Project Nero's Anne Marie Lindemann Films Florida's Solar "SCANDAL"

In honor of Earth Day 2014, Project Nero would like to introduce the brilliant work of Media Production student and future film maker extraordinaire, 

Anne Marie Lindemann.  Her tireless efforts this semester have resulted in some great video footage that has illustrated the struggle environmentalist are having with the Florida legislature in regard to climate change. 

Presents:

"SCANDAL: Florida, the 'Cloudy State'"

Wait...... It Gets Worse?!?!

Greenland'­s immense ice sheet is melting as a result of climate change. CreditKadir van Lohuizen for The New York Times

As New York Times writer, Justin Gillis, stressed recently, "The report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations group that periodically summarizes climate science, concluded that ice caps are melting, sea ice in the Arctic is collapsing, water supplies are coming under stress, heat waves and heavy rains are intensifying, coral reefs are dying, and fish and many other creatures are migrating toward the poles or in some cases going extinct."
As of TODAY, South Florida is seeing real sea level rise.  The counties of Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach, have real fear, right now, that they will be flooded out of their homes and businesses, not in 50 years, but within 10 years.  Imagine what the rest of Florida will be like when these huge numbers of people, the majority of Florida's residents, are displaced and become virtual refugees....(this will also happen all over the US as well as the world.)
As many scientists have suggested, we are living in an extinction event, the sixth major extinction event that the Earth is believed to have had; only this time it's slightly different because homo sapiens are simply increasing the momentum.  Whether you're a believer in anthropogenic climate change or not, logic should tell you that the sheer number of humans on the planet, consuming, consuming, consuming, cannot be upheld forever.  Whether you believe it is our right as humans to pillage the planet or not, I think we can all agree that there is most definitely a carrying capacity for our way of life, especially in the United States.  The energies that are being viewed as the cheapest and easiest to use took BILLIONS of years to form...why is it so hard to understand that this cannot last?
A preference to fossil fuels, a disbelief in anthropogenic climate change, a dislike for all things "liberal", whatever the reason, there simply has to be a better plan; a good solid plan A, because there cannot be a Plan B.

Governor Rick Scott Gives Us Nightmares

Regardless of why climate change is happening, it's happening.  South Florida is already having nightmares of sea level rise, and the political leaders in these communities are already taking it upon themselves to act.   All we need now is a governor who is the slightest bit concerned for the people of the state that elected him.

Photo: 2012 Southeast Florida Regional Compact Climate Change

Governor Scott's list of priorities is topped by profit as demonstrated in his approval of a bill that will allow advertising on state trails and green ways, as well as his attachment to the lawsuit against the Chesapeake Bay  clean up in Maryland that will highly benefit the agricultural and developmental industries....then....somewhere waaaaaaaay down at the bottom, comes being the governor of the U.S.'s most vulnerable state when it comes to climate change and sea level rise.

  

He ran on the slogan "Let's Get To Work", but he and his team have been deceptive about their job creation progress as well as the level of transparency that Scott is willing to give; but in a state that has counties where, according to Sun Sentinel Staff Writer, Ken Kaye, 8-10 inches of steady rainfall causes flood warnings to be issued, the Governor has to start concerning himself with the truth about 

Florida's environmental future.

It's the little things...

According to an entry on the "Real Time with Bill Maher" blog, President Obama is acting on climate change himself, without the help of an uncooperative Congress.

Climate Hubs by region

A news release by the USDA from February of this year states that "Climate Hubs" will support parts of President Obama's Climate Action Plan.  A specific focus on the Southeast will "provide science-based information and outreach to help farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners manage resources in the face of climate change and related threats, such as wildfire, invasive species, drought, and extreme weather."

A "Capitol" Success!!

Project Nero's time at the state capitol was a learning experience, to say the least.  As the group began to set up in the atrium between Florida's House of Representatives and Senate chambers, we were approached by the Master of Arms; a tubby man wearing a red tie, who surprisingly didn't seem to be very keen on the idea of a protest, regardless of how peaceful it might be.  He wouldn't allow our props to be used, but we were permitted to hold up signs and distribute the pamphlets....so that's what we did.

