'There's No Vaccine For The Climate Crisis': Environmental Group Hopes For Statewide Policy Action As President Biden Outlines National Plan
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – President Joe Biden has outlined his agenda on climate change, signing some executive orders Wednesday to tackle the crisis.
"Put climate change at the center of our domestic, national security and foreign policy," Biden said Wednesday.
The president wants to conserve 30% of federal land and water by 2030 as well as double renewable energy production from offshore winds.
He's directed the secretary of interior to freeze new oil and natural gas leases on federal lands and offshore waters.
That said, Biden added, "We are not going to ban fracking. We are going to protect jobs and grow jobs."
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The climate change topic is obviously important to South Florida.
As Biden shared his vision, there was a round of applause from a small gathering at Miami's Morningside Park on Wednesday.
There's a push to battle the rising level of Biscayne Bay.
"The park at its current level is one of our greatest insecurities that allows stoke surge to rush in and flood the communities," said Commissioner Ken Russell.
The plan is to use a $400,000 grant with the help of The Nature Conservancy.
The goal is to get more coral reefs and mangrove trees to control the level, which scientists said will work.
It'll also mean avoiding the use of concrete barriers, which create an eyesore.
South Florida is not only battling rising seas as the climate changes. It's also getting hotter.
"Our main economic engines, tourism and agriculture sectors, will be tremendously impacted," said Yoca Arditi-Rocha, executive director of The CLEO Institute.
The environmental group hopes for statewide policy action for relief.
"Although we face many cases today, unlike the pandemic, there's no vaccine for the climate crisis," Arditi-Rocha said.
In the summer of 2020, low oxygen levels killed thousands of fish in the Biscayne Bay and after that, an Algae bloom caused by the combination of high water temperature, lower tides, and dissolved oxygen in the water.
Sens. Rick Scott and Marco Rubio plan to draft a bill to address and call for action to control the algae blooms in South Florida.
Republican State Sen. Ileana Garcia and Democratic State Rep. Nicholas Duran plan to draft legislation to save Biscayne Bay.
