General News about South Florida
After a dearth of action on climate change and a record year of extreme events in 2017, the inclusion of climate change policies within the annual legislation Congress considers to outline its defense spending priorities (the National Defense Authorization Act) for fiscal year 2018 was welcome progress.
Read the article: https://www.ecowatch.com/defense-department-climate-change-ucs-2629054045.html
This is terrible news!
TALLAHASSEE — Overturning a decision by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, an appeals court Tuesday ordered the state to issue a permit to a major Broward County landowner who wants to drill an exploratory oil well in the Everglades.
A three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal ruled the department improperly rejected a recommended order by an administrative law judge, who said in 2017 a permit should be approved for Kanter Real Estate LLC.
Read the complete article:
Kanter Real Estate, LLC v. Department of Environmental Protection, City of Miramar, and Broward County, Florida, 17-5096 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2019)
https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/4587389/kanter-real-estate-llc-v-department-of-environmental-protection-city-of/
New Hunt For Oil In Florida Raises Environmental Concerns
Hurricane Michael is close to a catastrophic, unprecedented Category 4 strike on the Florida Panhandle and Big Bend with a life-threatening storm surge and over 100 mph winds possible not just near the coast, but also inland that could leave some areas without power for over a week.
For too long biking has been viewed skeptically as a white-people thing, a big city thing, an ultra-fit athlete thing, a twenty-something thing, a warm weather thing or an upper-middle-class thing. And above all else, it’s seen as a guy thing.
But guess what? The times, they are a-changin’. More than 100 million Americans rode a bike in 2014, and bicycles have out-sold cars most years in the U.S. since 2003.
Read more… https://www.ecowatch.com/bicycling-soar-popularity-2515406297.html
In their efforts to discredit renewable energy and support continued fossil fuel burning, many anti-environmentalists have circulated a dual image purporting to compare a lithium mine with an oil sands operation. It illustrates the level of dishonesty to which some will stoop to keep us on our current polluting, climate-disrupting path (although in some cases it could be ignorance).
Read more: https://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy-suzuki-2514182227.html
It’s safe to say that lobsters aren’t a budding new demographic for soda companies.
So why did a lobster recently caught in the waters off Grand Manan, New Brunswick, have part of a Pepsi logo tattooed on its claw?
That’s a question that baffled Karissa Lindstrand, the fisherman who spotted the uncanny image during a lobster haul, according to the Guardian. Lindstrand happens to drink up to a dozen Pepsi sodas a day, but she was struck by the image’s unusual dimensions.
Read more: https://www.ecowatch.com/animals-plastic-waste-2514046242.html
There’s nothing quite like a cup of coffee in the morning. Whether it’s from your local shop, brewed at home or snagged from a tiny cart somewhere, people all over the world start and their days with the centuries-old psychoactive beverage.
And aside from being a the only thing that can drag some of us out of bed on tough mornings, there are actually some more significant reasons—including health, economic and more—why it’s a good way to start your day.
Read more: https://www.ecowatch.com/drinking-coffee-2514850647.html
Our planet faces a growing food crisis. According to the United Nations, more than 800 million people are regularly undernourished. By 2050, an additional 2 to 3 billion new guests will join the planetary dinner table.
Meeting this challenge involves not only providing sufficient calories for every person, but also assuring a balanced diet that includes the protein and nutrients that are essential to good health. In a newly published study, we explain how marine microalgae could be a sustainable solution for solving global macro-hunger.
Read more… https://www.ecowatch.com/marine-algae-feed-world-2499112868.html
Broward county is in the path
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at1+shtml/205803.shtml?tswind120#contents
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — The federal government predicts an unusually active 2017 hurricane season for the Atlantic Basin, with five to nine hurricanes expected to form.
Overall, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasts 11 to 17 named tropical storms will develop in the region, which includes the Atlantic, the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, the agency announced Thursday. The season officially begins June 1 and runs through Nov. 30
To read more…
“I wanted to study the wonders of the Great Barrier Reef, the intricate and complex connections between the thousands of different life-forms that represent the most diverse ecosystem on the planet,” Miller told Truthout.
But in the last two years, this has all changed for him.
“I now look at the reef as an ecosystem that is suffering from our actions and I feel guilty beyond belief that this is happening in my backyard, on our generation’s watch,” he explained. “I no longer dream of the kaleidoscope of life, color and movement that represents the world’s coral reefs. Instead, I worry and fight for the actual existence of coral reefs as we know them, as the changes I see are happening all too quickly—much quicker than the reef can adapt.”
Read the complete article:
http://www.ecowatch.com/offshore-oil-brazil-amazon-reef-2410013180.html
Read more … http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at4+shtml/173801.shtml?5-daynl