![[Rainbow Line]](BARS/RAIN_LIN.jpg){kind=small}
E- Links and Environmental Groups
PLEASE NOTE:
![[Top]](ICONS/TOP.gif){kind=icon}
Back to Top of Page
Egmont Key Alliance, Inc.
Environmental Defense Fund WorldWide
Everglades Coalition
Everglades Information Network
Florida Conservation Association
Florida Consumer Action Network (FCAN)
Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council
FLEPPC Home Page Florida Exotic Plant Council
Florida League of Conservation Voters
Florida Public Interest Research Group
Gopher Tortoise Council
National Audubon Society
The Nature Conservancy
Restore America's Estuaries
Sierra Club Home Page
St. Petersburg Audubon Society
Save Our Everglades
Save the Manatee Club
Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary
Tampa Bay National Estuary Program
Tampa Sierra Club
Welcome to Mote
Marine Laboratory!
The Fund for Animals
Back to Top of Page
Welcome to the White House
The United States Senate
U.S. House Of Representatives - Home Page
Library of Congress World
Wide Web Home Page
FedWorld Beta Home Page
U.S. Department Of Commerce Information
Services
Back to Top of PageThe Governor's Office
The Florida Legislature
Florida Communities Network
State of
Florida Government Agencies
The University of Central Florida
(UCF)
The University of South Florida (USF)
University of West Florida
Florida Atlantic University (FAU)
University of Miami
University of Florida
Florida State University
Florida A&M University
Back to Top of Page
www.hillsboroughwaterworks.com
S.W.F.W.M.D. Home Page
Water Resources for Pasco County, Florida
EROS home page
The Blue Goose Server
Environmental Protection Agency WWW Server
United States Geological Survey-HTTP
Server-Home Page
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Home Page
National Park Service Server
Arizona State Parks Home Page
Ohio State Parks Home Page
NOAA ESDIM Home Page
http://pubgis.co.pinellas.fl.us/pcuweb_live/solid_waste/hccc1.cfm Pinellas County Recycling Info
Sea Grant Mid-Atlantic Region
Explore the Universe with NASA's
Astro-2
National Biological Service's Home Page
School of Forest Resources
and Conservation Home Page
The Department of Energy's Energy
Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Back to Top of Page
List of Oceanography Resources
Back to Top of Page
South Florida Environmental Reader
EnviroWorld
Welcome to E, The Environmental
Magazine!
St. Pete Times Home Page
S.W.F.W.M.D. Water
Mangement Monthly
Outside Magazine Online
"WILD"
Back to Top of Page
Planet Earth Home Page
http://www.floridayards.org/ Florida Friendly Landscaping, Florida Plants, Florida Gardening, Lawn Care
Back to Top of Page
Millennium Institute Home Page
CDC Home Page
USF HERBARIUM:
Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants
J-F Pitot de La
Beaujardiere
Mangrove Replenishment Initiative
Vanishing Mangroves
Back to Top of Page
Exotic Weeds I
Florida
Statutes (Full Volume 1993): CHAPTER 369
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Proposed
Control of
Exotics
Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council
National Plant
Data Center
Schinus
terebinthifolia - Brazilian Pepper
USF HERBARIUM:
Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants
Harmful
non-indigenous species in the US
Back to Top of Page
NWS Melbourne Florida
Hurricanes,
Typhoons & Tropical Cyclones
FEMA Tropical Storm Watch
The Weather Channel®
Storms
& Hurricanes from The Weather Channel®
CIMSS Tropical
Cyclones
FSU Hot Spots
WTVT Weather Service
INTELLiCast: world
weather
INTELLCAST: USA Weather
INTELLCAST: Tampa Weather
INTELLCAST: Miami Weather
WeatherOnline! -
Florida
Purdue Weather Processor
Nerd World :
WEATHER
Meteorology Research
Groups
Back to Top of Page
Google
Alta Vista
Excite
FTP/Software Search Engines
Internet Search
The Lycos Home Page: Hunting WWW Information
WebCrawler Searching
CUSI Services
Searching the EINet Information Galaxy
Yahoo
InfoSeek Net Search
IPL Web Searching
Environmental Organization WebDirectory
Search BENE or BIN21
Back to Top of Page
ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS AND INFORMATION
Pinellas County recycles electronics!
Take your old electronics - PCs, TVs, microwaves, etc., regardless of condition, to the Household Electronics and Chemical Collection Center (HEC3). There is no charge to individuals. Small companies pay a discounted rate (see more information below).
Where: 2990 110th Avenue North
When: Monday, Tuesday and Friday 6:30 AM - 4:30 PM
Thursday, 8 AM - 6 PM
Third Saturday of the month, 7 AM - 4 PM
The Center is closed on Wednesdays and all observed County holidays.
