The Ixia Chapter Conservation Newsletter is written weekly by Chadd Scott, an art, culture & travel writer, talk radio personality, and podcast producer and coach as well as the Ixia Chapter Conservation Chair. To receive his weekly Conservation Newsletter directly to your email, complete the Subscribe form at the bottom of this page. The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Florida Native Plant Society, its chapters, employees or volunteers.
At the beginning of last year I shared my “11 easiest conservation actions” to take on as resolutions.
Here they are again: https://ixia.fnpschapters.org/data/uploads/newsletters/conservation-newsletter-1-7-24-easiest-conservation-actions.pdf
Looking for more conservation-minded New Year’s resolutions? Here are some.
LINK: https://www.instagram.com/p/DTDWLCnEaVC/?igsh=bzVrb2xwcmxsazI%3D
Regarding the last, and perhaps most important, action item on both lists – voting – the state wants to make it as hard as possible for people to vote. In pursuit of that goal, it requires voters to request a new mail-in ballot every year. You can do that here.
LINK: https://dos.fl.gov/elections/for-voters/voting/vote-by-mail/
2025 was an exceptional year for sea turtle nesting around Florida, including a record for leatherbacks.
Researchers are studying how to help Florida’s state tree, the cabbage palm, adapt to rising sea levels.
Here’s a headline: “Trashing our oceans: Feds plan the biggest permitted coral destruction in US history.”
Location: Fort Lauderdale, where the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is pursuing a massive dredging project.
Here’s an issue that had flown beneath my radar until a recent episode of my “Welcome to Florida” podcast centered on manta rays.
LISTEN: https://welcometoflorida.buzzsprout.com/1169570/episodes/18405871-episode-287-manta-rays
Last summer, the state allowed the capture of a manta ray, a threatened species, from the wild for an overseas aquarium. Under the state’s current policy, that’s permissible — and so is the capture of other vulnerable animals including goliath groupers, spotted eagle rays, devil rays, and queen conchs. Taking threatened animals from Florida for display and profit outside of our state is inhumane and stupid – not to put too fine a point on it.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is considering new policies and rules that would guide the collection of rare and imperiled species for public exhibition.
This automated form allows you to voice your disapproval to FWC: https://act.biologicaldiversity.org/KmJYZ1hjaEm9cJa1QHKRNg2?sourceid=1011082&utm_source=action&utm_medium=email&contactdata=7lFCJQMRFI7+jUiCDQMgaqYBKTKlDLVBtqdQBH9En3%2fOEmHtB8+VE%2fAInNkwyFrN1%2fJKISJ5wsENyMAA%2f5CuElZSOdF88skvLQexi5J2Pa5TNXQmUO9NAx+C8vH%2fQ9GAIBpdZSgCzKJyLsBPZGl5VSq2Unxa0e8sLvvJmE34IRtgPdPXb0Nx6kYPGdLPnrzTYsICzPzkcG7oYPiesqi5xGh6R1lfAtNrH+Yo6Xyznxc5Fxm78T%2f+5qulm1u31sGg764F49S+UUTIAxgSER9%2f9Q%3d%3d&emci=2330fe9d-c8ec-f011-8195-000d3a1d58aa&emdi=bc45893a-aeef-f011-8194-000d3a11f903&ceid=1955550
Instead of the usual accounting of corporate eco-villains, how about a couple of businesses trying to do some ecological good?
A Florida-based biomaterials company is developing Styrofoam alternatives derived from agricultural waste/crop residues that aim to match Styrofoam’s performance while enabling predictable biodegradation after use. Styrofoam is horrific for the environment – go to any beach to see why.
St. Petersburg-based Climate First Bank uses capitalism to combat climate change.
Climate is a class issue.
The world’s richest 1% used up their fair share of carbon emissions just 10 days into 2026. The richest 0.1% took only three days to exhaust their annual carbon budget – if life were fair and equal and private jets and yachts and billionaires didn’t exist – according to the research by Oxfam.
“It was jaw-dropping,” said a former oil and gas worker from Texas who has documented methane releases for more than a decade. “Just an unbelievable amount of pollution.”
The cost of data centers.
This video looks at the economic benefits and economic drawbacks of datacenters.
Generally speaking, huge jobs windfall upfront for construction, many going to temporary, out-of-town residents, big surge in rental housing prices, with marginal long term job creation and tax incentives that keep company from paying for all they’re taking.
A new study in the journal Nature estimates that wildfire smoke kills 40,000 Americans each year… not only where the fires occur.
A federal judge ruled last Monday that the administration acted illegally when it canceled $7.6 billion in clean energy grants for projects in states that voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.
How the invasion of Venezuela will be “terrible” for climate action.
LINK: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/06/trump-venezuela-oil-climate-crisis
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