Perhaps the most disheartening part of the day was the fact that so many of these elected officials seem to have developed a sort of "rock star" mentality.  While it was obvious that many of the representatives and senators were only taking our pamphlets to be polite, many others were extremely dismissive.  Dr. Opel stood by the doorway of each chamber simply asking if climate change was going to be a topic of discussion during this session, in return he got a few "thumbs up" (which were probably just left over from campaigning) and even a chuckle or two; there was even a member of Americans for Prosperity who called climate change "junk science."  Dr. Opel proceeded to follow him down the hall with the camera to find out how he could have come to such a conclusion....it turns out they were just a bunch of talking points, most likely provided by his group of self-proclaimed experts...(see "Doubters, Deniers & Skeptics" for a few examples).

Overall, we, the students of Project Nero, left the capitol with a new experience under our belts and the ability to see, more realistically, how challenging it will be to get climate change legislation to be taken seriously in Florida. 

Project Nero Takes Tallahassee!

Since the Spring 2014 semester began, Project Nero has been on a mission to gain as much information as possible on why climate change is not a priority to Florida's lawmakers.  Since January, the students involved with Project Nero have had guest speakers, including Fl. Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda and Jennifer Rubiello of Environment Florida, have researched a myriad of different topics and leads as well as had many discussions on what, exactly, is to be accomplished.  With that, I invite you to take a look at our recent progress!

So far...

We have documented Environment Florida's 

petition signing event on the FSU campus.

See the video!

We have spoken to a number of administrative assistants!...but also some members of the legislature, including, Rep. Jose Felix Diaz and Sen. David Simmons. 

The interviews continue; the latest with Sierra Club lobbyist, David Cullen. Hopefully there will be many more to report in the coming weeks!

Rhiannon Martinez with David Cullen of the Sierra Club.

We participated in the Sierra Club's Clean Water Tally Rally on February 18, 2014

On March 4, 2014 we will be at the capitol for the opening day of the legislative session to raise awareness of the lack of climate change legislation in Florida!

Come join us!

Governor Scott's War on Water

Gov. Scott, looking insincere as per usual.

Florida's Governor Rick Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi seem to be completely unaware that Chesapeake Bay is not their concern.  We all know that Republicans support deregulating the government, especially the EPA, but Rick Scott and everyone else elected to run our state should do just that...and, if possible, attempt to control themselves when it comes to profiting in such a typical corrupted government official way.  They need to get out of bed with the polluters who want to "regulate" themselves and attempt to take some pride in the job they were elected to do; represent and act on behalf of the citizens of Florida.

The Proclamation of the Self-Proclaimed

Frontline on PBS - Climate of Doubt

Frontline's Climate of Doubt is an uncomfortable tour of some well known climate change deniers making their rounds and speaking out against the consensus on climate science.  While it is true that a few of these people are scientists, many are not, and instead take on titles that make them nothing more than self-proclaimed "experts."  The few that actually have credentials also have histories of accepting money from many corporations, specifically oil companies as well as others that have an interest in keeping climate change out of every day conversation; especially in the legislature. 

So Many Skeptics, So Little Time

The deniers say: global warming has stopped, paused, reached a plateau, has shifted into a cooling trend, and that there is no proof.

The response: See Below

Assortment of accurate graphs

Global Analysis

"The world's best thinkers on energy & climate"

Peter Gleick offers some interesting commentary.

Global Warming = Big Business

After six years of researching in some of the countries thought to be most affected by climate change, Funk examines the new opportunities for profit due to global warming.

This week McKenzie Funk's new book, Windfall: The Booming Business of Global Warming was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, as well as discussed by the author himself on NPR's Fresh Air. 

Why Nobody [In Politics] Cares About Climate Change

Originally written during the last presidential election, Joe Zammit-Lucia, of TheIntersectionist.com,  quickly considers why politicians seemingly don't care about climate change, regardless of what their personal beliefs may be.  Also, interestingly, Zammit-Lucia makes an obvious, yet important point...the terms "climate change" and "global warming" are, in his opinion, "toxic" phrases.

