Our Neighborhood

Earth

Keeping It Green

 
Florida's Phosphate Risk

 

Green Living Toolkit

Essential Guide to Florida Suncoast Living

Apr. 15, 2022,-They break it down to show you the most effective solutions, curated especially for Sarasota and Manatee County residents.

We connect you with local events and experts on energy, food, waste, water, and nature. The Toolkit is designed with options to meet you where you’re at, then help you level up to live smart and future-focused. Every step you take accrues personal and community benefits, now and for future generations.

The Right to Clean and Healthy Waters

This is a #WatershedMoment

FloridaCleanWater.org-It has become clear that the current system of water protection has failed; the state executive branch is not enforcing clean water legislation according to environmental laws, legislative intent and constitutional policy. Although a right to clean water already exists by statute, it defers too much to state executive agencies to guard against harm.

Click now to learn what you can do.

ECO SUMMIT +EXPO

Get Free Tickets

Science & Environment Council-December 2 and 3, 10am-5pm. One ticket includes General Admission for up to 5 people. City of Sarasota Municipal Auditorium, 801 North Tamiami Trail.

Click now to learn more.

Florida
Environmental Action

Eco Summit+Expo

Page Updated:
Dec. 4, 2023

 

The Sink or
Swim Newsletter

Ecology Florida

• • Hurricane-Weary Floridians Ask: What U.N. Climate Talks?

  Three months after Idalia, Many Here are More Preoccupied With Recovery than COP28
  
  

  Nov. 30, 2023 - For this island fishing village along Florida’s Gulf Coast, Hurricane Idalia wrought some of its worst damage not on land but offshore.

  Generations of residents of this area have derived their livelihoods from the water, which has remained relatively pristine thanks to several federal and state preserves lining the Nature Coast, as this region is called. As Idalia churned toward the area in late August, Cedar Key was home to a robust clamming community, part of a $53 million industry in the state.

• • Florida Everglades, a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Hotspot

  Agricultural Area, Responsible for Much of the Nation’s Sugar Cane
  
  

  Nov. 6, 2023 -It used to be the water spilled over Lake Okeechobee’s southern shore, flowing eventually into the sawgrass prairies of the Florida Everglades. For thousands of years the marsh vegetation flourished and died here in an endless cycle, the plant remains falling beneath the slow-coursing water to form a rich layer of organic soil called peat.

  Over time the fertile soil, along with the subtropical climate and abundance of water, drew the attention of farmers, who as far back as the 1880s began digging canals to drain away the water and expose the peat for planting.

• • Duke Energy's Clean Hydrogen System In Florida

  Construction of the Demonstration Project Will Begin by the End of 2023
  
  

  Oct. 27, 2023, [POWER Engineering] -Duke Energy said it will soon break ground on the first demonstration end-to-end system in the U.S. to produce, store and combust 100% clean hydrogen.

  The system will be located at Duke Energy’s DeBary Plant in Volusia County, Florida.

  It will use the existing 74.5 MW DeBary solar plant to power two 1 MW electrolyzers. The resulting hydrogen from electrolysis will delivered to nearby, reinforced containers for safe storage.

• • Florida’s First Clean Hydrogen Facility

  Testing is About to Begin
  
  

  Oct. 12, 2023 -Florida Power & Light (FPL) has started producing hydrogen from electrolysis at its Cavendish Solar Energy Center in Florida’s Okeechobee County, the utility announced.

  While a portion of the solar energy will flow directly to the grid, the rest will power a series of electrolyzers. The hydrogen produced will be compressed, stored and mixed into existing natural gas infrastructure at FPL’s Okeechobee Clean Energy Center, a 3-on-1 combined-cycle plant with a capacity of approximately 1622 MW.

• • Climate Change Is Testing Florida Communities

  Can They Survive
  Climate Change Disasters?
  
  

  Oct. 5, 2023 -Climate change is affecting communities nationwide, but Florida often seems like ground zero. In September 2022, Hurricane Ian devastated southwest Florida, killing at least 156 people and causing an estimated US$113 billion in damages. Then Hurricane Idalia shut down the Florida Panhandle in September 2023, augmented by a blue supermoon that also increased tidal flooding in southeast Florida.

  Click now for the article.

