A roundup of news items related to climate change and other environmental issues in Florida:
From bugs to reptiles, climate change is changing land and the species that inhabit it | USA Today
Some species are at risk due to climate change and a decline in wild spaces. But what’s next for species at risk?
Veterinarians and staff at the Whitney Lab for Marine Bioscience in St. Augustine, Florida, are trying to answer that question. They receive patients who get care for everything from boat strikes to strandings. Some are sick like, Nigel.
Nigel is a turtle, by the way.
Florida’s home-hardening grant program is lowering insurance premiums for some, but not all homeowners. Here’s why | Florida Politics
A home-hardening initiative Florida lawmakers resurrected last year to improve property wind resistance and insurance premiums is rolling ahead, with nearly 10% of the program’s grant pot already distributed to residents who upgraded their houses.
So far, fewer than half have reported lower insurance costs.
Steven Fielder, chief business officer at the Department of Financial Services (DFS), gave lawmakers an update on the My Safe Florida Home program, which received its first grant application Nov. 18, 2022.
Battered by conservation groups, Miami Wilds water park ‘dead’ after county vote | Miami Herald
Miami-Dade commissioners unanimously turned on a Miami Wilds water park that once enjoyed broad support in County Hall, voting to abandon a lease modification needed to keep the deal alive.
“This horse is dead,” said Oliver Gilbert, chair of the 13-member board.
Conservation groups fought the attraction planned for Zoo Miami parking lots, arguing the project would eliminate vital nighttime feeding ground for endangered bats that live in the surrounding forest. On Monday, federal wildlife regulators backed that argument, notifying Miami-Dade the county-owned acreage was environmentally sensitive.
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.