Read Joe Zammit-Lucia's blog post Why Nobody Cares About Climate Change 

TransCanada and the Exploding Pipeline

The debate over whether the U.S. should import oil via tar sands from Canada is a heated one.  Environmentalists have been rallying against the implementation of the Keystone XL Pipeline in every state in the country, while BIG oil and citizens more concerned with job growth than clean water have urged President Obama to approve the project under the guise of becoming less dependent on Middle Eastern oil.

Regardless of their reasons for wanting this project to be fully realized, the supporters have held strong to the opinion that the Keystone XL Pipeline is safe; in fact it has been deemed “the safest oil pipeline built in America to date” by CEO of TransCanada, Russ Girling.  However, according to a recent article by ThinkProgress.org, not only has TransCanada already had to fix a number of “dents and sags” in the pipeline itself, but on January 25, 2014, a TransCanada pipeline exploded in the Canadian province of Manitoba.

This proves that neither TransCanada nor any of their affiliates can truly ensure the safety of anything.  Furthermore, according to a recent article by ThinkProgress.org, not only have there already been issues with the pipeline here in the U.S. that have had to be repaired, but on average, 80 percent of the time, the companies overseeing different areas of pipeline are missing the leaks altogether; some of which are rather large. (See Public Citizen's report for more information.)

Though the main controversy here is that the transporting of oil through areas where a leak could pollute very important sources of fresh water, the other lesser discussed issue is that with continued dependence on fossil fuels for energy, anthropogenic climate change is inevitable.  Aren’t the negative effects that are already being witnessed enough to garner a better plan for the long term?  Especially when 

2013 Broke Records for New Solar Jobs in America ?!

Hockey Stick Graph, ICPP, 2001

Chris Mooney of The Atlantic discusses what is said to be one of the most important graphs in climate science as well as the controversy that comes with it.

Kate Sheppard of Mother Jones gives an in depth explanation of the climate change controversy known as "Climategate". 

In the PBS documentary South Florida's Rising Seas, Richard Grosso of Nova Southeastern University boldly states, “South Florida is one of the most sea-level-rise-vulnerable places on the Earth.”  Proof of this is evident as Biscayne Bay makes its way up drainage grates and over old seawalls into the streets of Miami Beach.  It has become abundantly clear that residents of Miami as well as the rest of South Florida are being forced to face the fact that sea level rise due to climate change is not some far off concern but is, in fact, happening now.  The flooding has resulted in a number of potentially serious inconveniences such as the active pumping of flood waters off of land, new infrastructure planning to manage the impacts of the excess water, salt water invading freshwater aquifers and congressional changes to flood insurance, just to name a few.

With predictions by the Army Corps of Engineers that further indicate significant sea level rise, Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties have come together to heed these warnings.  By working as a proactive team, they hope to achieve long term solutions that not only meet the demands of a changing environment but are financially sound as well.  As one Miami Beach resident put it, being proactive allows for more opportunity and less expense than being reactive after the damage is done.

Welcome to Project Nero!

Welcome to the official blog of Project Nero!  We are a student led documentary project out of Florida State University who hope to begin a serious discussion about climate change in Florida.  Our fortunate proximity to the state capitol has inspired an interest in the Florida legislature, especially relating to the exception they take to the subject of rising sea levels and other climate change effects.  A recent collaboration between the Environmental Science & Policy program and the Media Production program has given way to a project that we hope will bring knowledge and power to the citizens of the Sunshine State. 

As we investigate the lack of climate change legislation in the state of Florida, climate change doubters and deniers as well as the arguments that bind them, we hope to show citizens that sea level rise is a problem that is upon us now, dispelling the notion that climate change effects are decades away.  Project Nero’s mission is to definitively answer two questions; who is blocking proactive climate legislation in the state of Florida and why?  By answering these questions, we hope to open up a new discussion, using facts instead of stigmas, using science instead of politics and forcing the truth onto those who are seemingly acting on their own behalf instead of for the constituents that they were elected to represent.  Also, with this, we hope to eliminate the indifference that environmental issues are often met with by politicians and citizens alike.