Tuesday October 9, 2007
The sea grass of Florida Bay, damaged by boating, is being restored.
Monday October 1, 2007
The Florida Springs blog.
Wednesday September 26, 2007
Swimmers in Sunday’s triathlon.
Thursday September 20, 2007
Aquarius, 9 miles off Key Largo and 60 feet under water, is the only live-in underwater research laboratory in the world. NBC6 did a live report from the station today, the first ever broadcast from there, including info on what it’s like to live on Aquarius, and what they’re studying. People who live underwater are called ‘aquanauts’! [Photo courtesy NOAA and UNC Wilmington]
Friday September 14, 2007
Not good: Lake Okeechobee continues to set records for low water levels. Expect to see even stricter water restrictions next year.
Thursday September 13, 2007
Caution on South Beach
Tuesday September 11, 2007
Dawn over Biscayne Bay.
Wednesday August 22, 2007
Miami Beach is not particularly eco-friendly, but things are changing, slowly. They could start by sending someone to fix this water main, still dripping more then a month later.
Wednesday August 15, 2007
Jonathan’s got a nice photo taken from the Virginia Key bridge. Left to right: Port of Miami, South Beach (tall buildings), Fisher Island (squatter buildings), Virginia Key Beach Park, and the Pusty Relican. The water is the Biscayne Bay aquatic preserve. Don’t miss the link to the big version. Compare also the google map view (the view is roughly East-Northeast).
Thursday August 9, 2007
How to survive a shark attack
“Shark’s teeth face inward, so when a shark doesn’t let go or wiggles its head and the person tries to pull away from the shark, that tissue just gets ripped right out. There are not that many predators under the water that could inflict a bite this size, this extensive.” — Dr. Randy Miller, who performed surgery on a lady who got bitten by a shark on Tuesday.
OK, this happened in the keys, and for whatever reason attacks are much more common there and on the west coast of Florida then on our nice beaches. I direct you to Camilo’s guide to sharks and the nerve-calming links at this post. We can also get some to-the-rescue from a pair of WikiHow articles: Prevent a shark attack and Survive a shark attack. (Short version: punch it in the eyes and gills.) Swim easy.
Permalink · Comment [4] · Tags: animals, water · Post to del.icio.us, digg, reddit
Tuesday August 7, 2007
Yikes!: Gus and Michelle bought themselves a kayak, and on their maiden voyage were attacked startled by a 7-food crocodile. A pants-browning experience.
Thursday August 2, 2007
Click the picture. It’s Florida. Now zoom all the way in. This is a plane that crashed 26 years ago.
Wednesday July 18, 2007
The City of Miami Beach’s response to water restrictions: this water main at the recently demolished Holtz stadium, has been dripping like this for days.
Friday July 13, 2007
“Other metropolitan areas of Florida are light-years ahead of South Florida on recycling. While communities elsewhere reuse 90 percent to 100 percent of their water, Broward reuses 5 percent to 7 percent of its water; and Miami-Dade recycles 5 percent.” The Herald calls for year-round wanter-use limits.
Thursday July 12, 2007
The water restrictions have just been eased for Broward and Palm Beach counties. Basically, everyone except West Palm Beach, Lake
Worth, Lantana, Dania, and Hallandale is now under Phase II, which Miami-Dade has been under all along. Here’s the nitty-gritty [PDF — a pox on the SFWMD’s house for putting plain-textable information into this godforsaken format]. (Via SotP)
Wednesday July 11, 2007
Flagler Memorial Island cleanup
WHL visited Flagler Memorial Island Monday, and found it a mess. “Sadly it is in poor condition and the beach had piles of trash and overflowing garbage cans.”
Sounds like sanitation needs to do a better job of maintaining the island, but first it needs to be brought back to some semblance of normalcy. To that end, ECOMB is having a Flagler Monument Island Clean-up volunteer event on the morning of Saturday, July 21. Volunteers needed! Help your city! Meet people and have fun while doing a good deed! All that; please register ahead of time so they know how many people to expect.
Permalink · Comment [9] · Tags: activism, environmentalism, nature, water · Post to del.icio.us, digg, reddit
Monday July 2, 2007
Around the Beach
I finally got a new bike Friday. In between downpours this weekend, I spent some time riding around Miami Beach. Here’s a slideshow of a few interesting things. Looks like water is going to be the big theme. Water and destruction. Well, water, destruction, and renewal.