• • The Florida Reef Bleaching Crisis

  Coral Researchers
  See ‘Mass Mortality
  
  

  Oct. 5, 2023 -Iconic elkhorn and staghorn corals took the heaviest losses, and researchers say they are at risk of becoming “functionally extinct” in the Florida Reef.

  Click now for more.

• • Climate Change is a Fiscal Disaster For Local Governments

  Ford Certainly is No Exception
  
  

  Oct. 5, 2023 -Climate change is affecting communities nationwide, but Florida often seems like ground zero. In September 2022, Hurricane Ian devastated southwest Florida, killing at least 156 people and causing an estimated US$113 billion in damages. Then Hurricane Idalia shut down the Florida Panhandle in September 2023, augmented by a blue supermoon that also increased tidal flooding in southeast Florida.

  Click now for more.

• • Costly Sebastian Septic-To-Sewer Conversions

  It Could Cost Up
  to $23,000 Per Property
  
  

  Oct. 4, 2023, [TCPalm] -The city is planning upgrade its waste disposal by 2030.The City Council and the County Commission discussed the local septic-to-sewer conversion project at a joint meeting Sept. 21.One thing is for sure: The work will be pricey. It could cost $5,000 to $23,000 per property, according to the county.A major concern of the elected officials is how to reduce the cost to homeowners.

• • Florida: Adapting to Future Sea Rise

  Archaeologists Dive Into
  Florida’s Past and Find Lessons
  
  

  Oct. 2, 2023 -Unlike almost any other archaeologist on earth, Jessi Halligan does her digging underwater.

  Halligan, an associate professor of anthropology at Florida State University, studies the first people who came to Florida about 15,000 years ago, when sea levels were 300 feet lower than they are today. These days, many of Florida’s oldest settlements, hunting grounds and ceremonial mounds are at the bottom of rivers or the Gulf of Mexico.

  Click now for the whole story.

• • Sarasota County Earns LEED Gold Certification

  Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
  
  

  Sept. 27, 2023, [Sarasota County] -The County is proud to announce that it has achieved Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) “Gold” certification and national accreditation from the U.S. Green Building Council, an honor recognizing an array of sustainability efforts across the county.

  Unlike certification for individual buildings, this designation evaluated sustainability and resilience efforts across the entire county, measuring progress in land use, ecology, quality of life, energy, transportation, water resources, and other categories.

• • Monstor Hurricane in the Making

  Lee Breaks Record
  Before it's Even Born
  
  

  Sep. 6, 2023 -There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in climatology. In non-Shakespearean terms, this means that weather events that haven’t been observed in our short span of reliable records can and will happen.

  “For instance, in August, Tallahassee and many other Florida cities smashed the record for warmest month by nearly a full degree; we also closed out a cruel summer with the first-ever major hurricane landfall between the Panama City to Cedar Key areas, and the first hurricane-force inland wind event in the Big Bend in at least 75 years.

• • Florida Heat: How Accurate Are the Numbers?

  The Big Gap Between
  Official Numbers and Likely Impact
  
  

  Aug. 11, 2023 -Calculating the damage from a hurricane or wildfire is straightforward: simply add up the cost of destroyed buildings, disrupted business and livelihoods lost.

  For extreme heat — the kind that has gripped South Florida and much of the nation for months now — the toll is harder to tally, because the real danger of heat isn’t to homes and power lines, it’s to human health.

  And, experts say, the official numbers likely don’t capture the whole picture.

• • Danger Remains for Florida Marine Life

  This is Despite
  the Ocean Heat Abating
  
  

  Aug. 9, 2023 -In late July, a fierce ocean heat wave ratcheted up temperatures in Florida’s coastal waters to unprecedented highs. One buoy bobbing in shallow, turbid Manatee Bay logged a measurement of 38.3? Celsius (101? Fahrenheit). That may be the highest temperature ever recorded in the ocean. A week later, that surge in ocean heat had ebbed. But South Florida’s denizens are still in hot water.

• • Florida: Poisoning the Minds of Young Students

  It's Using Cartoons
  to Deny Climate Change

  Aug. 7, 2023, (EE NEWS CLIMATEWIRE) - Wind and solar power pollute the Earth and make life miserable. Recent global and local heat records reflect natural temperature cycles. And people who champion those beliefs are fighting oppression.

