Filthy Florida

Environmental Woes in the Sunshine State

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How “Green” is the University of South Florida at St. Petersburg?

And other issues I comment about...

The beautiful campus nestled near Bayboro Harbor in downtown St. Petersburg prides itself on becoming a sustainable campus and eventually becoming climate neutral. 

Currently, the campus boasts:

Two buildings, (The University Student Center and the Science and Technology Building), are certified as “green” buildings. The Kate Tiedemann College of Business, that is currently under construction, is also in queue to become the next green building on campus.

USFSP also has a butterfly garden that uses native plants near the entrance of the campus to promote butterfly and bee populations.

Water efficiency includes water efficient landscaping, water use reduction properties and innovative waste water technologies. There are also these nifty drinking fountains that refill water bottles to save on the extra waste plastic causes.

Recycling bins can be found throughout the campus and classrooms and USPSP purchases recycled paper for all of its computer paper needs!

Parking spots reserved for electric cars that have charging stations can be found on campus, a rental car agreement with Enterprise that uses fuel efficient automobiles is available to students for a small fee and a bike rental program on campus is free.

University of South Florida St. Petersburg is really going in the right direction to become a leading campus and model of environmental sustainability. 

Way to go, USFSP! 

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Anna Maria Island

A quiet place in Florida...

A sleepy, little coastal town in the off season and a bustling tourist spot in the spring and summertime. Always beautiful.

This wonderful community has its own Environmental Enhancement and Education Committee through the City of Anna Maria Island to protect the natural environment. Amazing!

I recently visited the area and was pleasantly pleased to see many native plants and pristine beaches. The streets were clean and the trees abundant. It was absolutely beautiful.

It turns out, this city really cares about where they live and it shows. Some of the projects the E.E.E.C. has accomplished and is still involved in...

Adopt-a-Beach Access project

Assists the city to meet the Green Local Government Certification

Established Anna Maria Island as a Tree City USA

Uses native plants to enhance and sustain the environment

THIS CITY IS BEAUTIFUL

Some of the photos I took while there:

Wood storks just hanging around

The Sparkling Shoreline

A Boy Catching Bait Fish

Abundant Wildlife at the Seashore

I think a lot of Florida cities could take a queue from this quaint, coastal town. It’s a place where the people appreciate what they have and know that working with the wildlife and natural surroundings benefits all involved.

We love you Anna Maria Island for keeping Florida beautiful!

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This is Florida. Pavement and pathways. Lights and dark.   Taverns and terrain. First Fridays and Saturday Morning Markets.

This is Florida. Black and white. Overgrown and overpopulated. Native plants and invasive species. Untamed and perfectly manicured.

This is Florida. Colorful and carefree. Quiet and serene.  

Whatever you want Florida to be, it can be. It is. Wildlife, wild nights, crazy and calm, this beautiful state has endless roads to discover whatever it is you want to find. 

All these pictures were taken by yours truly.

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City of Palmetto Seas the Future

The city of Palmetto, Florida wants a new living seawall for both the people and the fish to enjoy.

Imagine if Florida’s shorelines looked like this!!!

The city commissioners in Palmetto, Florida, voted, (4-1) to have the mayor negotiate to build the first ever living seawall that would guard against the rising waters and promote an environment for marine life. It’s genius. 

After learning that the current seawall at Riverside Park was in need of repair, city leaders decided that the old 1920′s seawall needed to go. Instead of replacing it with the usual flat, uninhabitable concrete, forward thinking traded the outdated with outstanding.

The new living wall would be composed of natural and man-made materials that would provide nooks and crannies for fish and marine life to enjoy. The innovative structure would be built by Reef Innovations, a worldwide licensed contractor that would combine a seawall and reef balls to make up a one of a kind living sea wall. 

The wall would not only provide habitat for marine life but also slows erosion, something that mainstream seawalls cannot offer. 

The trend of fully-functioning construction for both society and marine life has been a long time coming. It looks like it may finally be here. The only way human life can sustain on this planet is if we sustain this planet. 

Thank you Palmetto, Florida!

Photos courtesy of Blue Water Metrics and Bradenton Herald.

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Beautiful Florida Flora

Quit mucking it up...

All of these pictures I have taken in the Sunshine State. They are images of wildlife and the fauna that is so precious to the state. 

I only hope that they are here 100 years from now.

