A roundup of news items related to climate change and other environmental issues in Florida:
Two floods hit different states. One area got less money. | E&E News
Two of the worst U.S. floods in 2022 ravaged homes, destroyed businesses and forced residents to evacuate for weeks.
But homeowners in Florida and Kentucky are getting wildly different payments from a federal flood insurance program crucial to rebuilding and recovery.
Florida residents whose homes were flooded by Hurricane Ian in September have received far more money on average from the National Flood Insurance Program than eastern Kentucky residents hit by a historic deluge in July, an E&E News analysis shows.
Tampa will house one of three base camps in the U.S. for Jane Goodall’s youth program Roots & Shoots | WUSF
In the gated field behind St. Peter Claver Catholic School in Tampa, a mosaic of colorful concrete rocks creates a walkway. On either side are blueberries, bananas, figs, pineapple, sugarcane, potatoes and aloe growing in raised square beds.
It’s a learning garden built by the University of Tampa chapter of Roots and Shoots, which is an international program started by Jane Goodall. She’s the English woman who, in the 1960s, famously discovered that chimpanzees use tools, eat meat and have strong emotional bonds.
“Everywhere I went, I met young people who seemed to have lost hope. They all said more or less the same thing: ‘We feel like this because we think you’ve compromised our future.’ And so that led into our program for youth, Roots and Shoots,” Goodall said in a promotional video.
Could microforests help keep Bradenton and Sarasota cool? What experts say | Bradenton Herald
As concern for the environment and the health of local waterways remains a critical concern, one group is tackling the issue by packing big effects into small spaces, often miles from the coastline.
Suncoast Urban ReForesters (SURF), a coalition of local nonprofit organizations, is working to turn empty, unused turf space into microforests.
The organizations that make up SURF include the Florida Veterans for Common Sense Fund, Inc.; Solutions to Avoid Red Tide; and Sarasota Bay Rotary Club.
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.