For more info call 464-4623 or 464-7565 or go to:
http://pubgis.co.pinellas.fl.us/pcuweb_live/solid_waste/hccc1.cfm
The company in Tampa that de-manufactures the electronics received (Creative Recycling), finds a home for, or recycles, 95% of what they receive (they donate hundreds of working items to non-profits and civic organizations). The remaining 5% that goes to landfill contains no toxic materials.
For small companies in Pinellas, there is a program called CESQG (conditionally exempt small quantity generator), which accepts waste quarterly from small companies at a discounted rate (businesses that generate less than 220 lbs or 25 gallons a month). The Pinellas CESQG program now also accepts electronics. For scheduled dates and more info, go to:
http://pubgis.co.pinellas.fl.us/pcuweb_live/solid_waste/cesqg1.cfm
Rapid changes in technology are making millions of PCs, TVs, etc., obsolete. According to the National Recycling Coalition, between 1997 and 2007, nearly 500 million PCs will become obsolete. Those PCs contain hundreds of different toxic substances, including lead, cadmium, mercury, and chromium.
One out of every five sites slated for cleanup under the nation's Superfund program for toxic waste sites if a former municipal solid waste landfill. Please help keep old electronics out of the waste stream!
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~..~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
DEFENDERS OF WILD LIFE ISSUES AN ACTION ALERT
We need help in preventing the opening of "woods roads" to Off-Road Vehicles (ORVS) that fragment, destroy and disrupt sensitive wildlife habitat in restricted areas of Florida’s three National Forests.
The National Forest Service has put together with the help of working groups access plans for restricted areas in the Ocala, Oceola and Appalachacola National Forests. The plans should be modified to protect natural resources and sensitive species. Off-Road vehicle (ORV) impacts were not studied before proposing to open restricted areas to ORV use. The Forest Service has not analyzed what ORV usage will result from the proposed plan. The proposed plan justifies illegal ORV damage to wetlands and sensitive wildlife habitat in restricted areas by arbitrarily designating an ORV trail and woods roads "open" as numbered roads. The plan also justifies a network of illegal ghost trails and woods roads created from years of lax Forest Service enforcement of restricted areas.
We ask you to write to the Forest Service and ask them to take into account the following impacts:
Wildlife disturbance, harassment and displacement / vegetation and wildlife habitat destruction/ Wildlife mortality/ road density/soil pulverization and compacting/ wetlands destruction/ noise pollution/ Chemical pollution..particularly by "2-stroke" ORV engines/ Increase in enforcement problems.
Please submit your comments by writing, calling or e-mailing:
Marsha Kearney - Forest Supervisor,
National Forests in Florida
325 John Knox Road - Ste F-100
Tallahassee, Florida 32303
(850) 942-9300
mkearney@fs.fed.us
Any questions on this alert contact:
Christine Small 352 735 3562
pcsmall@prodigy.net
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~..~
IS GROWTH GOOD?
Over the last 30 years, we have begun to understand how the health of the planet and the welfare of our species depend upon each other. As a result, we are searching for new balance between the ecological health of the planet and the development of human society in the broadest sense. The search is being conducted under a concept we call sustainability.
What is sustainability?
The term was first applied to the use of renewable resources. (Trees,fish or water are examples of renewable resources.) Literally, an activiy is sustainable if it can last indefinitely. If a renewable resource is harvested no faster than it can replenish itself, the resource can, in theory, be harvested indefinitely. This is often referred to as sustainable use. Any faster rate of harvest is unsustainable. The resource will eventually be depleted. In many areas of Florida-particularly along the coastline- we are mining water, using it in a manner that cannot be sustained for long.
In the 1970’s and 1980’s we started to realized how tangled and twisted together the environment and the economy really are. Increasingly, economic prosperity and ecological health were seen to depend upon one another, and not be in conflict. The notion of sustainability now began to cover economic activities in general and human development as a whole.
What is development?
Development is one of the goals that societies everywhere strive for. Initially development was thought of in purely economic terms-increase production through industrialization. Today, development is being seen more and more as a process that should lead to an improvement in human well-being. Economic activity and standards of living are important, but today people are looking are development as more than growth in the Gross National Product. Education, Health, cultural integrity, a protected environment and other goals are also important.
What is sustainable development?
Development is sustainable if it can endure. Development that makes people better off today by impoverishing some future generation is unsustainable. In 1987, the World Commission on Environment defined sustainable development as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their owns needs.
The basic idea is that if development comes at the expense of the quality of the air and water, or at the expense of depleted renewable resources like fish stocks or forests, it is hurting the welfare of future generations.
Basic Principles of sustainability
Nature can be a source of knowledge, model, and a mentor. One of the key lessons is that the elements of our world are interdependent. This means that every subsystem of our human ecosystem-economic,social,cultural, physical and biological is connected in some way to each other.