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Florida Power Companies Continue to be Dirty

Blocking sustainable industry and charging billions to its customers, Florida’s power companies remain on a greedy path to ruin paradise.

Touting a “greener future,” the Florida Power and Light company wants to build a new power plant near Lake Okeechobee to the tune of $1.2 billion and guess who they want to pay for it? 

Florida taxpayers.

Before it even gets built, FPL wants to charge its customers for another, less than sustainable, dirty power plant. Sure, it’s natural gas and not coal but it certainly isn’t solar energy that is efficient, clean and abundant in the Sunshine State.

The company has already been approved by the state to charge $500 million for fracking in other states and $241 million for “advanced recovery costs” at its plant in Miami known as Turkey Point. The approval is for two new reactors that may NEVER BE BUILT but a ridiculous “special guarantee” allows FPL to charge customers for the bill anyways.

THAT IS SOME UNBELIEVABLE SWINDLING!

Florida Power and Light is one of the numerous power corporations working to squash a Constitutional amendment on the ballot in 2016, known as Article X, Section 29, that would allow local, small-scale solar generated electricity production. 

This would mean less money in their dirty, corporate pockets. 

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. 

Florida voters must decide to go green and vote in clean, sustainable energy. The time of monopolized dirty power needs to come to end. No one wants to pay for it and certainly, no one wants to breathe the dirty filth power companies spew from their smoke stacks or their lying lips.

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Do Something...

...and do it for this.

Remember back in the sixties and seventies when people actually gave a damn and did something about it?

If you’re not old enough to know or don’t have any recollection because, well, it was the sixties and seventies, people would march, rally or have sit-ins when they believed in something and wanted to make a difference.

It might have been a time of “free love” and “peace,” but it was also a time of change. People cared about:

The Vietnam war

Civil rights

Women’s rights

The environment

LBGT 

...Just to name a few things that mattered. Now women can vote, all men are really equal and we recognize that the LBGT community are real people too! Finally, we can all get married, (and divorced), whenever we all please.

So what are we doing now about the things that matter? Do we care?!

I think we still do care. Maybe we just have to go about the doing a little differently in today’s society.

In order to make a difference, you don’t even have to look up from the cyber universe we’re all connected to. Just take a look at some of the following websites and click to sign to make a difference!

petition2congress.com - you can sign to end Daylight Savings Time, common core math and all sorts of ridiculous other things no one likes.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com - this site contains infinite petitions to sustain the world, stop animal abuse and issues of faith, politics, health and many more.

http://www.care2.com/ - here you can find petitions pertaining to the community, media, animals and just about anything else that is good.

http://www.ewg.org/take-action - this awesome, non-for-profit website is all about saving the environment and clean living.

Sign a petition and make a difference. Start a petition and make a difference. Make a difference.

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Why are you beautiful?

Luck.

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Funning around with Photoscape

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IMG_0429 by Susan Godfrey Via Flickr:

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8 photos by Susan Godfrey

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My Real Florida

A day in the life.

On sunny weekends I am lucky enough to hop on a boat and drop anchor on a sandbar in Riviera Bay, an active neighborhood near Weedon Island Preserve in northeast St. Petersburg. Most of our time is spent relaxing on the water and searching for sea critters. 

Some of the goodies we’ve seen:

A horseshoe crab

Some native birds. Pelicans and gulls.

We usually see dolphins.

And, when we’re very lucky, a manatee will float by.

I’m just hoping that in the years to come, my children and grandchildren will be blessed enough to see how beautiful Florida is. 

Please reuse. Please recycle and PLEASE don’t pollute the only home these critters have.

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The High Cost of Solar Power in the Sunshine State

...and other lies people tell you.

The state of Florida ranks third in potential to harness the power of the sun and lead the solar industry. However, the state severely lags behind thanks to the tactics of dirty power companies already established.

Compared to California’s solar start up cost of roughly $10,000, versus Florida’s $25,000, it is evident that the west coast state has better policies and smarter politicians than we do.

However, with the rising cost of electricity every year, Floridians could save $30,000-$40,000 over the course of 20 years.

and, And, AND, solar energy is a clean and renewable energy source that our planet and our lungs love!

Solar energy works like this:

Except Florida electric companies DO NOT want you to be able to produce enough energy so that you do not need them. How would they be able to make money or pollute the planet?

