Florida Archives - Inside Climate News

Hurricane-Weary Floridians Ask: What U.N. Climate Talks?

By Amy Green — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 10:00:00 +0000

Three months after Idalia, many here are more preoccupied with recovery than COP28.

By Amy Green

CEDAR KEY, Fla.—For this island fishing village along Florida’s Gulf Coast, Hurricane Idalia wrought some of its worst damage not on land but offshore.

In the Florida Everglades, a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Hotspot

By Amy Green — Mon, 06 Nov 2023 10:00:00 +0000

Drainage has exposed the fertile soils of the Everglades Agricultural Area, a region responsible for much of the nation’s sugar cane.

By Amy Green

ORLANDO, Fla.—It used to be the water spilled over Lake Okeechobee’s southern shore, flowing eventually into the sawgrass prairies of the Florida Everglades. For thousands of years the marsh vegetation flourished and died here in an endless cycle, the plant remains falling beneath the slow-coursing water to form a rich layer of organic soil called peat.

Fish and Wildlife Service Proposes Sprawling Conservation Area in Everglades Watershed

By Amy Green — Sun, 22 Oct 2023 09:30:00 +0000

Explosive growth continues to pressure Florida’s natural resources, and climate change will drive more development inland. The hope is to push back against the impact.

By Amy Green

ORLANDO, Fla.—A new federal proposal calls for creating a conservation area that would span 12 counties in Florida, from the Everglades’ headwaters in the center of the state to sawgrass prairies further south, preserving a region that is home to imperiled species like the Florida panther, the official state animal.

In Florida, Gen Z Activists Step Into the Fight Against Sugarcane Burning

By Michelle Mairena and Kyndall Hubbard, Youthcast Media Group — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 10:00:00 +0000

Every year, farmers in South Florida set fire to more than 400,000 acres of sugarcane fields pre-harvest, creating a “black snow” of ash and soot that falls on the low-income communities nearby.

By Michelle Mairena and Kyndall Hubbard, Youthcast Media Group

Christine Louis-Jeune knew she was home when she saw ash falling from the sky and onto her windshield.

Fish and Wildlife Service to Consider Restoring Manatee’s Endangered Status

By Amy Green — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 01:32:47 +0000

Nearly 2,000 manatees died in Florida in 2021 and 2022 as water pollution killed the seagrass they feed on. The manatee was downlisted in 2017 from endangered to threatened, over the objections of scientists, environmentalists and citizens.

By Amy Green

ORLANDO, Fla.—The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will consider tightening protections on the West Indian manatee after concluding that a petition demanding that the animal’s endangered status be restored presented substantial scientific evidence, the agency said Wednesday.

For Sanibel, the Recovery from Hurricane Ian Will Be Years in the Making

By Amy Green — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 14:02:56 +0000

Thousands of residents of this barrier island remain displaced a year after the costliest hurricane in state history.

By Amy Green

SANIBEL, Fla.—Few images of Hurricane Ian’s destruction in Florida a year ago this week were more indelible than those of the swamped causeway here, the only link between the mainland and barrier island where this small beach community is located.

Protecting Margaritaville: Jimmy Buffett, Bama and the Fight to Save the Manatee

By Lee Hedgepeth — Fri, 15 Sep 2023 09:00:00 +0000

The singer, who died Sept. 1, grew up in Mobile and had a huge following in Alabama, even if many of his devotees in the state were less than thrilled by his liberal politics.

By Lee Hedgepeth

MOBILE, Ala.—The second line started at four, but it was five o’clock somewhere.

Florida Pummeled by Catastrophic Storm Surges and Life-Threatening Winds as Hurricane Idalia Makes Landfall

By Amy Green — Wed, 30 Aug 2023 19:19:17 +0000

The Category 3 storm arrived at the height of an unprecedented hurricane season characterized by record-warm water temperatures.

By Amy Green

ORLANDO, Fla.—Hurricane Idalia came ashore Wednesday in Florida’s Big Bend region before churning into Georgia, threatening catastrophic storm surges and life-threatening winds as the latest in an extraordinary year of weather-related disasters in the United States.

For Florida’s Ailing Corals, No Relief From the Heat

By Amy Green — Mon, 21 Aug 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Scientists now fear a global bleaching event, with Florida leading the way.

By Amy Green

ORLANDO, Fla.—No immediate end is in sight to the unprecedented marine heat wave stressing the state’s coral reefs, raising fears the heart-rending losses seen here may portend a global bleaching event that could affect reefs from Florida to Colombia, scientists of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday.

NOAA Adjusts Hurricane Season Prediction to ‘Above-Normal’

By Amy Green — Fri, 11 Aug 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Record-warm Atlantic sea surface temperatures and slow-developing effects of an El Niño favor hurricane activity.

By Amy Green

ORLANDO, Fla.—NOAA forecasters are upping their expectations for the 2023 hurricane season, based on record-warm Atlantic sea surface temperatures.