As the sun is still rising into a warm fall day, I pile into a large pickup with four folks I met only five minutes before, prepared for a 12 hour day of hurricane relief work. Onboard is an architect, interior designer, audio-visual installer, and a nonprofit consultant. As the chatter begins, I’m pretty sure …
In the shadow of Hurricane Michael a day of helping others Read More »
As with all who are following the devastation from Hurricane Michael, I’m shocked and saddened by the destruction. Michael hit an area of the coast that I know and love, and it will be a long time before it is whole again. My first step after the storm was to contact as many friends and …
Helping people, communities, and the environment after Hurricane Michael Read More »
1985 seems like a long time ago. For those who care about clean water which is pretty much everybody 1985 was a landmark year in the quest to restore our nation’s waterways. That was the year that the Clean Water Act set as a goal for eliminating all direct discharges to our rivers, lakes, bays, …
Cleaning-up our waterways 33 years overdue, but still not too late Read More »
When the toilet flushes, we never expect to see it again. And we all know what I mean by “it.” Yet raw sewage is bubbling up in the streets from failing infrastructure in many Florida communities, putting public health and the environment at risk. Raw sewage can contain various disease-causing organisms, including viruses, bacteria, and …
A message from Florida-Alabama coastal organizer Christian Wagley:In order to realize a healthy and restored Gulf, GRN relies on thousands of people and organizational partners in communities all along the Gulf coast. Our friends in Southwest Florida are experiencing another epic tragedy as massive flows of freshwater are being diverted down the Caloosahatchee River to …
Gazing out at its usually calm waters, one would never know that Pensacola Bay is missing 90% of its seagrass the Bay’s single most important aquatic habitat. That’s why it’s vitally important that we protect the remaining seagrass. A recent Federal decision to rebuff plans to dredge some of the remaining seagrass for a deeper …
The Florida Legislature has been on an anti-environment tack for most of the past 15 years, even as Floridians become increasingly concerned about issues such as growth, water shortages, and the health of the State’s waterways where so many of us fish and swim. Unfortunately, this year’s just-completed legislative session brought more of the same …
Legislators weaken protections for what makes Florida special Read More »
The on-again, off-again saga of drilling off the Florida coast is…on again. Well, apparently it was never really off. Just a few days after the Trump administration proposed opening nearly the entire U.S. coast to drilling, including the long off-limits eastern Gulf of Mexico off Florida, there came a hasty announcement from Interior Secretary Ryan …
Off-again, on-again…The quest to drill off Florida Read More »
And the hurricanes just kept coming…In finishing my first full month on the job as GRN’s coastal organizer for Florida and Alabama, here came another one as Hurricane Nate churned toward the northern Gulf Coast. Fortunately, Nate was only a Category 1 storm when it came ashore on the Mississippi coast, but it still managed …
Of hurricanes, sewage, and fixing our existing communities first Read More »
Santa Rosa Island is a gem along Florida’s Panhandle coast, with 52 miles of white sand beaches stretching from Destin to Pensacola and buffering the mainland from storms while providing habitat for a great diversity of life. Despite its value to both nature and people, a bill working its way through Congress would reduce protections …