Permalink · Comment · Tags: beach, cycling, photos, water · Post to del.icio.us, digg, reddit
Thursday June 21, 2007
The seawall around Miami Circle is disintegrating. Not good. The article has links to two old Herald articles which track the history of what happened, and what was supposed to have happened, to the circle (which looked mighty strange next to each other in my RSS reader, causing a confused early version of this entry).
Thursday May 31, 2007
This is how seriously our leaders are taking the water shortage: when an underground pipe burst in Miramar, it took over a week to get the permits to fix the leak. So much water gushed out that it caused a “small sinkhole.”
Wednesday May 23, 2007
A baywalk is part of Miami 21, but anyone who’s been down to the bay knows it’s a little pie-in-the-sky, since almost all the buildings along the bay have fence up to the water and private yards. Anyway, here’s what the Baywalk would look like if we had a baywalk.
Tuesday May 15, 2007
What's up with the water?
[Last week I disagreed with Carl Hiaasen’s handling of the compensation for wrongful conviction issue, arguing that he should have tackled the general case, not a particular instance. An interesting conversation about the issue ensued: one which could have existed on a much larger scale. Different week, same stink: On Sunday, Hiaasen again missed the point.]
South Florida is experiencing a serious drought. The gap between our fresh groundwater and salty water is tight, and the current Phase II and III restrictions are almost draconian: sub-78° indoor temperatures are banned, farms are restrictions in their crop irrigation, lawns can be watered and cars washed only four hours per week . . . wait a second. We’re close to having dire harm to our water supply (Phase IV = “Permanent or irreversible damage to the water resource,” in case you were wondering) and we’re letting people wash their cars and water their lawns? What’s going on here?
Well, so Carl Hiaasen figured out a solution for us. Too bad that, once again, Hiaasen is wrong all over the place. His solution? Let’s ban building!
One way to gird for the future — and protect families who already live here — would be to impose building moratoriums in those counties where the water shortage is most acute.
This is way too simple and sensible. Moratoriums can’t be enacted unless local leaders are willing to stand up to developers, a rare occurrence indeed. The state is requiring counties to recycle water for nonpotable uses, but that doesn’t curb the liquid appetite of sprawl.
Well, that may work for some message board crank, but when we hear it from a major newspaper’s columnist I feel obligated to point out some flaws in the plan (and make no mistake, “one way to grid the future” aside, this one idea is all he’s got). For starters, Hiaasen appears to have missed the hundreds of condo buildings that are currently and already under construction in Miami. (But that’s probably because he lives 150 miles away, in Vero.) More to the point, what does he have in mind, a border fence of some sort? Sorry, but you can’t stop people from moving where they want to live. It’s proved impossible to prevent people from crossing even national borders when they really want to, and for all the Conch Republic fantasies of Hiaasen’s former life, Florida is not a sovereign nation.
But the hypothesis that overpopulation is the cause of the water shortages has more fundamental flaws. If it were the case, we would expect that the drought would be the worst where population is densest. It’s not. See the South Florida Water Management District’s map (converted to a jpg for your convenience). Note that Broward and Palm Beach currently have Phase III restrictions, while Miami is under Phase II (what’s up with the roman numerals, SFWMD?).
OK, so what’s really going on here? Well, the SFWMD district spells it out pretty clearly: “Too Little Rain = Water Shortages.” You see, the groundwater is part of a cycle. It’s like an underground river. The levels are low because of the lack rain, And while the problem right now is exacerbated by the human population, future water levels will be determined by our future rain, not by our current use, because the groundwater is part of a natural global cycle. I can’t emphasize this point enough, and I ask you to look at the diagram at that link. You saw it in a book when you were a kid, but look at it again.
We’ve had problems with the ground water before, as these data clearly show (but warning, the page loads slowly), and we’ll have them again.* The solution is not to try to ban new people from moving to Florida. The trick is to plan for the shortages better, and take effective steps to lower our water consumption during the crunch. What’s the most effective way to handle that? Some barely enforced restrictions on lawn watering? Give me a break.
