Climate Change

An effort is back in the Senate to permanently set up a statewide office to consider climate change impacts, as environmentalists wait for a new chief resiliency officer to be appointed.

Sen. Ray Rodrigues, R-Estero, filed a proposal Friday to establish an Office of Resiliency, a priority of Gov. Ron DeSantis. The Office of Resiliency would be part of DeSantis’ office.

Rodrigues’ proposal (SB 514) would also set up a nine-member Sea-Level Rise Task Force to establish baseline projections on anticipated sea-level rise and flooding impacts along Florida’s coastlines.

Red tide, that scourge of beachgoers and waterfront residents, is back.

Low levels of the toxin karenia brevis have been found off the coasts of Sarasota and Pinellas counties, primarly near Venice and South Venice. It's not known at this time whether the low amounts will eventually result in fish kills and foul-smelling breezes.

Robert Weisberg is an oceanographer at the University of South Florida's College of Marine Science in St. Petersburg. He says 2020 has been a "strange year" for the phenomenon.

Environmental law likely won't get the same attention as abortion or health care at next week's Senate hearings for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. But her confirmation, tilting the already-conservative court even further to the right, could have a major impact on the government's ability to address climate change.

Senate President Bill Galvano defended controversial toll-road plans he’s pushed for nearly two years, after task forces released draft reports Tuesday indicating they were unable to determine if there is a need for the projects.

Critics hope the draft reports are a sign the brakes will be put on the three projects, which would stretch from Collier County in Southwest Florida to Jefferson County near the Georgia border.

The "Advancing the Quality and Understanding of American Aquaculture", or AQUAA Act, would clear the way for the Department of Commerce to regulate newly created aquaculture opportunity areas.

Florida International University researchers say nutrient-laden water caused by human activity is making it harder for corals to fight off infections and climate change.

A recent study by FIU says corals living in high concentrations of these nutrients are having a harder time dealing with the normal wear and tear of reef life because their immune systems are weakened. The findings were published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science.

The Roseate Spoonbill is a beautiful pink bird that, at a distance, can sometimes be mistaken for a flamingo. While spoonbills traditionally call Southwest Florida home, they’ve never been known to leave the tropical and subtropical climate zone north and south of the Equator. So why are they nesting as far north as Arkansas and Georgia—and wandering even further north in Minnesota and Maine—and Québec?