Oftentimes keeping up with our state’s environmental news can be daunting — and sometimes discouraging as we tend to focus on the long list of problems to be solved. But, it’s just as important for us to focus on the good news.
We’ve curated a list of this month’s environmental success stories in Florida.
Florida’s roads may soon see more “green” public transit and school buses, thanks to a federal payout from a Volkswagen emissions scandal. Roughly 70 percent of Florida’s share of the payout would go toward investing in buses that run on electricity and alternative fuels.
Officials from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission have charged two suspects for poaching thousands of native turtles in the wild and selling them illegally. Luckily, nearly 600 turtles were returned to the wild and 300 of the freed turtles are now part of a long-term monitoring project by the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation.
To reduce plastic waste, Marriot, Hyatt and Holiday Inn hotel chains have decided to ditch travel-sized toiletries. Instead, the rooms will come equipped with bulk-sized shampoo, conditioner and body lotion.
A 6,300-acre man-made wetland in Martin County meant to clean polluted storm water is now partly operational. The plants in the wetland will help suck up nutrients like phosphorus before reaching the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon. The C-44 Reservoir and Stormwater Treatment Area is one of 68 projects named in the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, which was signed into law nearly two decades ago. Together, the projects aim to reduce Lake Okeechobee discharges to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee Rivers while restoring the historic flow of water back to the Everglades.