4 ms·

Floridians take their environment pretty seriously. Do you have any familiarity with this state whatsoever?

azemetre 3y ago
Are you familiar with this state? Farmers literally dump agriculture runoff into the water ways with zero repercussions. What do you think red tide comes from? Do you think red tide season to be a natural phenomenon and not entirely man made? This state may have cared about the environment in the past but that has changed drastically over the last 8 years. The sugar industry has done an untold amount of environmental damage in FL.
- doublepg23 3y ago
  I'm assuming the blue utopia of California doesn't have agricultural pressures either then?
  - azemetre 3y ago
    Nice whataboutism but as someone who lived in Florida for 30 years, still has familiar, and visits every year I think I'm familiar with the area I grew up in, started businesses in, and ultimately left.
- DiggyJohnson 3y ago
  I'm a lifelong Florida democrat. Please don't assume I'm making stuff up just because you disagree with me.
  - azemetre 3y ago
    What is your point to your comment? Florida is absolutely not the same Florida as it was in 90s or early 2000s. The state has drastically changed for the worse. I lived there for 30 years, I'm intimately involved with the local political scene. My neighbors were game wardens and licensed arborists. It's been known that agriculture runoff worsens red tide. Red tide is something that would happen a couple times a century, now it happens yearly; this is absolutely due to the terrible environmental regulations in FL. These polluters have massive ties to the state legislature, which is why they are never punished: https://phys.org/news/2018-09-red-tide-natural-scientists-coastal.html https://phys.org/news/2018-09-red-tide-natural-scientists-co... What about the private sugar companies draining and polluting the Everglades? Why are they never fined appropriate amounts for ruining an important part of Florida's ecosystem? Or by environmental laws do you mean NIMBYs that just abuse the court system because someone saw a barred owl in a tree? I should know, my neighbor prevented an entire subdivision from being built in "their" backyard for 5 years. This is a state that is now hijacked by a political class that cares more about national ambitions than helping their citizens. Do you honestly think the current Florida legislature would have passed something like Bright Futures in todays climate? Florida use to heavily invest in education and environmentalism, even with republican governance, now it's just another national political campaign with politicians that care more about grander ambitions while rallying the national political party with identity politics? edit: so readers will be aware of how bad Florida has become, this state has voted for high speed rail since 2000 and when the money was about to be granted and secured by Obama and Crist. Then shortly after Rick Scott was elected he rejected the project and government grants because his party wanted to give a lost to Obama. Something the voters have wanted for over a decade, that was literally enshrined into the state constitution, and was torpedoed every instant because the party that didn't want it to happened wasn't happy with the democratic process. This state is also big on scamming but that can deserve its own large, and separate, thread
- kcplate 3y ago
  > This state may have cared about the environment in the past but that has changed drastically over the last 8 years. You should probably go read some Carl Hiaasen novels from 40 years ago if you really think that this is a recent problem…and one related to republican state leadership (which was your apparent implication).
  - azemetre 3y ago
    It has been known for decades that agriculture runoff increases the intensity and duration of red tide. Why do you care so much for defending practices that literally poison the earth, people, animals, and ruin the economy for many working class Floridians? https://phys.org/news/2018-09-red-tide-natural-scientists-coastal.html https://phys.org/news/2018-09-red-tide-natural-scientists-co...
    - kcplate 3y ago
      > Why do you care so much for defending practices that literally poison the earth, people, animals, and ruin the economy for many working class Floridians? So do you want to try and (unsuccessfully) explain where exactly I did that in my comment? Or are you just one for throwing bombs and straw men out here and hoping something lands? If you are going to make an argument against big sugar, make it. Instead your comment was a weak DeSantis political crack. Fine, you don’t like him…neither do I, but he wasn’t responsible for algae blooms that have been happening for decades. If you had actually understood my comment you would have realized that I was saying this was a multiple decade issue that is not just confined to the current political leadership. Both parties own the mess because in Florida both parties are deep in bed with big ag. Go read a Hiaasen book, they are fiction but can give you a helluva lot more insight into Florida, ag industry, the environment, and its relationship with our government. Of course only do that if it is truly your interest. If your interest in it only extends as far as you can use it to push your political sensibilities, kindly go pound sand, because you are actually useless to those of us who actually care about these things.

