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Practical Steps To Safeguard Florida From Global Warming

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 6, 2008

If scientists are correct about global warming, the outlook for Florida is grim: Rising seas will wash away beaches, flood marshlands and leave coastal communities exposed to storm surge; saltwater intrusion will ruin municipal water supplies; higher water temperatures will kill corals and spread marine diseases.

The state will be plagued by more intense storms, droughts and severe weather fluctuations.

While such gloom-and-doom predictions always should be accompanied by a degree of skepticism, Floridians would be foolish to simply ignore the warning signs.

Already the state has experienced about a two-degree temperature increase since 1960 and scientists have found the higher concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is causing sea water to become more acidic, which is likely contributing to the bleaching of the reefs that underpin the economy of the Florida Keys.

Warmer waters have enabled mangroves, once rarely found north of Central Florida, to expand into the Panhandle.

Thus the importance and practicality of recommendations included in a report by a coalition of environmental groups: "Preparing for Sea Change in Florida." The Florida Coastal and Ocean Coalition includes such organizations as the National Wildlife Federation and the Environmental Defense Fund. Its report offers a strategy to protect the state against rising sea levels and turbulent weather.

Regardless of whether the global warming predictions are on target, these sensible safeguards are needed to minimize threats to the public, economy and the environment.

Among the recommendations:

•Discourage development in hazardous areas and protect or restore natural buffers such as coastal wetlands and near-shore reefs.

• Eliminate federal, state and local incentives - insurance subsidies, infrastructure and such - that encourage development in vulnerable coastal areas. Florida, it should be noted, ranks third in the nation for properties with repeat claims from national flood insurance.

• Upgrade stormwater regulations to allow the handling of more rainfall. Encourage new developments to build in ways that minimize impermeable surface, which increases runoff.

•Monitor the ocean pH rates in coral reef sanctuaries and study the ecological impacts of ocean acidification.

• Require states to consider potential sea-level rise when developing coastal management plans.

Gov. Charlie Crist, to his credit, is intent on limiting the state's emission of greenhouse gases, another recommendation.

But even global warming doubters should recognize the necessity of these other steps. After all, maintaining the state's natural storm buffers, protecting its water quality and sustaining its marine life benefits the economy, enhances the public safety and minimizes costs for taxpayers.

As Dr. Sylvia A. Earle, the former chief scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who helped prepare the report, says, the recommendations represent "common sense" policies.

Elected officials should have the wisdom and foresight to transform them into action.

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