  These are some of the themes of children’s videos produced by an influential conservative advocacy group. Now, the videos could soon be used in Florida’s classrooms.

  Florida’s Department of Education has approved the classroom use of material from the Prager University Foundation, which produces videos education experts say distort science, history, gender and other topics. And those researchers fear that the nation’s third-largest state has opened a door that will help spread the videos to classrooms in other states.

• • Miami is Used to Heat, but Not Like This

  1nterview With the County’s
  Chief Heat Officer
  
  

  Aug. 1, 2023 -Heat is a familiar fact of life here. The local NBA team is named for it. The tropical nature of it sets the region apart from the rest of the continental U.S. But that heat is changing.

  “You just feel the thickness and heaviness of the air. You can’t even get that relief at 6 o’clock in the morning, and that is different,” said Jane Gilbert, chief heat officer for Miami-Dade County.

• • Planting Coral Gardens to Save Florida’s Reefs

  Volunteers Flock to Key Largo to Help Restore One of the World’s Most Important Ecosystems
  
  

  July 20, 2023 -Early on a June morning, a group of 10 people dressed in shorts and flipflops gathers in a classroom at the Coral Restoration Foundation Exploration Center in Key Largo, Florida. We have come from Virginia, Maryland, Georgia, Texas, and just down the road to help save Florida’s coral reefs.

  The 360-mile-long Florida reef is the third largest in the world. But since the 1970s, nearly 90% of its corals have died due to climate change, hurricanes, disease and human development...

• • Florida's Extreme Heat is a ‘Second Disaster’

  The State’s Record-Breaking Weather Shows How Compound Climate Events Hurt the Most Vulnerable
  
  

  July 17, 2023 -Lying on the floor of her storage unit, wet, with a fan to her face, Kimberly Goulet began to feel anxious and “extremely, desperately sad.” It was from the heat. No matter what she did, the thick heaviness smothered her, even at night. She’d never experienced this kind of unrelenting heat before. But what made it worse was that, because of Hurricane Ian, she couldn’t escape it.

• • The Algae Are Still Blooming

  Despite DeSantis' Promise
  to Clean It Up
  
  

  July 14, 2023 -Long before Gov. Ron DeSantis was former President Donald Trump’s chief rival for the GOP nomination, championed “anti-woke” policies on gender and race and initiated a feud with Disney, he vowed that he would clean up Florida’s treasured and troubled waterways.

  DeSantis’s 2018 campaign for the governor’s seat coincided with widespread outbreaks of toxic blue-green algae and red tide that sickened Floridians and wiped out wildlife statewide. Lakes and rivers were choked with the horrible-smelling fluorescent-green blooms, and Florida beaches were left deserted save for tons upon tons of dead fish washed ashore by the foul tide.

• • Florida’s In Hot Water

  Record Global Ocean Heating Has
  Invaded Florida with a Vengeance
  
  

  July 13, 2023 -Water temperatures in the mid-90s are threatening delicate coral reefs, depriving swimmers of cooling dips and adding a bit more ick to the Sunshine State’s already oppressive summer weather. Forecasters are warning of temperatures that with humidity will feel like 110 degrees by week’s end.

• • Toxic Slime Time on Florida’s Lake Okeechobee

  Huge Green Blooms are Threatening
  Wildlife, Pets, People and Cities
  
  

  July 9, 2023 -For thousands of years, Lake Okeechobee pumped life into Florida’s swampy interior. Summer rains swelled the shallow inland sea, creating seasonal overflows that sustained the Everglades and its alligators, panthers, spoonbills and snail kites.

  But a vast re-engineering over the past century has transformed Okeechobee into something life-threatening as much as life-giving.

• • Science Vs Politics - The Battle for the Everglades

  Leading Scientist Acts Against His Former Employer
  
  

  June 30, 2023 -In the two decades since one of the most ambitious attempts at ecological restoration in human history became law, Tom Van Lent has built a reputation as a leading scientist in the effort to save the Florida Everglades.

  His research has delved into almost every issue to arise from the $21 billion restoration effort, from litigation over water quality to water management operations to development concerns.

