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Response to Gillum Press Release on Bullsugar Voter Guides

August 8, 2018

In the wake of the Gillum campaign

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Anger and Hope

August 3, 2018

Anger reached a fever pitch on the Caloosahatchee this week, as everything from catfish to tarpon to Manatee lay dead or dying in algae covered water. On the east coast near the St Lucie, it was the exact same scene,…

ALS researchers sampling toxic algae in the St. Lucie, July 16

Medical Researchers on Toxic Algae: Avoid Blooms, Avoid Seafood

July 20, 2018

Don’t panic. Don’t swim in it. Don’t eat anything that does. Medical researchers who study cyanobacteria and its human health impacts delivered clear, candid advice to a live audience this week in Stuart. But that advice contradicted much of what…

When the sugarcane industry is your neighbor, smoke is part of everyday life. So is asthma.

Love Thy Neighbor: Florida’s Fight to Stop Sugarcane Burning

July 5, 2018

You shall love thy neighbor as thyself (Matthew 22.39). Thick smoke looms over the Glades most months of the year. In these communities south of Florida’s Lake Okeechobee, ash falls on houses and cars, the children call it black snow.…

Lake Okeechobee algae bloom off Port Mayaca. Photo by Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch

Rick Scott Panicked on Toxic Algae, But the Problem Won’t Go Away

June 28, 2018

A very big story, perhaps the biggest story in Everglades restoration, has been hiding in plain sight, but another year of Lake Okeechobee discharges carrying toxic algae is pushing it to a tipping point: Water management officials claim their top…

Algal bloom off Clewiston, Florida. Image courtesy of Planet Labs, Inc. Produced by Earthrise Media.

Lake Okeechobee Algae Bloom is Toxic: Florida DEP

June 25, 2018

On Friday Florida DEP confirmed that the algal bloom in Lake Okeechobee off Clewiston tested positive for microcystin. The algae is toxic. The news went largely unreported. The concentration of toxins in the sample was relatively low at 1.4 ppb,…

Protests erupted on Florida's Treasure Coast over another toxic summer in 2019

Why Don’t Federal Water Policies Put People First?

June 20, 2018

Gil Smart was right: the pictures from Saturday’s rally on the Roosevelt Bridge could have been from any number of toxic algae summers on the St. Lucie. Same frustrations. Same fears. With giant toxic algae blooms on Lake Okeechobee two…

The St. Lucie River, Thursday, June 14th

Is Asking a Government Agency Not to Poison Us News? Yup.

June 14, 2018

This week a Florida lawmaker asked a government agency not to poison his constituents. This shouldn’t be news. It shouldn’t be unusual. But it is, and Eye On Miami explains why… Congressman Brian Mast Ventures Where Few Have Gone Before To…

Adam Putnam's links to toxic algae are no secret on the Treasure Coast

Adam Putnam: Florida’s Worst Choice for Clean Water

June 7, 2018

Few politicians have done more than Putnam to loot and pollute the State of Florida. From steering tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to his family’s businesses–and hundreds of millions to the sugarcane companies backing his run for governor–to gutting…

Scene from the Toxic Summer of 2016

Is Sugar Framing God for Our Water Crisis?

May 31, 2018

Finding a scapegoat to take the rap for a crisis is nothing new, but it takes moxie to throw God under the bus. Florida’s sugarcane industry makes it look easy. Lake Okeechobee is filling up fast. Discharges to the estuaries start…

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