All we have to do is get serious about getting the word out. First of all, we should ban all lawn watering. It’s the dry season in the tropics, and grasses are supposed to dry out — it’s the way of nature! Don’t worry, they’ll come back when it starts to rain. Next, put out a serious media campaign to get people saving water. This has been done before, but this time it seems pretty feeble. Tell people to stop running their dish washers half-full, stop taking baths, and stop leaving the water running. If that doesn’t work, how about shutting the water off for an hour or two once a week? Not only will that save some water, but it’ll make these idiots realize that this is serious. Oh, and fixing the @!$% pipes wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Of course a building ban will never happen, so calling for it is so much pissing in the wind. Restricting where development can happen is of course very important, and so far the UDB has been more or less enforced. That means more condos and fewer houses being built, and an increase in density. This is good not just because high-rise dwellers use less water then homeowners, but because of the commensurate improvements in energy use, vehicle use, paved surface area, etc. We can’t keep them out, but we can force them to live smarter. Let’s put aside the foolishness and get to the real answers.
Update: John S. has a great suggestion in the comments: a sliding scale where the price of water for residences roughly doubles for every hundred cubic feet of water used.
* Heck yeah, I went all into the DBHYDRO to pull that stuff up.
Permalink · Comment [19] · Tags: environmentalism, hiaasen, water · Post to del.icio.us, digg, reddit
Thursday May 3, 2007
Holy crap: Part of the water restrictions is that large buildings can’t be any cooler then 78 degrees. That includes office buildings, shopping malls, government buildings, and even the common areas of condominiums. The only thing exempt is homes. Yikes!! (via KaiB)
Tuesday May 1, 2007
10 questions about the drought and water restrictions answered. Lots of good information here.
Friday April 27, 2007
The Silver Goose. Parked between Palm Island and the MacArthur for the last four days.
Thursday March 15, 2007
Water restrictions go into effect March 22. But nice people start early on this. In fact, nice people don’t water their lawn during the dry season!
Friday January 12, 2007
“How the drinking water aquifer for 2.4 million residents of Miami Dade became contaminated with benzene by rock miners does not rise to the threshold of a news story, or, relevance in the question whether or not to empower an executive mayor, is that it?” Eye on Miami is on a freakin’ rampage.
Wednesday January 3, 2007
Hide your kids, y’all: it’s Jessica Alba frolicking in the temperate waters of the South Beach Atlantic Ocean. More here and here. Apologies to those that thought I wasn’t going to go there. Update: Jorday sez, “I’m not sure who she is but(t) – ah, a woman’s ass! I’m such a heterosmacktual…”
Thursday November 16, 2006
How a marina works
I was just driving around, getting into other people’s business, when I drove by a marina on an impromptu trip down the 79th street causeway a few weeks ago. There was a guy washing a car and a big dog, and I snapped a few pictures of boats up on these huge shelfs, more or less expecting to get yelled at even though I was firmly on public sidewalk. Surprisingly, though, he and everyone else at North Beach Marina was super friendly, and I was invited in to stroll around and ask questions.
The boats sit triple and quadruple-stacked on these metal frames. There is also a hangar, which is the same on the inside but protected from the elements.
A big forklift grabs them from the shelves . . .
. . . and plops them in the water. These forklifts are as big as an 18-wheeler cab, can lift as high as three stories, and have forks as long as a car. The marina has two of them.
The boats sit on two carpet-covered slats of wood which are so close together that I figured a light gust might knock them all over. I’m told, however, that they stay put even in hurricane-force winds, and during Wilma, there was only one boat they bothered to tie down. No worries, no problems.
A slick, James Bond-looking catamaran sits on the bottom shelf. I forgot to ask what its top speed is.
Next to the marina, a little marine supply store specializing in boat upholstery. Lots of work on a sewing machine goes on there.
North Beach Marina
724 Ne 79th St
Miami, FL
(305) 758-8888
Permalink · Comment [4] · Tags: boats, traffic, water · Post to del.icio.us, digg, reddit
Monday November 13, 2006
Algae in Biscayne Bay
We’re on year 2 of a strange blue-green algae infestation of Biscayne Bay. Algae is an important part of the ecosystem, providing food for microscopic animals. But when it goes wild like this, it disturbs the balance of the whole ecosystem. Light doesn’t get down to the grasses that live on the Bay’s bottom, so they start to die off. Then the crabs and fish that eat the grasses start to die. Before long, you could end up with a dead zone kind of like they’ve got in the Gulf of Mexico.