• • Florida's Rising Insurance Rates

  They're Rising Faster than
  Anywhere in the Country
  
  

  June 12, 2023 -Weeks ago, James Benko received notice that his family's homeowners insurance premium would increase from $5,000 a year to $10,000.

  The roof was replaced in 2019. He replaced the windows and doors when he purchased the property last year and he has not made an insurance claim.

  He's been asking insurance brokers how the insurance costs could be going up so much for his house in Sarasota's Palmer Ranch.

• •  The Florida Solar Bill of Rights

  It’s Time to Put the “Sun” Back in the Sunshine State!

  SOLAR UNITED NEIGHBORS, Dec. 16, 2021 -As residents of the Sunshine State, we call on our local and state officials to protect and encourage access to solar power for all Floridians, as well as to reform laws and policies that restrict our freedom to produce solar energy.

  Click now to read the list of those rights.

• • Engarde, Swordfish!

  Swordfish Reduction Sends Rippling Fears
  
  

  Aug. 27, 2022 -Swordfish and other sea creatures have used the Florida Straits and Gulf Stream for thousands of years, migrating with the warm current as it gathers in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea and then blasts up the East Coast and into the northern Atlantic Ocean.

  But things have changed in the Gulf Stream system. Waters have warmed, and the regional Gulf of Mexico-to-North Atlantic current has slowed, according to some scientific evidence. The data is not complete.

• • Algae Blooms Are Killing Our Manatees

  Hundreds of Them Have Starved to Death

  Mar. 25, 2022, (ZME Science)-Nearly 1 in 10 died last year.

  A wildlife official in Florida said hundreds of manatees have starved to death along the state's east coast due to the algae blooms and contaminants that are killing seagrass resources they eat, The Associated Press reported.

• • Coral Reef Monitoring & Assessment

  Coral Reefs Must Be
  Protected Against Bleaching

  October, 2021, (Mote Marine)-Coral bleaching is the corals’ loss of their symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae), which give them their color. Bleaching is a natural event that occurs to some extent annually in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS).

  Records show that coral bleaching has been occurring for many years in the Florida Keys and also indicate that the frequency and severity of these events has steadily increased since the 1980s. Large-scale mass coral bleaching events are driven by unusually warm sea temperatures and calm seas. The effects of these mass events are potentially devastating to ecosystems and the people who depend on them.

• • History Of Phosphate Mining
  In Florida Fraught With Peril

  Accidents Like the Spill at the Piney
  Point Plant Fill the History Books

  Jun. 16, 2021, (WUSFPublic Media)-At the construction entrance to the Piney Point phosphate plant - off Buckeye Road in northern Manatee County, just south of the Hillsborough County line - the smell of phosphate and gypsum hangs heavy in the air.

  A bulldozer is busy pushing sand into a hole from which more than 200 million gallons of tainted water flowed into Tampa Bay. This isn't the first time this has happened. Accidents like this fill the history books in Florida, including two here at this very site.

• • Hazardous Waste Mixed Into Roads

  Are Our Roads Not Getting
  Enough Radio-Activity?

  June 17, 2021 (Bradenton Times) -If you live next to a road, will you be living next to a hazardous waste site? Unfortunately, this may be a reality for many, especially here in Florida.

  The Environmental Protection AgencyThis is the radioactive waste product left over from the production of fertilizer, and Florida has a lot of it.

• • Red Tide’s Impact on Humans

  Roskamp Institute Awarded
  Federal Grant to Study Red
  Tide’s Impact on Humans

  May 8, 2020 (floridadaily.com) - This week, U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., praised the Roskamp Institute in Sarasota for winning a federal grant to study the possible connection between exposure to red tide and neurological disorders in humans.

  “Roskamp is one of the leading scientific research institutes in the nation and I’m thrilled they were able to secure funding to conduct this important review,” said Buchanan on Wednesday. “People need to know if exposure causes long-term damage. This grant of more than $400,000 will allow Roskamp to determine if human exposure to the red tide neurotoxin called brevetoxin causes brain impairment or other problems.”

  In particular, the institute will study why some people have mild reactions to red tide while others react more severely.

• • Would You Like a Little Radon With That Home?

