JAMESON PARKER
\nwww.addictinginfo.org<\/p>\n
America may someday get a 51st state and it will all be because the southern half of Florida is absolutely embarrassed to be associated with the top half.<\/p>\n
Thanks to Republican Governor Rick Scott\u2019s insistence that climate change isn\u2019t real, Florida now has a standing policy that the study and preparation for the effects of rising sea levels should not be addressed. Literally<\/a>.<\/p>\n According to a press release<\/a> issued by the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a Land Management Plan Coordinator named Bart Bibler has already been suspended without pay for mentioning in his notes that climate change was discussed at an environmental meeting. His \u201cOfficial Written Reprimand<\/a>\u201d cites things like \u201cinsubordination\u201d and \u201cconduct unbecoming a public employee.\u201d The reprimand goes on to explain in detail that Bibler was being punished for giving the \u201cappearance\u201d that a meeting had been held to discuss climate change.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Put another way: the state which many scientists believe will be one of the hardest hit by the effects of rising sea levels has buried its head firmly in the sand. Sand, ironically enough, that will within a few decades probably be submerged in the ocean.<\/p>\n If this is alarming to outsiders, imagine how it must feel to live in southern Florida and know that your government has a \u201cIf we shut our eyes, it will go away\u201d policy towards climate change? It\u2019s especially distressing for southern Floridians because, unlike Rick Scott\u2019s Governor\u2019s mansion in the northern highlands, the bottom half of the state sits almost at sea level.\u00a0Today\u2019s<\/em> sea level.<\/p>\n In a resolution<\/a> put forward by South Miami\u2019s Vice Mayor Walter Harris, counties sitting in the southern half of the state propose splitting Florida into two: A climate denying North Florida and a sensible south.<\/p>\n North Florida is approximately 120 feet above sea level while the average elevation of South Florida is less than 50 feet with a very large portion of South Florida averaging less than 15 feet above sea level. Many sections of South Florida are 5 feet or less above sea level, including Monroe County and the Gold Coast, consisting of Palm Beach County, Broward County and Miami-Dade County.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The resolution specifically calls out Scott\u2019s\u00a0apathy towards helping those in his state that most clearly face the dangers of climate change:<\/p>\n Often South Florida issues do not receive the support of Tallahassee. This is despite the fact that South Florida generates more than 69% of the state\u2019s revenue and contains 67% of the state\u2019s population. The creation of the 51st state, South Florida, is a necessity for the very survival of the entire southern region of the current state of Florida and this cannot be accomplished by one municipality alone.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In short, Scott doesn\u2019t care about Florida\u2019s welfare (or doesn\u2019t believe the threat is real, which amounts to roughly the same thing) and this resolution is pointing out that southern Florida doesn\u2019t really need him. They\u2019d be just fine on their own.<\/p>\n According to Harris, he is approaching cities in counties across Florida to ask if they would be interested in becoming a new state.\u00a0While it\u2019s a longshot, the idea isn\u2019t exactly as far-fetched as it would initially seem.<\/p>\n \u201cWe passed it, and I\u2019ve started now speaking to some of the other cities,\u201d Harris told the Miami-Herald<\/a>. \u201cThis is a much easier resolution for the cities to adopt because they aren\u2019t going out on a limb saying that they want to be separated. They just want to investigate the possibility. \u2026 There is a lot of individual support.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Regardless of whether the movement takes off, it\u2019s a testimony to just how worried people are getting about the effects of climate change. For conservative\u00a0politicians,\u00a0denying climate change\u00a0still may seem like a way to score cheap political points, but for citizens living in coastal areas it\u2019s not a game; it\u2019s their homes, their businesses, and possibly even their lives. If creating an entirely new state just to get away from a climate denier in office sounds extreme, well that just goes to show how serious this issue is.<\/p>\n Desperate times call for desperate measures, and with water levels creeping up year-by-year and an administration that has banned even discussing climate change, these are desperate times indeed.<\/p>\n Feature image via Gage Skidmore\/Flickr<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Southern Half Of Florida Considers Seceding From North Half To Get Away From Gov. Rick Scott JAMESON PARKER www.addictinginfo.org America may someday get a 51st state and it will all be because the southern half of Florida is absolutely embarrassed … Continue reading \n