What’s causing the bloom? Well, algae feed on phosphorous, so the short answer is that it’s an increase in the levels of the big-P in the bay. How’d it get there? Check out an Appendix to a South Florida Water Management District report [PDF link; here is a text version] looks at that question. They’re sure it’s a combination of factors, but seem to settle on a sort of combination C-111/Wilma theory.
It goes like this: the C-111 collects water from around Florida City and dumps it in the bay. Normally, no problem. But “hurricane disturbances” last year caused a whole lot of that water to flow all at once last year. Right after that is when phosphorous levels, and the algae, first went wild. Normally, the cold weather of the winter would have killed the algae off, and indeed it did help. But when they did some tests in June and July of this year, the levels were back up. Not good.
Oh, and where’s the phosphorous coming from? Scroll to the bottom of this page and it’ll start to make sense: “The C-111 canal drains from north to south through an intensely-cultivated agricultural area between Homestead, Florida and Everglades National Park.” That’s right, el azúcar grande. Thanks again, guys!
(via Curtis Morgan, here and here)
Disclaimer: The photo above may or may not be related to the current algae bloom. I am not a scientist, and I don’t know shit about shit. I love sugar, especially the cheap, delicious, bleached kind. Yum!
Permalink · · Tags: nature, water · Post to del.icio.us, digg, reddit
Thursday October 12, 2006
“The South Miami-Dade Watershed Study has been an ongoing process to determine the course for growth over the next 50 years. The Infrastructure and Land Use Committee (INLUC) of the County Commission will be present and your voice and attendance is vital to promote sound results that will impact future development and conservation.” A public workshop will be held tomorrow, October 13, from 9:30 am to 2pm. Go to Greener Miami to read how and why to participate.
Sunday June 18, 2006
These guys are riding jet-skies from Anchorage, through the Panama Canal, and to Miami.
Friday July 1, 2005
The Critical Miami Guide to Sharks
[contributed by Camilo Santana]
Sharks are nearly blind, but they can make out shapes. When they look up and see a surfer with their appendages hanging out over the sides, it looks just like a seal, their favourite food. So they attack by mistake — literally.
The only real danger is that a shark can enter into a frenzy — they go berserk and eat anything, including other sharks, even their own tails. The way to trigger a frenzy? With blood. A shark can smell a single drop of blood a quarter mile away. So you never wanna be in the water with a chick who doesn’t know her period is on – ahem, 14-yr old girl.
(It’s an ugly probability but one that can’t be ruled out simply because we like to avoid that topic of conversation. Lets see FOX handle that angle.)
Oh, and about the second attack? Knee deep in a sandbar 200 yards out. Umm . . . he was fishing (sounds of distressed fish flapping in the water), and I’d gather them fish bleed when hooked and they weren’t using live bait . . . or perhaps they were LOL?
If I go out into the Cali mountains (they’re five miles to the East here) and start dragging a whimpering rabbit behind me while crouched with fish oil smeared all over my skin I think the chances of me falling prey to a vicious mountain lion attack are pretty high. These people need to practice basic safety.
And for the record, I’ve been in the waters of South Beach (back in ’87 or so) within 10 yards of two rather large sharks. I removed myself from the ocean as fast as I could without splashing. It wasn’t that big of a deal. You do get plenty of warning with sharks.
[Previously: Easy there, Little Shark]
Permalink · Comment [4] · Tags: animals, water · Post to del.icio.us, digg, reddit
Monday June 27, 2005
Easy there, Little Shark
The whole world is talking about the girl killed by a shark off the coast of Florida Saturday. Great. Nobody’s going in the water for the next three months for fear of death. As a public service, we would like to remind you that hearing these reports creates a disproportionate perception of danger. The fact is that shark attacks are super-rare. More people are killed every year by pigs than by sharks. But what the hell. Stay away from the water if you must. More surfing room for us.
update: Camilo Santana chimes in with the numbers. (Thanks Camilo!) Kitties are oddly absent from the list; Sophie has already killed a few unsuspecting visitors.
Permalink · Comment [9] · Tags: animals, water · Post to del.icio.us, digg, reddit