  Radon Gas and Florida's Development

  Aug. 11, 2019 (The Bradenton Times) -Radon is found in one out of every four Florida homes. Every citizen, whether they are aware of the problem or not, is affected. All exposure to radon is potentially harmful. Radon is an odorless, colorless, radioactive, gaseous element that results from the breaking down of radium.

  Numerous studies support the clear and simple fact that radon exposure is a serious public health hazard. Indeed, more is known about the adverse health effects of radon exposure than any other environmental pollutant. Indoor radon air pollution is the number one environmental pollutant in Florida.

• • What To Do About Plastic's Affect on Martine Life?

  How Plastic is Harming
  Florida’s Marine Life, and
  What We Can Do About It

  By Joe Land (Greenpeace)- My passion for environmental conservation began when I was inspired by my 3rd-grade teacher to focus on my own interactions with the world around me, and to learn about the impact humans have on the Earth. I started the first Kids for Saving the Earth club in my hometown of New Albany, Indiana, where I became involved in sharing my enthusiasm for the natural beauty of the planet and in talking to people about the importance of protecting our only home. We worked on a recycling program and on stopping the use of Styrofoam in the school cafeteria.

  When I was 12, I took my first trip to Florida where I fell in love with the ocean and knew that’s where I belonged. When I first moved to Florida in the summer of 2007, I watched the release of sea turtle hatchlings, and I decided that I wanted to focus on their protection and coastal ecology. I became certified as an Advanced Florida Master Naturalist and Land Steward through the University of Florida; that program gave me the tools to understand and share the impact we have on Florida’s diverse marine and natural resources. Today I’m pursuing a degree in Marine and Environmental Science.

  Click for the story and a slideshow.

• • Legislative Environmental Considerations

  Florida Conservation Coalition Legislative Priority:
  Funding for Conservation Land Acquisition:

  Mar. 4, 2019  Florida Conservation Coalition

  
  • SB 944 Land Acquisition Trust Fund
  
  • SB 1256 Apalachicola Bay Area of Critical State Concern
  
  
  • SB 92 C-51 Reservoir Project
  
  To read all of the bills on this list, click now.
• • The Legislature: Onsite Sewage Treatment

  Onsite Sewage Treatment and Disposal Systems

  Florida House of Representatives,-Directs DOH to identify certain information for onsite sewage treatment & disposal systems, update database of such systems, & submit report to Governor & Legislature

  Requires periodic inspection of such systems

  Directs DOH to administer onsite sewage treatment & disposal system inspection program & adopt rules; provides inspection requirements

  Provides exceptions; requires owners to pay costs of inspections & pump-outs; requires that inspections & pump-outs be performed by certain registered contractors

  Provides notice requirements; requires system disclosure summary for certain properties & acknowledgement of such disclosures by purchaser before or at execution of contract for sale.

• • Public Notice: Florida Has Got Its Pollution

  Public Notice of Pollution

  -Protecting Florida's pristine environment is the Department of Environmental Protection's top priority. Pursuant to Section 403.077, F.S., the Department is establishing a method for regulated entities to submit Public Notices of Pollution for reportable releases. Additionally, the Department is making available to the public all Notices received to date as well as offering an e-mail subscription service for interested parties to be informed of Notices submitted for their area of interest.

  Reporting entities should be aware that, while submission of a Notice through this website complies with the requirements of Section 403.077, F.S., it does not relieve them of any obligation to report to the State Watch Office.

  Click for more from The Florida
  Dept of Environmental Protection.

• • 6 Key Issues Facing Florida Environment

  Florida’s Environmental Challenges

  With leadership from the late Nathaniel Pryor Reed, Trouble in Paradise is the work product of deeply concerned members of the Florida environmental community who wish to help elected officials and candidates for office better understand six major statewide environmental issues impacting Florida’s natural resources and our residents’ quality of life. Reflecting that ‘one size does not fit all’ this report also identifies four of Florida’s many resource areas meriting specialized treatment.

• • Sarasota To Go 100% Renewable

  Sarasota, Florida Commits
  to Transition to
  100% Renewable Energy

  June 19, 2017 - The Sarasota City Commission today adopted a goal of powering all of Sarasota with 100 percent clean, renewable energy by 2045. Sarasota joins St. Petersburg as the only two cities in the state of Florida to commit to transition to 100 percent clean and renewable energy.