We must realize that continuos growth is not sustainable. The earth is finite. Sufficiency must replace economic efficiency.
Basic to any debate on sustainability is the principle that everyone who may be affected by a decision should have a say. The debate must be global in scope and all communities and all stakeholders, must be represented. Co-operation rather that competition is the key to sustainable.
Unchecked growth, with poor planning WILL deplete our renewable resources and contribute to unsustainability.
Department of Environmental Protection
~.~.~. ~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
REDUCING STATE PARK STAFF & PRIVATIZING
FLORIDA STATE PARK OPERATIONS
The Sierra Club finds that the Department of Environmental Protection's proposal for reducing state park staff and privatizing park operations, in response to Governor Bush's directive to cut government [staff] by 25%, would result in diminishing the quality of Florida's parks, and would lead to less effective yet more expensive natural resource protection. The Sierra Club opposes the privatization of parks, congratulates the Department of Parks and Recreation for receiving an award for top ranking among state park systems under its current mode of
operation, and calls for a thorough fiscal analysis of the proposal.
Furthermore the Sierra Club finds the proposal will result in:
I. Degradation of natural resources
Diminished professional expertise and lack of continuity and historical knowledge regarding park resources and management among replacement personnel.
The state does not have a sufficient supply of trained, experienced contractors for large scale resource management. Firing then rehiring agency staff as part time personnel without benefits does not engender a
commitment by employees to their jobs (and constitutes unfair personnel practices).
Loss of integrated, comprehensive resource management. Natural resources need to be managed as wholistic systems, interdependant systems, not contracted out piecemeal. Special elements, like endangered species, need study, management, and monitoring that require biologists's attention over long periods of time
Loss of longterm relationships and cooperative agreements with adjacent public and private land managers and owners of inholdings.
A shift in the natural resource portion of the parks budget toward facilities, campgrounds, roads, cottages, activity centers, and other recreational structures is likely. Management money from the CARL program is already dangerously low and being siphoned off for other programs.
2. Higher costs to the public
Increased costs for private contractors that will exceed the cost for staff operations.
Increased pressure to permit and encourage revenue producing activities in the parks at the expense of natural resource management, including higher park fees, a rising number of concessionaires, and more private uses of these public lands.
In recent years public land managers have been directed to look for more revenue producing uses of public lands. This new proposal would push land managers toward even more intensively used parks for profit.
Public safety is compromised by the plan to reduce staff, including, eliminating staff presence at some parks during certain hours.
3. First year results that are not representative of the longterm effect on the park system
The test parks are not representative of our parks system. Two are gardens and one is a museum. Four parks are being returned to previous owners (e.g., US Fish & Wildlife Service, Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission) which moves costs around but is not a reduction for the taxpayer. Fish & Wildlife Cons Comm.
The consequences will differ from park to park, also, certain operations may do well as contracted services, thus the Club recognizes that there may be a few examples of parks that benefit from the proposal. Subcontracting currently being done at some parks is being pointed to as successful, and thus, a good idea overall. Not necessarily true - that subcontracting is often additive to current operations and not a substitution for existing park personnel and resource management. Services are often ones that don't require professional expertise, such
as, lawn mowing.
The Sierra Club opposes the parks privatization proposal finding that it will result in a decrease in the quality of natural resource management at a higher cost to the public.
~.~.~. ~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING POLICY
ON MERCHANT POWER GENERATION IN FLORIDA
WHEREAS, energy is fundamental to the economic well-being of the State of Florida and the quality of life of its citizens; and
WHEREAS, a healthy environment is vital to the protection of natural resources within the State of Florida and the quality of life of its citizens; and
WHEREAS, in response to an increasing demand for electricity, out-of-state merchant power companies are actively lobbying for permission to build and operate more than forty (40) new power plants within the State of Florida; and
WHEREAS, the current regulatory environment within Florida encourages the construction of simple cycle oil-fired and gas-fired electrical power plants to circumvent requirements of the Power Plant Siting Act (403.501 - 518, F.S.) and therefore results in the inefficient use of fossil fuels; and
WHEREAS, by circumventing requirements of the Power Plant Siting Act, simple-cycle merchant plants may be approved for any location within the State of Florida without providing a justification of need, and are not required to provide local or regional service; and
WHEREAS, although the generation of electricity using natural gas presents certain environmental benefits in comparison to coal or oil-fired generation, natural gas facilities that do not result in the displacement of older coal or oil-fired plants fail to promote energy efficiency, conservation and alternative energy sources, and continue to foster dependence on fossil fuels; and
WHEREAS, the introduction of additional fossil fuel power plants into Florida can have serious direct and cumulative environmental impacts, including degradation of air quality, depletion of aquifer and surface-water resources, generation of industrial waste, degradation of ecosystems and loss of habitat; and
WHEREAS, the widespread proliferation of new fossil-fuel generating facilities compromises sound growth management within Florida, and contributes to urban sprawl by encouraging industrialization of the rural landscape; and
WHEREAS, Florida currently has reliable electric generation capacity and has adopted a plan to provide additional capacity as needed in the future utilizing existing generation sites; and
WHEREAS, the State of Florida lacks a comprehensive regulatory plan to respond to the current influx of merchant power plants;
THEREFORE, be it resolved that the Florida Chapter of the Sierra Club supports a thorough study of energy issues affecting the State of Florida and the creation of a comprehensive, state-wide plan to implement energy conservation, energy efficiency, a schedule for required emission reductions, renewable energy sources (such as solar, wind, geothermal and hydrogen), strict siting standards, and a determination of need for proposed merchant power plants; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the construction of merchant power plants should be limited to either combined cycle natural gas fired generation or renewable energy generation and should be limited to circumstances in which coal or oil-fired plants are replaced, construction takes place at existing sites or other industrial brownfield sites, reclaimed water is utilized, a needs determination is made in accordance with the current Power Plant Sitings Act, and BACT (Best Available Control Technologies) are utilized.
