A roundup of news items related to climate change and other environmental issues in Florida:
Florida beaches could be dealt a one-two punch of red tide and giant seaweed blob | CBS News
Some of Florida’s most popular beaches could be in for a one-two punch of trouble as thousands of spring breakers flock to the Sunshine State.
A toxic algae bloom known as red tide is already killing fish along the Gulf Coast, causing a stench. Now, a massive blob of seaweed twice as wide as the United States is drifting across the Atlantic and could wash ashore in the coming weeks, creating an even bigger mess.
“It could be two problems turning into a bigger one,” said Mike Parsons, a marine science professor at Florida Gulf Coast University.
What’s red tide doing to Florida’s marine life? ‘We really need to get our act together’ | Miami Herald
New surveys of seagrass on Florida’s Gulf Coast shows the vital marine plant is continuing to lose ground at a rapid pace in Tampa and Sarasota Bay.
Since 2016, the Southwest Florida Water Management District has documented losses of almost 30% of Tampa Bay’s seagrass and around 26% in Sarasota Bay.
The decline comes after local waters were swamped with pollution from the Piney Point industrial site and severe red tides over the past several years.
204 Florida municipalities receive energy efficiency grants from feds | floridapolitics.com
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) money keeps flowing to the Sunshine State.
Several rural counties — Dixie, Glades, Taylor and Lafayette — have been approved for millions of dollars in rebates to offset the purchase of clean school buses. And that list is likely to continue to grow.
The latest windfall is the energy efficiency space. In total, 204 Florida municipalities across the state will receive allocations through the Energy Efficiency and Conversation Block Grant (EECBG) Program.
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.