• • FPL: Solar Use Illegal During Outages

  Florida Power & Light
  Lobbyists Made It Illegal to
  Use Solar During Outages

  Sept. 18, 2017 - One thing has changed since 2005: solar. Many of the FPL customers who are living through dangerous heat without power now have solar panels on their roofs that could keep them going while FPL repairs its infrastructure. Except doing so is illegal, thanks to FPL's lobbyists, who literally ghost-wrote much of Florida's dreadful solar rules.

  
  Click now to shed some sunlight.

• • Miami Rejects the 20-Foot Flood Wall

  But Still Must
  Combat Climate Change

  Miami Herald, Sep. 8, 2022 -Miami-Dade County’s hard “No” on the federal government’s proposal to build a 20-foot-tall coastal wall to combat flooding has paid off. The feds have agreed to re-examine that part of the Back Bay Coastal Storm Risk Management Study, and without any cost to the county.

  It was difficult to take the idea seriously from the start. Installing hulking, flood-protection walls up to 20 feet tall along the coast of Biscayne Bay would mean, in essence, exchanging the scenic water views that draw people to this area for the unappealing sight of concrete barriers.

• • Avoid Hurricane Surge Flooding:
  KNOW YOUR ZONE!

  Know Your Flood Zone

  FloridaDisaster.org, - The greatest killer of people during hurricanes is storm surge – the dome of water pushed ashore by powerful hurricane winds. Entire buildings can be moved, and can cause more damage than the winds of a hurricane itself. Florida is extremely vulnerable to surge flooding because of its coastal and low-lying geography.

  To stay safe from surge flooding, if you live in a zone that has been ordered to evacuate, get out. The best way to be prepared for a hurricane storm surge is to know your evacuation zone and plan your destination and travel routes ahead of time.

  Flood Zone maps are available if you click now.

• • How Florida’s Springs are Threatened

  The Amount of Water they
  Discharge are Threatened by Both
  Human Activities and Natural Factors.

  (Southwest Florida Water Management) -Increases in nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus due to development in springsheds, excessive fertilizer use, wastewater treatment plant discharges and failing septic tanks.

  Excess nitrate levels in water can be harmful to aquatic insects, amphibians and fish. If algae have an unlimited source of nitrates, excess growth may occur. Large amounts of algae growth can cause reduced water clarity and extreme fluctuations in dissolved oxygen, which is stressful to aquatic life.

• • Good Air in Florida? - Don't Count on It.

  Florida's Air Quality
  Shows Mixed Rankings for
  Ozone, Particle Pollution

  April 21, 2020 (FloridaTrend.com)-The American Lung Association’s 2020 “State of the Air” report found several cities earned mixed rankings for the nation’s most widespread air pollutants—ozone and particle pollution—both of which can be deadly. Gainesville, Lake City, Palm Bay, Melbourne, and Titusville were named on the cleanest cities list for short-term and year-round particle pollution after experiencing zero unhealthy air days.

  The Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville metro tied 14th in the nation for the cleanest city in the nation in year-round particle pollution ahead of the Gainesville-Lake City metro area which tied 23rd.

  However, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, St. Lucie, Orlando, Lakeland, Deltona, Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater all experienced more unhealthy air days of ozone in this year’s report.

• • Sarasota County Sustainability

  Defining Sustainability as Satisfying Our
  Present Needs Without Compromising
  the Ability of Future Generations

  Dec. 16, 2020(Sarasota County)-Committed to environmental, social and economic sustainability. To achieve the balance necessary for a sustainable community, this means:
  
  • Replenish the resources we use or consume;
  • Ensure our values guide us into the future; and
  • Invest in our community to ensure future prosperity.

  This is a constantly evolving journey, with countless directions and possibilities. We invite you to join us on this journey, through your choices and actions and by encouraging others in the community. Together we can make a difference – today, and for future generations.

  
  Click now for their Sustainability page.
• • Hey Florida Schools: Get the Lead Out

  Is There Any Excuse
  For Failing to Test
  For Lead in Our Schools?

