Look! Up In The Sky! It's A Bird! It's A Plane! It's A Florida GOP Sea-Level Rise Task Force!

[hatrack]

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — After years of mostly ignoring climate change, Florida lawmakers waded deeper into the matter on Tuesday , advancing a proposal that would create a statewide Office of Resiliency and establish a task force to begin looking into how best to protect the state's 1350 miles (2,173 kilometers) of coastline from rising oceans.

It's a marked change from just a few years ago, when the issue of climate change couldn't get any traction in Florida's Republican-run Capitol under then-Gov. Rick Scott, who is now a U.S. Senator. But with Gov. Ron DeSantis exerting political muscle behind the effort, environmentalists see an opportunity to begin addressing the problem, even if they say the current legislative proposals fall short of a comprehensive response to climate change.

“We've seen bills that will help communities plan for rising sea levels — all of which is very, very important, and we need to do that — but without focusing on the cause of the problem, it just seems kind of lackluster. It's not addressing the full problem,” said Jonathan Scott Webber, the deputy director of Florida Conservation Voters.

The legislation considered Tuesday would establish an Office of Resiliency headed by the governor's chief “resilience officer,” who was appointed last summer as part of a broader effort to address the state's environmental challenges. Last spring, DeSantis also appointed a chief science officer, a politically startling development given the clashes between scientists and climate change skeptics, including President Donald Trump, who once dismissed climate change as a “hoax” and continues to reject the urgency of the threat.

Ed. - At the risk of whacking the dodo, what in the world is "politically startling" about a large state having a chief science officer?

EDIT

https://www.wandtv.com/news/national/florida-creates-task-force-on-sea-level-rise/article_81a9c442-a485-5896-a80d-f3792778345b.html

[lark]

1. What's strange is the reversal from the party to showing a bit of common sense.

Under Scott the words climate change could not be used on any state document - DeSantis isn't quite as big a loon as Scott - he at least pretends to care and is actually acknowledging the problem. That's a huge change for my stupid state and so needed since we will be one of the most affected by a sea level rise. The issue is - will they actually recommend positive changes or is this just pretense - with this ignorant science denying party, it's likely to be just window dressing.

[Mickju]

2. I fear you are correct.

There is no depth to which the right wing will not sink.