There are only two known populations of the Miami tiger beetle in the world. Both, as the insect’s name suggests, are located around Miami, in rare pine rocklands habitat; because of the beetle’s rarity, an effort is now underway to classify it as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, a…
Last summer, environmentalists were horrified when a whole section of protected mangroves on Virginia Key were cut down by a City of Miami contractor working on preparations for the 2016 Miami International Boat Show. City officials apologized and blamed the contractor, saying it was all a mistake. But now, the…
The State of Florida’s semi-annual Python Challenge is set to kick off on January 16th, and in advance the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is blasting the state for allowing hunters to decapitate the reptiles during the great snake hunt. PETA claims the method causes the snakes prolonged pain,…
It’s the first week of January, so you know the drill: Gyms are packed with noobs misusing the squat racks, out-of-practice joggers are huffing along every beachside trail and Miami’s doctors are doing strong business in freshly pulled hamstrings. But some parts of Miami need to re-up those New Year’s…
Wouldn’t it be great to be Tarzan? You’d have great abs and get to hang out with wild monkeys all the time. Maybe more realistically you could, at least, get rid of those love handles and live in a place where you could occasionally see monkeys out in the wild…
This month in the New Yorker, writer Elizabeth Kolbert makes it painfully clear that the city has essentially no battle plan to combat rising sea levels in South Florida. Between Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s wholesale denial of the problem and civic figures waiting on the savior of innovation, very little…
Spurred by articles in publications from Vanity Fair to the New Yorker, the nation finally seems to be waking up to the fact that Miami is slowly being swallowed by the sea. With predictions ranging from eight inches to six feet of sea level rise over the next century, it’s…
At a City of Miami Commission meeting last Thursday more than 50 men, women, and children crowded into the small gallery inside City Hall, an unusual, impossible-to-miss crowd for a run of the mill city meeting. The crowd wore fluorescent green shirts, for maximum impact, emblazoned with the message, “All…
Every year in South Beach, the Miami International Boat Show brings huge, Basel-esque crowds to gape at fleets of luxury yachts. This morning, though, city commissioners will decide whether to let the show flee to Virginia Key. It’s all part of an ambitious plan to renovate Miami Marine Stadium, a…
Perhaps you’ve been watching the rising seas routinely inundating Miami streets, soaking cars and stranding residents unlucky enough to not own kayaks, and thinking to yourself, “Well, I’m sure our leaders have some great ideas how to save our city.” Afraid not! This morning, the New Yorker dropped a new longread…
For so long, the rallying cry of conservationists has been: “Plant a tree, save the planet.” But in Florida, it may be more appropriate to plant a coral—to save the ocean. So much of our state’s magic and beauty is hidden underneath the ocean’s surface. Our hundreds of square miles…
Plans to build theme parks on land next to Zoo Miami are still brewing, but the Zoo itself hopes to get a jump start on bringing a theme park-style ride to the area. As part of its currently under construction Mission Everglades expansion area, Zoo Miami plans to build a…
Last month, sign-waving demonstrators massed in front of Tropical Park to try to dissuade customers from buying tickets to Christmas mainstay Santa’s Enchanted Forest. Their complaint? The live tigers and other animals used in shows at the theme park, which activists claimed are mistreated. “These animals are forced to live…
To quote our favorite Christmas movie Batman Returns, mistletoe can be deadly if you eat it, but a kiss can be even deadlier if you mean it. Especially if that kiss is from an invasive insect known as the Kissing Bug. The Center For Disease Control reports that the insect,…
It’s the happiest time of the year — except for the animals at Santa’s Enchanted Forest. At least that’s what a group of animal activists planning a protest against the venerable holiday theme park says. They believe Santa’s Enchanted Forest, which bills itself as the “world’s largest holiday theme park,”…
To designer Isaac Stein, there’s no reason to be scared of the rising seas in South Florida. Instead, the encroaching water should be embraced as part of the next phase in Miami Beach’s evolution. In fact, Stein has proposed one of the most creative solutions yet to save South Beach…
After 65 years of shoveling snow in Iowa, Frank Poma was tired. “You get rid of it,” he says, “and then it keeps coming back.” So about five years ago, Poma and his wife Cindi bought an RV and headed for Knight’s Key RV Resort and Marina, an unpretentious, 24-acre…
There have been may a classic battle fought in Florida. Cassius Clay (later known as Muhammad Ali) vs Sonny Liston in 1964. The battles of the Miami Hurricanes and Florida State Seminoles in the early ’90s. The Rock vs John Cena at WrestleMania XXVIII. But perhaps no face-off was quite as…
As any veteran Miamian will quickly remind you, November is still very much part of hurricane season. Still, by now South Florida is usually starting to bask in regular 70-degree highs and calm seas. But not this year. As a record-shattering heat wave cooks Florida for a second straight week,…
Sea level rise shouldn’t be a controversial subject in a state subcommittee tasked with talking about Everglades restoration and water management. That’s exactly why two state representatives from South Florida began asking a Tallahassee bureaucrat earlier this week about climate change’s impact on the state’s projects. But this is Florida,…
If you’re a Miamian and you still don’t care about the threat that global warming poses to the very continued existence of our city perhaps there’s another way we could get yo care. Turns out a new study co-authored by researches from Tulane, UC-Santa Barbara, and the University of Central…
In recent months, Miami-Dade mayor Carlos Gimenez has been facing mounting pressure from environmentalists to do more to prepare the county for the inevitable sea level rise. So far, Gimenez has listened. In September, he passed an almost $500,000-year budget to tackle sea level rise and a chief resiliency officer…
