Extremely Trumpy Florida Man Announces That He Will Hold Back The Sea

[hatrack]

Here’s something you don’t hear every day: there’s good news out of Florida. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed bills on Wednesday that make serious efforts to address the impacts of sea level rise in the state. But don’t take that as a sign that Trump-lite DeSantis is now some sort of right-wing climate saviour. Rather, this is the latest in his high-wire act to fix some of Florida’s climate problems without doing anything about their causes. The pair of bills establishes an annual fund worth tens of millions of dollars to help local communities living with sea level rise, guidelines for regular flood risk assessments and resilience plans, and forms local “resilience coalitions” to help communities prepare. “We’re really putting our money where our mouth is when it comes to protecting the state of Florida and particularly our coastal communities from the risks of flooding and storms,” DeSantis said at the signing.

Most of DeSantis’s political views are pretty guessable from anyone with an offhand knowledge of the types of stuff Fox News commenters like to regularly froth themselves into a rage about. In recent weeks, DeSantis has offered cash to cops and trumpeted that he wants to “fund the police” (OK?), announced the state would ban vaccine passports (weird), thrown a fit because a coronavirus panel he hosted that was full of scientific misinformation was taken off of YouTube (lol), and said he would sign a bill banning trans girls from playing women’s sports in the state (fuck you, dude).

But in a deviation from the normal pablum that passes for Republican policymaking these days, DeSantis’s environmental and climate record has some bright spots. In one of his first moves after taking office, DeSantis signed a sweeping executive order that, among other things, directed the state to “adamantly oppose” offshore drilling and fracking and appointed a chief science officer “to help prepare Florida’s coastal communities and habitats for impacts from sea level rise.” From the guy who once featured his infant son in a campaign ad teaching him how to “build a wall” out of blocks and put the kid in a “Make America Great Again” onesie, it was a stark departure from the Trumpian blueprint of climate denial. This unexpected move as well as other motions to protect the Everglades also got DeSantis accolades about being “bold on climate change” early in his tenure. The most recent bill is a striking illustration of the type of tightrope DeSantis is seeking to walk that may provide a blueprint for other Trumpy Republicans wondering how in the world they can address climate change without being called antifa by the MyPillow guy making an appearance on Newsmax or whatever. DeSantis told reporters during his campaign that he’s “not in the pews of the church of the global warming leftists.”

EDIT

“I think the irony of the proposal was that he listed all the impacts of climate change but never actually said ‘climate change,’” state Rep. Anna Eskamani told the Sierra Club Magazine in February. (It’s true in the final bills, too: The phrase “climate change” doesn’t appear once in either bill.) “And so we’re going to continue to spend money on resiliency over the years where we could also be making investments in taking the state off fossil fuels and actually tackling the climate change crisis in front of us.” Ultimately, what may be pushing DeSantis “left” on climate change is the simple fact that sea level rise is hitting Florida, well, now. A report published last year found Miami “faces the largest risk of any major coastal city in the world.” When one of your major cities is projected to be one-fifth underwater by 2045 (Miami, it was nice to know you), it’s ignorant to not address that elephant in the room.


EDIT

https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2021/05/florida-man-tries-to-hold-back-the-sea/

[Phoenix61]

1. He couldn't care less about the environment.

He does, however, care a great deal about political donations from developers. I think he will eventually go along with vaccine passports. When the rest of the world starts requiring them for entry he won’t have a choice.

[PortTack]

3. +1000

[PortTack]

2. Louisiana is sinking very quickly...1/3" per year...that acres lost every year

Scientists say sinking of Louisianas coast already counts as a worst case scenario


By Chelsea Harvey WASHINGTON POST JUNE 16, 2017


WASHINGTON — It’s common knowledge the Louisiana coast is quietly sinking into the Gulf of Mexico. But new research suggests we may have been underestimating how quickly it’s happening.

A paper published Wednesday in the Geological Society of America bulletin GSA Today includes an updated map of the Louisiana coastline and the rate at which it’s sinking into the sea, a process scientists call ‘‘subsidence,’’ which occurs in addition to the sea-level rise caused by climate change. The map suggests that, on average, Louisiana’s coast is sinking a little over a third of an inch per year.

‘‘I think it’s a point worth making that we are finding here that what people recently have considered worst-case scenarios are actually conditions that we already see right now,’’ said Torbjörn Törnqvist, a Tulane University geologist and coauthor of the paper.

Subsidence is believed to be a natural process that has probably been occurring in the region for thousands of years. But scientists believe it has been enhanced by human activities in the Mississippi Delta over the past century, including oil and gas extraction and the building of levees affecting the flow of the Mississippi River, which carries mud and sediment to the Gulf of Mexico and helped build up the delta in the first place.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2017/06/15/scientists-say-sinking-louisiana-coast-already-counts-worst-case-scenario/HwrR5sEFb5lSP5MxJSwChM/story.html

[Ocelot II]

4. Channeling King Canute?

Although he was trying to make a point that DeSatan obviously hasn't gotten. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Canute_and_the_tide

[eppur_se_muova]

7. Ha! GMTA! nt

[CharleyDog]

5. Florida will be entirely underwater. Property values will be...lower than expected. lol

When we finally get it all melted, and certainly before ALL is melted, the WHOLE of Floriduh will be UNDERWATER. Let's see the DeSantis of the near future (inside of 40 years) cope with that.


It's melting faster than predicted. https://www.npr.org/2021/05/06/994145492/researchers-find-glaciers-are-melting-faster-than-expected




https://www.treehugger.com/thmb/s3k-HqLkuFOyTGLwHBffIUL0AFk=/768x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/__opt__aboutcom__coeus__resources__content_migration__treehugger__images__2014__01__north-america-sea-level-rise-cities-7c9e6076849942f5b3ead0b1909afc3e.jpg

[SWBTATTReg]

6. Far too little $amounts and far too late IMHO. What are they going to do, build a wall ...

around the entire state of FL?

Just wait until the first major hurricane (and I mean severe in scope). With the higher sea levels, the hurricane surge is going to cause major damage (compared to prior hurricanes, the higher water levels are going to allow the hurricane's damaging impacts be felt further and more widespread than ever felt before).

I have friends in FL that are looking for another place to live (in the South somewhere), but will probably remain in FL still.

I can understand their issue, as it is hard to move away from one's home, to re-root elsewhere.