A roundup of news items related to climate change and other environmental issues in Florida:
In Florida, Gen Z activists step into the fight against sugarcane burning | Inside Climate News
Christine Louis-Jeune knew she was home when she saw ash falling from the sky and onto her windshield.
She hadn’t been back to her central Florida hometown of Belle Glade in six months. She was both exhausted after a six-plus hour drive from Tallahassee and excited to tell her parents about her first semester at Florida A&M University.
But as she saw the dark clouds of smoke, all she could think about was how to get out of the car without getting ash on her clothes or in her lungs. She looked for extra masks in her glove compartment. She began to worry about her family, and hoped they were safely at home with all the windows shut.
Florida leaders blame insurance crisis on lawsuits, but evidence is thin | Tampa Bay Times
TALLAHASSEE — Barbara Glover narrowly missed being crushed by the oak tree that fell through her roof during Hurricane Ian last year.
As she fled her Tampa home of 35 years, clutching nothing but a duffel bag of clothes, she knew what to do next.
She called her insurance company, Universal Property and Casualty. And she waited for them to make her whole.
FAU is studying the effects of toxic algae on people’s health | Sun Sentinel
Researchers from Florida Atlantic University are studying how harmful algae blooms, which are common in South Florida, can affect human health. The ongoing study examines both the short-term and long-term impacts on Floridians.
“Nutrient pollution from agricultural and urban runoff causes the majority of freshwater cyanobacteria blooms,” says the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission website.
In freshwater, the blooms can produce various toxins that cause a litany of problems in humans, ranging from stomach bugs to nausea, allergic reactions and skin rashes to liver damage. People are usually exposed through skin contact with the water, ingestion or inhalation.
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.