  July 25, 2019 (mwfDailynews.com)-According to a statewide investigation conducted by WFTS-Tampa Bay late last year, 68% of Florida’s school districts do not test for lead in drinking water, or only partially test. Further, according to this same investigation, Gulf County’s public schools do not test for lead in the water, but, rather, rely on public utilities to perform such testing. However, as the recent public water debacle in Flint, Michigan has shown, and as reputable and independent experts have been warning for more than a decade, public utility testing for lead cannot be relied upon to protect our children’s health.

  Earlier this year, Florida Senator Janet Cruz sponsored a bill, SB 66, that would’ve added water filters in all of Florida’s older schools (including ours in Gulf County) to filter out lead particles from corroded pipes. As Ms. De La Vega’s recent Letter to the Editor pointed out, however, SB 66 failed in Florida’s 2019 legislative session. Admirably, in response to this temporary legislative setback, Senator Cruz has started a $250,000 fundraising effort to add water filters to Hillsborough County’s 136 schools.

• • NEST - Neighborhood Env. Stewardship Team

  The Benefits of NEST

  (Sarasota County wateratlas) —The Sarasota County Neighborhood Environmental Stewardship Team, or NEST, promotes neighborhood involvement in environmentally-friendly projects to protect and restore our shared water resources. The NEST program operates at the neighborhood level to improve the community and our watershed resources.

  NEST projects focus on both education and hands-on activities like, watershed-friendly landscaping, pond, lake, and bay shoreline restoration, bioswales, rain gardens, pervious pavement and invasive plant removal.

• • Phosphate Mining in Florida
  Threatens Water & Wildlife

  Significant Threats to
  Water and Wildlife

  Center for Biodiversity -Processed phosphates — little-discussed but widely spread throughout the food chain — pose a serious threat to our environment. Phosphate rock mining, along with the inorganic fertilizers and animal feed supplements for which phosphate is mined, pollute our air, contaminate our water and destroy invaluable wildlife habitat. -Especially in Florida.

  Because in fact, the state of Florida is home to the majority of phosphate-mining operations in the United States — and the United States is the world's third-leading producer of phosphate rock. Thus it's not all that surprising that Florida hosts the world's largest phosphate strip mine —100,000 acres wide.

• • Florida Environmental Issues

  Florida Environmental Issues

  Click now for a free PDF download addressing three of the key environmental issues that South Florida is challenged with today.

• • Florida Offshore Drilling is a No-No

  10 Reasons Not to Drill for Oil Offshore of Florida

  -This reminder from Manasota-88 warns of the ten reasons not to drill for off-shore oil.

• About Manatee County Flood Zones

  Manatee County Flood
  Zone Information Tool

  My Manatee County - Based on recent studies of the area, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has proposed updates to the County's flood zones. Depending on whether your flood zone has changed, your flood insurance may be affected. Search your address to find information regarding potential changes in flood zone for a property. Some information may take a moment to load.

  FEMA also has a viewer for map changes, you can find the tool and instructions for its use on FEMA's Community Flood Hazard page.

• • Florida Slime Tracker

  Track That Slime Crime

  Florida's waterways are plagued by slime caused by fertilizer, sewage and animal manure. Click now for an interactive map allowing you to view photographs of the muck, in the areas shown on the map.

• • Watershed Excursion

  Take the Excursion

  View a slideshow of the Springs Coast waterways, brought to you by Southwest Florida Water Management District

Sarasota Weather and Climate Analysis Reports:
Click on a month below for that report.

>

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2020									Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2021	Jan	Feb No Data	Mar	Apr No Data	May No Data	June-July		Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2022	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr-May	Jun-July			Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2023	Jan	Feb	Feb	Apr-May	Jun-July			Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov

• Experiencing Climate Change in Sarasota Florida

• Sarasota Climate Change Report (Local Study)
• Plenty of Great Weather

Important Florida Links	Solar in the Sunshine State
Sarasota Solar Co-op	Florida Asbestos

   
  

Watching Out For the Environment

• Protect the Florida Panther   

(PowerPoint is Required to See Information)

Asbestos is a proven human
carcinogen, and all forms of
asbestos can cause cancer.

• Read All About It

• Florida is not Alone

• Why is Asbestos Used
in Power Plants?

Asbestos Exposure Treatment

Name

Power Source

Location

(County)

Owner

Output (Mw)

Homes
Powered

When
Built