Defending Florida's State Parks: A Call to Action to Prevent Proposed Development
Release Date: 08/26/2024
How to Choose Sustainable Seafood
How To Protect The Ocean
You want to eat seafood the right way. Then you hit the seafood counter and face a wall of labels, a sign promising “sustainable practices,” and an employee who has no idea where the tuna came from. Add documentaries like Seaspiracy telling you to quit fish entirely, and it’s tempting to give up and buy whatever looks good. Unsustainable fishing is the biggest threat to marine biodiversity, so those choices carry real weight. In this episode, Andrew’s good friend Dr. David Shiffman joins the show to talk about his new book, Why Sustainable Seafood Matters. David spent two years on the...
info_outline
Slow Down for Whales: How Global Shipping Learned to Share the Ocean
How To Protect The Ocean
Blue whales can’t dodge ships. When scientists tracked blue whales alongside cargo ships off Southern California, the whales responded in just over half the encounters, and every response was the same: a slow, shallow dive. Not once did a whale move sideways out of the ship’s path. Models suggest ships kill around 18 blue whales a year off the U.S. West Coast, nearly eight times what the population can lose and still recover. The good news is in the data. Most blue whale strike deaths happen in a small slice of ocean, and that’s where ports, air quality agencies, marine sanctuaries, and...
info_outline
When Whale Food Moves: Climate Change, Crab Traps, and Pop-Up Gear
How To Protect The Ocean
In 2014, a patch of unusually warm water nicknamed "the blob" settled off the west coast of North America. The cold, food-rich water that normally stretches far offshore shrank into a narrow strip along the coast, and hungry humpback whales followed their food straight into the waters where Dungeness crabbers had set thousands of traps, each tied to a vertical rope. Entanglements jumped from about 10 a year to 53 in 2015 and 55 in 2016. In this episode, Andrew traces the line from warmer water to a specific whale in a specific rope. You'll learn why lunge-feeding whales depend on dense patches...
info_outline
The Whale Heart That Beats Twice a Minute
How To Protect The Ocean
Fill your hands with cold water, hold your breath, and press your face in. Your heart slows within seconds. That reflex lives in every whale in the ocean too, and in a blue whale it is pushed so far that the largest heart on Earth can drop to two beats a minute on a deep dive. In this episode, Andrew walks through the first heart rate recording from a wild blue whale, led by Jeremy Goldbogen's team at Stanford, and a study by Terrie Williams of UC Santa Cruz that tracked narwhals fleeing after release from nets in East Greenland. The narwhals swam as hard as they could while their hearts fell...
info_outline
The Biggest Mouthful: How Blue Whales Eat and Why Krill Matters
How To Protect The Ocean
A blue whale can swallow a volume of water bigger than its own body in a single gulp. That move, called lunge feeding, is one of the most extreme feats in the animal kingdom, and it only pays off when krill is packed into thick, dense swarms. In a thin patch, a blue whale gets back about six times the energy it spent. In a dense swarm, it gets back more than 200 times. In this first episode of the Age of Giants series, Andrew breaks down how rorqual whales feed, then follows the krill. In 2025, the Antarctic krill fishery hit its 620,000 tonne precautionary limit for the first time and closed...
info_outline
Whales Are Sprinters: What a Blue Whale's Heart Does When It Lunge Feeds
How To Protect The Ocean
What happens to the heart of the largest animal on Earth when it charges into a swarm of krill? Dr. Ashley Blawas, a postdoctoral scholar in Jeremy Goldbogen's lab at Stanford's Hopkins Marine Station, joins Andrew to unpack new research published in PNAS that measured the heart rates of lunge-feeding blue whales and humpback whales using suction-cup ECG tags. Ashley explains the three phases of lunge feeding (accelerate, engulf, filter) and why these giants behave a lot like human sprinters. Their heart rates stay high after each lunge, then gradually recover while they glide and filter,...
info_outline
The Pollution That Breeds: How the Great Lakes Stopped Invaders
How To Protect The Ocean
In 1988, someone found a striped mussel the size of a fingernail in Lake St. Clair. Within a few years, zebra mussels coated pipes, boats, and the bottom of the Great Lakes, and they became the poster child for "it's too late." Andrew closes Marine Pollution week with the pollutant that breaks every rule: a living one that reproduces instead of diluting. He follows two invaders. Zebra mussels rode in on ship ballast water, clogged power plant intakes, and stripped plankton from the base of the food web. Lionfish, likely released from home aquariums, spread from Florida across the Caribbean and...
