Life in the Sunshine State was thought to be largely protected from the grueling challenges brought upon by current government — that is, until Hurricane Ian came and spread panic amongst citizens. Now that disaster is in some people’s rear view, new reports have surfaced of a novel mother nature problem plaguing the Florida coastline.
The impending arrival of a 5,000-mile-wide bunch of seaweed poses an increasingly unique and troubling situation for Floridians. This large mass has the potential to bring a variety of health risks due to its size, most notably respiratory problems. Coastal residents are being warned.
Daily Wire reports, Sargassum, a type of seaweed, disrupted the water desalination plant on St. Croix in the Virgin Islands last summer. Due to the water shortage, Governor Albert Bryan Jr. issued an executive order declaring a state of emergency.
Reuters reported on the issue last year.
According to professor Brian Barnes of the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science, the problem appears to be looming, and it is currently drifting between the coasts of Africa and the Gulf of Mexico.
He added, “Even if it’s just out in coastal waters, it can block intake valves for things like power plants or desalination plants, marinas can get completely inundated and boats can’t navigate through.”
Professor Brian LaPointe of Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute said, “What we’re seeing in the satellite imagery does not bode well for a clean beach year.” Adding, “Following the big 2018 blooms, doctors in Martinique and Guadeloupe reported thousands of people going to clinics with breathing complications from the air that was coming off these rotting piles of sargassum.”
Professor Barnes claimed, “Historically, as far back as we have records, sargassum has been a part of the ecosystem, but the scale now is just so much bigger. What we would have thought was a major bloom five years ago is no longer even a blip.”
A silver lining may exist in the seaweed cloud: the Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office is exploring the possibility of combining wood waste with seaweed to produce biofuels from simple sugars. Algae and wood waste could be treated with acids or heat to produce ethanol, which might be used for sustainable aviation fuel with 90% fewer greenhouse gas emissions. There is a possibility that the leftover solids can be used to make batteries for electric cars.
There is hope after all. Almost too perfect for the democrats’ climate change argument. If they weren’t so violently trying to shove the green energy agenda down our throats perhaps we would see this as a victory beyond all the chaos. However, the only thing most people in Florida probably care more about is how to get rid of the seaweed invasion that is said to cause health complications.
Let’s continue this conversation, in the comments below.
