A roundup of news items related to climate change and other environmental issues in Florida:
Taxpayers pay ‘over and over’ to rebuild risky, flood-prone homes in Florida | Fort Myers News-Press
A new analysis and visualization tool published by the National Resource Defense Council (NRDC) found that thousands of Florida properties insured by the federal government have repeatedly flooded and been rebuilt – to the point that they’ve cost the nation hundreds of millions of dollars.
Some of the properties, which run the gamut from single-family homes to businesses, have been rebuilt more than a dozen times, FEMA data provided by the NRDC shows.
One Jacksonville home currently holds the record for federally-funded rebuilds at 21 claims.
Miami-Dade to double electric school buses thanks to a MAST student | Key Biscayne Independent
When Holly Thorpe, then a MAST middle schooler, first lobbied the Miami-Dade School Board about converting to electric buses in 2019 there was little enthusiasm. “I’ve got this amazing picture of (School Superintendent Alberto) Carvalho standing over her because he did not like any criticism of the school board,” said Michele Drucker, who was the parent in 2017 I who founded the MAST extracurricular club Green Champions.
“And he says to her, ‘Why do you care about this so much anyway?’ And she’s like, ‘Because I care about the environment and marine life.”
Thorpe, a 17 year-old junior, has become a major voice for the environment on Key Biscayne and Miami.
How ‘Blue Economy’ could help South Florida’s environment | WPTV West Palm Beach
BOCA RATON, Fla. — Bubbling under the surface of Florida’s coastline could be solutions to some of the state’s biggest problems.
State Rep. Kelly Skidmore, D-Boca Raton, wants to put a price on it.
“The Blue Economy is an effort to make sure that the water around us, (that) its economic health is protected,” Skidmore said.
If you have any news items of note that you think we should include in our next roundup, please email The Invading Sea Editor Nathan Crabbe at ncrabbe@fau.edu. Sign up for The Invading Sea newsletter by visiting here.