Are you familiar with this state? Farmers literally dump agriculture runoff into the water ways with zero repercussions. What do you think red tide comes from? Do you think red tide season to be a natural phenomenon and not entirely man made? This state may have cared about the environment in the past but that has changed drastically over the last 8 years. The sugar industry has done an untold amount of environmental damage in FL.

doublepg23 3y ago
I'm assuming the blue utopia of California doesn't have agricultural pressures either then?
- azemetre 3y ago
  Nice whataboutism but as someone who lived in Florida for 30 years, still has familiar, and visits every year I think I'm familiar with the area I grew up in, started businesses in, and ultimately left.
DiggyJohnson 3y ago
I'm a lifelong Florida democrat. Please don't assume I'm making stuff up just because you disagree with me.
- azemetre 3y ago
  What is your point to your comment? Florida is absolutely not the same Florida as it was in 90s or early 2000s. The state has drastically changed for the worse. I lived there for 30 years, I'm intimately involved with the local political scene. My neighbors were game wardens and licensed arborists. It's been known that agriculture runoff worsens red tide. Red tide is something that would happen a couple times a century, now it happens yearly; this is absolutely due to the terrible environmental regulations in FL. These polluters have massive ties to the state legislature, which is why they are never punished: https://phys.org/news/2018-09-red-tide-natural-scientists-coastal.html https://phys.org/news/2018-09-red-tide-natural-scientists-co... What about the private sugar companies draining and polluting the Everglades? Why are they never fined appropriate amounts for ruining an important part of Florida's ecosystem? Or by environmental laws do you mean NIMBYs that just abuse the court system because someone saw a barred owl in a tree? I should know, my neighbor prevented an entire subdivision from being built in "their" backyard for 5 years. This is a state that is now hijacked by a political class that cares more about national ambitions than helping their citizens. Do you honestly think the current Florida legislature would have passed something like Bright Futures in todays climate? Florida use to heavily invest in education and environmentalism, even with republican governance, now it's just another national political campaign with politicians that care more about grander ambitions while rallying the national political party with identity politics? edit: so readers will be aware of how bad Florida has become, this state has voted for high speed rail since 2000 and when the money was about to be granted and secured by Obama and Crist. Then shortly after Rick Scott was elected he rejected the project and government grants because his party wanted to give a lost to Obama. Something the voters have wanted for over a decade, that was literally enshrined into the state constitution, and was torpedoed every instant because the party that didn't want it to happened wasn't happy with the democratic process. This state is also big on scamming but that can deserve its own large, and separate, thread
kcplate 3y ago
> This state may have cared about the environment in the past but that has changed drastically over the last 8 years. You should probably go read some Carl Hiaasen novels from 40 years ago if you really think that this is a recent problem…and one related to republican state leadership (which was your apparent implication).
- azemetre 3y ago
  It has been known for decades that agriculture runoff increases the intensity and duration of red tide. Why do you care so much for defending practices that literally poison the earth, people, animals, and ruin the economy for many working class Floridians? https://phys.org/news/2018-09-red-tide-natural-scientists-coastal.html https://phys.org/news/2018-09-red-tide-natural-scientists-co...
  - kcplate 3y ago
    > Why do you care so much for defending practices that literally poison the earth, people, animals, and ruin the economy for many working class Floridians? So do you want to try and (unsuccessfully) explain where exactly I did that in my comment? Or are you just one for throwing bombs and straw men out here and hoping something lands? If you are going to make an argument against big sugar, make it. Instead your comment was a weak DeSantis political crack. Fine, you don’t like him…neither do I, but he wasn’t responsible for algae blooms that have been happening for decades. If you had actually understood my comment you would have realized that I was saying this was a multiple decade issue that is not just confined to the current political leadership. Both parties own the mess because in Florida both parties are deep in bed with big ag. Go read a Hiaasen book, they are fiction but can give you a helluva lot more insight into Florida, ag industry, the environment, and its relationship with our government. Of course only do that if it is truly your interest. If your interest in it only extends as far as you can use it to push your political sensibilities, kindly go pound sand, because you are actually useless to those of us who actually care about these things.