info_outline
How Beach Cleanup Data Helped Canada Ban Plastic
How To Protect The Ocean
You rinse the yogurt tub, check the number on the bottom, and drop it in the blue bin. In Canada, only about 9% of plastic waste actually gets recycled, and the global rate is the same. Andrew breaks down why plastic is so hard to recycle, why microplastics are so hard to study, and what the controversy over plastic-in-the-brain headlines does and doesn't tell us. Then the story moves to a beach in Stanley Park in 1994, where Vancouver Aquarium staff and volunteers started picking up trash and writing down what they found. That cleanup grew into a national program, and its data fed into the...
info_outline
What Happens to Fish When Our Pills Reach the Water?
How To Protect The Ocean
In 2001, government scientists started adding a tiny amount of the synthetic estrogen found in birth control pills to a remote lake in northwestern Ontario, at levels already measured in city wastewater. Within seven weeks, male fish were making egg-yolk protein. After two summers, some had eggs growing in their testes, and the fathead minnow population collapsed to about 1% of normal. Andrew explains how the same chemistry leaves our bodies every day, passes through treatment plants built for sewage and bacteria, and flows into rivers, lakes, and the coast. Hormones are only part of it. In...
info_outline
How Did Humpback Whales End Up in New York Harbour?
How To Protect The Ocean
This summer, people are boarding whale watching boats and seeing humpbacks feeding in sight of the Manhattan skyline. Fifty years ago, that same water was an open sewer, and every toilet on Manhattan's West Side flushed straight into the Hudson River, untreated. Andrew tells the story of how the whales got here, and why it took most of a century. He starts with the cause: sewers built to empty into the rivers, roughly 590 million gallons of raw sewage a day by the early 1900s, and floating screens at Coney Island to keep it away from swimmers. Then the turn. The city began testing the harbor...
info_outlineAndrew Lewin discusses the beauty of Florida's natural landscapes and the importance of defending state parks. You are all encouraged to come together as a community to protect these parks. The episode addresses a listener-requested story and emphasizes the significance of taking action to preserve the ocean.
Andrew welcomes story suggestions from the audience and invites them to connect on LinkedIn or Instagram at @HowToProtectTheOcean.
Tune in to learn more about protecting parks and advocating for a better ocean.
Link:
https://www.floridaspringscouncil.org/single-post/state-parks-threatened
Sign Up for Updates on the process: www.speakupforblue.com/oceanapp
Connect with Speak Up For Blue:
Website: https://bit.ly/3fOF3Wf
Instagram: https://bit.ly/3rIaJSG
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@speakupforblue
Twitter: https://bit.ly/3rHZxpc
YouTube: www.speakupforblue.com/youtube
Florida state parks are facing a significant threat from proposed developments, such as resorts, golf courses, and other amenities, which are putting these natural areas at risk. The episode highlights how nine state parks in Florida are in jeopardy due to development proposals that could potentially alter the landscapes and ecosystems of these parks. Some of the proposed changes include adding resorts with up to 350 rooms, disc golf courses, pickleball courts, multiple golf courses, and clubhouses encompassing over 1,000 acres.
The episode emphasizes the importance of these state parks as natural areas that provide essential ecosystem functions, such as biodiversity preservation, natural drainage, and acting as buffers against natural disasters like flooding and hurricanes. By paving over these natural areas and introducing developments like resorts and golf courses, the delicate balance of these ecosystems could be disrupted, leading to potential consequences for water quality, erosion, and overall environmental health.
The proposed developments are driven by state government decisions, raising concerns about the prioritization of economic interests over environmental conservation. The episode underscores the need for public engagement and advocacy to protect these state parks. Floridians and concerned individuals are encouraged to participate in public meetings, provide public comments, and voice their opposition to the proposed developments that threaten the integrity of these natural areas.