Screw them. I would rather make the investment in solar than make any of those polluters any wealthier...

Make the call. Find solar companies in Florida and make the world a happier and healthier place.

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Florida cannot Weather Solar Power according to the Electric Companies.

...and other bullshit in the Sunshine State.

Only in Florida. You hear it all the time. Tales of a cockroach-eating contest causing a man’s death, free flu-shots for seniors at a strip club and bartering for beer with an alligator. 

THE LIST IS RIDICULOUS... and endless.

The latest? Florida power companies, (electric), and some Florida politicians, (imagine that!), are disguising themselves as a giving-a-shit syndicate here to save us from a scam called SOLAR.

Consumers for Smart Solar, (i.e. politicians and electric companies in Florida and other ill-advised organizations ), are warning Floridians that with solar energy comes overcharging and fraud from BIG, OUT-OF-STATE solar companies hell bent on making us suffer if consumers choose clean, renewable energy versus the monopolized, power polluters...  

and speaking of fraud and overcharging... Duke Energy, did you forget about the meter-reading debacle?

You overcharged plenty of customers.

What about the nuclear power plant that Floridians paid millions of dollars in advance to build? 

The nuclear plant is not going to be built but shareholders are keeping the pre-paid $150 million.  

Give me a break, Consumers for Smart Solar. It’s clear you don’t want anyone cutting into your profits.

And, give me a break, Paula Dockery for claiming that tactics like this aren’t immoral. I believe there is a moral code beyond the pockets of shareholders and it’s called GIVING A DAMN ABOUT THE WORLD AND THE FUTURE OF IT.  You don’t blame the corporation for “looking out for it’s shareholders.” Financial interests should come before the health and well-being of the people and the planet? The shareholders are just as bad as you.

Finally, SHAME ON YOU Pam Bondi and any other politician for aligning yourself with companies that have no regard for the citizens and only care about their shareholders and the bottom line.

Give me the BIG, OUT-OF-STATE solar companies that are going to overcharge me and rip me off. At least I’ll know it’s for a good cause.

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And you thought this was over...

Hardly.

Five years later, Florida and the other Gulf States are still feeling the repercussions of the deadly 2010 Deepwater Horizon BP Oil spill. The dolphins are feeling it too. So are other marine animals.

Some sea turtles aren’t faring well either.

For and excruciating 87 long days, approximately 210 million gallons of crude oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana that polluted the water, beaches, marine habitats and marine life. So what? 

Here’s your ‘so what’:

Sick dolphins.

Already endangered sea turtles are being stranded near the site of the oil spill, about 500 per year since the incident.

Unbalanced food webs. Meaning we’ll see the effects, (populations of fish and marine animals collapse), in the years to come.

Decreased fish and wildlife. Super.

The largest oil spill in history and for many it is only a distant memory. But, for those of us who still care, there is some good news and good people...

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund

Natural Resource Damage Assessment

RESTORE Act

All of these organizations are still involved in restoring the habitats for the unfortunate animals and marine life and are still trying to improve the ‘health’ of the Gulf States that were affected.

A BIG THANK YOU to all of those that helped and are still helping fix this disaster that affects all of us.

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The Beauty of Red Tide

...and other beautiful sites in Florida.

It could be an abstract painting hanging in a fine art museum or better yet, the swirls in your cocktail after a long week. But, it’s neither. I may paint it but I surely wouldn’t want to drink the comely concoction.  

Karenia brevis, known as Florida’s Red Tide is a marine flagellate that produces a toxin harmful to humans and marine animals.

That’s another pretty picture of the single cell organism that ‘blooms,’ which is considered a rapid increase in the algae. 

How this appealing algae appears in our waters:

Sometimes, it’s just natural causes.

Fertilizers from the land run off into the water, another possible cause.

Coastal water pollution has been suggested as the cause.

Rising sea temperatures could be the problem.

Harmful effects of the crimson current:

Human illness or death if contaminated seafood is consumed.

Death to fish, seabirds and marine mammals that come in contact with it. Nice.

Coughing, sneezing or respiratory problems can affect humans that unsuspectingly swim or come in contact with it.

Currently, Sarasota and other areas along the Gulf coast are experiencing bouts of Red Tide on shorelines. So, NO SWIMMING allowed.

Keep Fido out of the water too!

In fact, just don’t go to the beach. Sigh. Poor mermaids.