ADOPTED AND ATTESTED to this 20th day of January, 2001, by the Florida Executive Committee on behalf of the Florida Chapter of the Sierra Club.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DISCLAIMER The information provided here is for information purposes only. The listing of any group or organization is not to be considered as an endorsement by the Sierra Club, the Florida Chapter, nor the Suncoast Group and assumes no responsibility for actions taken by the mentioned groups or organizations.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tampa Sierra Club
P.O. Box 1948
Tampa, FL 33601-1948
(813)253-3555
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
St. Petersburg Audubon Society
11645 69th Way North
Largo, Florida 33773
President: Joyce King (727) 531-3440
Membership Chair: Mamie Durham (813) 360-0732
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Florida Consumer Action Network (FCAN)
4100 W. Kennedy
Blvd, Suite 128
Tampa, FL 33609
Phone: 727-286-1226
Fax: 727-286- 1315
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Florida Conservation Association
904 East Park Avenue
Tallahassee, Florida 32301
(904) 224-3474
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Florida Public Interest Research Group
420 East Call Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32301
(904) 224-5304
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Save Our Everglades
444 Brickell Ave. Suite 250
Miami, FL 33131
Fax: (305) 373-6137
Call toll-free: 1-888-EVERGLAdes
e-mail:soe@gate.net
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friends of the Everglades
9220 Southwest 166 Street
Miami Springs, Florida 33157
(305) 235-8591
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Everglades Coalition
c/o Wilderness Society
900 Seventeenth Street, Northwest
Washington, D.C. 20006-2596
(202) 833-2300
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Save the Manatee Club
500 North Maitland Avenue
Maitland, Florida 32751
(407) 539-0990
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Florida League of Conservation Voters
8751 East Keating Park Street
Floral City, Florida 34436
(352) 726-1566
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gopher Tortoise Council
4005 South Main Street
Gainesville, Florida 32601
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Egmont Key Alliance, Inc.
4905 34th Street South
BOX 5000
ST. Petersburg, FL. 33711-4511
(813) 893-2627
FAX (813) 893-1292
Robert Baker - Park Manager
Richard Johnson -Alliance President
Charlene Bennett - Volunteer Coordinator (813) 327-1661
e-mail: egmont key@aol.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Florida Exotic Plant Council
c/o Tony Pernas
HCR-61 Box 11
Ochopee, Fl. 34141
e-mail: tony_pernas@nps.gov
FLEPPC Home Page
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tampa BAYWATCH
8401 9th Street North
Suite 230-B
St. Petersburg, Florida 33702
Ph. (813) 896-5320
e-mail:TPBAYWATCH@aol.com
Tampa Baywatch Home Page
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Florida Panther Society, Inc.
Rt. 1, Box 1895
White Springs, Fl 32096
(904) 397-2945
Florida Panther Society Home Page
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pinellas Chapter Florida Native Plant Society, Inc.
4362 80th Avenue North
Pinellas Park, Florida 34665
Ph. (813) 546-7661
The Florida Native Plant Society Home Page
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Florida Nature Conservancy
Florida Chapter
222 South Westmore Drive
Suite 300
Altamonte Springs, Florida 32714
Ph. (407) 682-3664
e-mail: apovinelli@tnc.org
The Nature Conservancy of Florida
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tampa Bay National Estuary Program
111 Seventh Avenue South
St. Petersburg, Florida 33701
Ph. (813) 893-2765
Dick Eckenrod, Director
e-mail: Tampa Bay National Estuary Program
Tampa Bay National Estuary Program Home Page
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary
18328 Gulf Boulevard
Indian Shores, Florida 34635
(813) 391-6211
e-mail: Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary
Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary Home Page
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------