“The lifeblood of the Panhandle is our natural resources. From the beaches to the farmland, these resources provide tourism, recreation, and economic vibrancy,” says Schiller. Since the discovery of our coast in the sixteenth century, our greatest assets have been our natural ones. We must protect our coast from threats both immediate and long-term.
As a result of climate change, we have seen significant increases in annual rainfall, making common sense water management even more important. Combined with rapid development, both at the coast and inland, the failure to manage increased rainfall has caused greater year-round flooding.
Uncontrolled development is a major issue in the Panhandle because of its impact on the environment. Building codes in many counties have not been updated to account for naturally changing landscapes and outdated infrastructure. Rapid development practices lead to excess run-off of water occurring as a result of frequent major rain events or extreme storms. There is no longer enough porous land available to absorb excessive overflow.
While controlled, responsible development is necessary to continue to bolster our economy, unfettered development needs to be reigned in with legislation, infrastructure planning and a commitment to leverage sustainable, environmentally-friendly options for growth.
When life-threatening weather events like Hurricane Sally and the Panhandle wildfires hit our area, our vital $400 million agriculture and aquaculture industries are under constant threat. Farmland is washed out, grazing land is flooded, coastal estuaries altered, and acres of woodland burned ruining the agricultural and aquaculture industries that our area relies upon.
We simply must embrace the facts – climate change is real and it is impacting our community. If predicted rises in sea level and temperature prove to be accurate, by the year 2050, our coast will experience a two to ten foot rise in sea level. This type of catastrophic change would render our beaches and coastal towns no longer viable places to live. The seasonal crops, timber, livestock and fishing industries that the Panhandle relies on heavily will be permanently harmed. It is time to put legislation in place that will help ward off further erosion of our coveted natural resources and help our coastal communities thrive.
Environmental issues are abundant inland as well. Borrow pits have become a problematic legacy of flooding and contamination, which present a severe health risk for many residents of the District. Left unregulated, these contaminated pits will continue seeping in to harm families who live nearby. We need to ensure that the needs of the impacted communities are a priority for the state agencies involved. We cannot let our district become the next Flint, Michigan.
Our beaches are the pride of the Panhandle, and they must return to customary use. Not only do our tourism dollars rely on visitors having access to the beach, but our residents who live here year round--and rarely beachfront--deserve to be able to enjoy our beaches too. We need to get back to what Florida has always been known for–its gorgeous beaches, protected by local communities and the state, open for everybody to enjoy.
“Protecting our natural resources starts with generating good environmental policy. And good environmental policy is good business policy. Our economy is so closely tied to the health of our environment, and I am committed to making this issue a priority."
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