Alison Kelly New oil development has no place in sensitive wetland habitats in the Florida Everglades. The Burnett Oil Company, based in Texas, claimed it could explore for oil in the Big Cypress National Preserve with no significant, long-term impacts to sensitive wetlands. But these claims have been refuted, as Burnett Oil has caused […]
Climate change poses a key risk to low-lying Florida. When Climate Central ranked the 25 U.S. coastal cities that would be most vulnerable to coastal flooding in 2050 due to sea level rise projections, 20 of them were in the Sunshine State. But Florida Governor Rick Scott has a history of sticking his head in […]
Climate change is already making people sicker, according to a deep-dive written by Renee Cho for Columbia University’s Earth Institute on Monday. Cho pointed to the example of doctors in Florida who are noticing that their patients run through prescriptions faster as conditions like asthma worsen due to heat waves. Indeed, Florida doctors have observed […]
By Zachary Toliver Sometimes humans forget that animals have feelings, too, and cause them to suffer. Just consider some Florida beachgoers who were filmed taking photos of and selfies with an injured hammerhead shark, who an expert says most likely died after the incident. On a beach near West Palm Beach, Florida, a group of […]
By Adam Lynch Marámellys Castro-Pérez is a Puerto Rican refugee living in Orlando with her husband and twins after the one-two punch of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Maria, in particular, scrubbed the island clean of electricity, working toilets and phone service. It dragged Castro-Pérez’s world into the dark ages and pitted the island’s modern, cosmopolitan […]
By Robynne Boyd Off the coast of Broward County in southeast Florida, a 330-year-old coral colony has withered in the water thanks to a mysterious pathogen. At the height of its health, this slow-growing variety of coral, known as mountainous star, looked like a car-size brown mushroom cap scored by ridges and valleys and colored […]
Arnold Schwarzenegger slammed President Trump‘s plans to dramatically expand offshore oil and natural gas drilling. “Don’t touch California. If you want to drill, do it off Mar-a-Lago,” the former California governor and vocal Trump critic tweeted Monday, referring to the president’s resort in Palm Beach, Florida. “Or better yet, look to the future, follow California’s […]