- Ahead of the 2021 Florida legislative session, Florida officials are looking to “spend more than $1 billion to build 80 aquifer storage and recovery wells along the northern rim of the lake to hold the stormwater,” reports Craig Pittman. Instead of forcing Lake Okeechobee’s water East and West into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee Rivers where it can trigger environmental problems, or South where it wants to go, the state might try to build massive storage wells north of the Lake. Guess who’ll pay for it? Interested persons can attend a Zoom webinar hosted by the South Florida Water Management District Tuesday, Dec. 8 about what are known as ARS wells. Read Pittman’s full report here.
- Should ecocide be criminalized? Increasingly, among world leaders across the European Union to the Pacific Island nations, there is agreement that ecocide is a crime that ought to be tried and punished via the International Criminal Court at The Hague.
- “The EPA declined to comment,” might be a new refrain, same as the old refrain. This time, it’s regarding a special report from Reuters: U.S. air monitors routinely miss pollution - even refinery explosions. “To say there was no impact to air quality was crazy," said Johns Hopkins Environmental Engineering professor Peter DeCarlo.
- POLITICO is warning of a new mortgage crisis, thanks to climate change. They highlight Hialeah as a prime example: “Some scientists fear the city could be underwater within the lifetimes of some current residents. Despite that grim prognosis, the federal government keeps pumping mortgage money into Hialeah, as it does in hundreds of other communities now facing grave dangers from climate change.”
- Canada is welcoming BP oil exploration in their largest Atlantic marine conservation area. Orwell, and others, wonder just how protected a conservation area is while being explored for oil.
- Parasites! The little critters are incredibly important to ecosystems. The Guardian reports, “Increasingly, scientists are finding that parasites are puppet masters, shaping ecosystems by changing the behaviour of their host species.” But wait! There’s more.
- We might think New Jersey is in a galaxy far away, but they struggle with the same sea level rise we do, and they’re exploring marsh restoration as a potential solution: “You’ve got to build infrastructure that’s more welcoming to wildlife, that doesn’t cause the fish to disappear, but somewhere in all that you’ve got to build in recreation for people,” said the Wetland’s Institute Executive Director Lenore Tedesco.
- Up in Georgia, the concern that toxic superfund sites are meeting climate change is growing, especially given the contentious senate run-off election. "You have to think about how the people living near these sites will suffer if the toxic contaminants are released because of some catastrophic climate event,” said former EPA research scientist Jacob Carter.
ICYMI, red tide was found in Southwest Florida in late November. Check out that and all of our environmental stories here.
A moment of nature peace:
Video Credit: Tom James
Got an environment story or tip to share? Email Valerie Vande Panne at Vvandepanne @ wgcu.org.