The episode also highlights the potential long-term impacts of these developments on Florida's environment, especially in the face of climate change challenges. With Florida already at risk from climate change consequences like sea-level rise and increased storm intensity, preserving these state parks as natural areas becomes even more crucial to maintain the resilience of the region's ecosystems and protect the well-being of local communities.
Overall, the episode serves as a call to action for individuals to stand up for the conservation of Florida state parks, emphasizing the importance of preserving these natural areas for biodiversity, ecosystem functions, and the enjoyment of nature by all.
Protecting state parks is crucial for various reasons, as highlighted in the podcast episode. State parks play a significant role in preserving biodiversity, maintaining natural drainage, and ensuring mental well-being.
Preserving Biodiversity:
-
State parks are designated to protect natural habitats and ecosystems, providing a safe haven for a diverse range of plant and animal species.
-
By preserving these areas, we safeguard the biodiversity within them, ensuring the survival of various species and maintaining ecological balance.
-
The loss of state parks to development can lead to habitat destruction, fragmentation, and loss of species, impacting the overall biodiversity of the region.
Maintaining Natural Drainage:
-
State parks serve as natural buffers against flooding and other natural disasters by allowing for proper drainage of water.
-
These areas are often left untouched, allowing for natural processes to occur, such as water absorption and filtration, which helps in managing water levels and preventing flooding.
-
Paving over state parks disrupts these natural drainage systems, leading to increased risks of flooding, erosion, and water quality issues in surrounding areas.
Ensuring Mental Well-being:
-
State parks provide opportunities for people to connect with nature, unwind, and improve their mental well-being.
-
Spending time in natural environments has been shown to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression, promoting overall mental health.
-
By preserving state parks, we ensure that individuals have access to green spaces where they can relax, rejuvenate, and enjoy the benefits of nature.
In conclusion, protecting state parks is not just about preserving natural landscapes; it is about safeguarding biodiversity, maintaining essential ecosystem functions like natural drainage, and promoting mental well-being for individuals who seek solace and connection with nature. It is essential to prioritize the conservation of these areas to ensure a sustainable and healthy environment for current and future generations.
Advocating for the Protection of Florida State Parks
In the podcast episode, Andrew Lewin emphasizes the urgent need for a call to action to protect Florida state parks from proposed developments that threaten their natural landscapes. He highlights the importance of public participation in upcoming public meetings to advocate for the preservation of these parks. The proposed changes include the construction of resorts, golf courses, and other amenities within the state parks, which could have detrimental effects on the environment and the surrounding communities.
Why Public Participation is Crucial:
-
Preserving Natural Areas: State parks are designated to protect natural habitats and biodiversity. By participating in public meetings, individuals can voice their concerns about the potential destruction of these vital ecosystems.
-
Environmental Impact: The proposed developments, such as resorts and golf courses, could lead to habitat destruction, increased pollution from fertilizers and pesticides, and altered drainage patterns. Public input can highlight these environmental concerns.
-
Climate Change Resilience: Florida is already at risk from climate change consequences, including sea-level rise and increased storm intensity. Preserving natural areas like state parks can help mitigate these impacts by providing natural buffers and maintaining ecosystem functions.
Taking Action:
-
Attend Public Meetings: Participating in public meetings allows individuals to directly express their support for protecting state parks. By voicing concerns and presenting alternative solutions, attendees can influence decision-makers.
-
Engage with Advocates: Engaging with conservation advocates like Carissa Cabrera and Erica from "Whales We" on platforms like TikTok can provide valuable information and updates on the situation. Collaborating with like-minded individuals can amplify the message of park preservation.
-
Use Social Media: Utilize social media platforms to raise awareness about the importance of preserving state parks in Florida. Sharing information, encouraging others to participate in public meetings, and contacting relevant authorities can help mobilize support for the cause.
Call to Action:
-
Visit floridaspringcouncil.org for updates on public meetings and ways to get involved.
-
Attend public meetings to voice support for protecting Florida state parks.
-
Engage with conservation advocates and share information on social media to raise awareness.
-
Contact the governor's office and express concerns about the proposed developments in state parks.
By actively participating in public meetings, engaging with advocates, and utilizing social media platforms, individuals can play a crucial role in advocating for the protection of Florida state parks and preserving these natural treasures for future generations.