The former governor of Florida, Rick Scott, was widely seen as a disaster for the environment, slashing $700m from the water management budget, rolling back crucial water quality safeguards and pursuing pro-industry policies that critics said turned a blind eye to pollution and polluters. On top of that, Scott was also credited with banning the phrases climate change and global warming from the official state lexicon.
These days Scott is no longer in office, and his successor, Ron DeSantis, is looking for clear-cut ways to reverse the damage and spare Florida from the tangible dangers that will come with the climate crisis. That’s DeSantis has hired Florida’s first chief science officer—a man by the name of Tom Frazer who most recently served as director of the University of Florida’s school of natural resources and environment.
As chief science officer, Frazer is in charge of providing lawmakers and others who shape state policies with accurate, up-to-date scientific facts and considerations. On top of that, he will also begin working with a newly convened taskforce to investigate the devastating naturally occurring green-blue algae blooms in Lake Okeechobee and inland waterways that many environmentalists believe were worsened by nutrient run-off from sugar and other farming industries.
The appointment of Frazer, along with the creation of a $2.5 billion fund dedicated to the environment over the next four years, are signs that Florida is finally getting serious about the climate crisis.
