Florida's DeSantis signs "Don't Say Climate Change" Bill. We'll See How That Works Out. Meteorologists Rebel

We can always rely on Florida for easy but stupid answers.

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed "don't say climate
change" legislation that scrubs reference to it from
state statutes. I guess if you pretend it doesn't
exist, then it doesn't exist?

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a "Don't Say Climate Change" bill into law that eliminates that supposedly awful phrase from state documents and regulations.  

As the Associated Press reports:

"Opponents of the bill DeSantis signed say it removes the word 'climate' in nine different places, moves the state's energy goals away from efficiency and the reduction of greenhouse gases blamed for a warming planet."

References to climate change will disappear from state statutes. I guess DeSantis doesn't want Floridians to say much.  After all, under DeSantis, Florida is the home to "don't say gay" laws. 

By the logic of DeSantis and his Republican-led legislature, if you pretend climate change doesn't exist, it goes away, I guess. Never mind the record spring heat wave that's been hitting parts of Florida. Or the increasing rate of sea level rise that keeps causing nuisance flooding in Miami. Or the enhanced hurricane risk later this summer and autumn. 

The bill DeSantis signed into law earlier this month also bans wind turbines offshore or near the state's huge coastline. 

Additionally, as NPR reports:

"(The law) would also boost expansion of natural gas, reduce regulation on gas pipelines in the state and increase protections against bans on gas appliances such as stoves, according to a news release from the governor's office."

DeSantis claims that the law is "restoring sanity" on energy issues and "rejecting the agenda of the radical green zealots."

This comes at a time when Florida is really under assault from climate change and its side effects. A record heat wave this month sent heat indexes up to the 110-115 range, much higher than ever observed in May. 

Due to sea level rise, Miami has seen so far in 2024 water above mean high tide more often than in 1996, 1997 and 1998, said Brian McNoldy, a meteorologist specializing in sea level, climatology and hurricanes. 

Speaking of hurricanes, we know Florida is prone to hurricanes. Climate change tends to make those storms bigger and more powerful.  Due to unprecedented warmth in the parts of the Atlantic Ocean that brew hurricanes, forecasters say this could be a record season.  Florida could be in the crosshairs again. 

Insurance rates are going up because of this threat. Want to retire to Florida? If you do, remember that these higher insurance rates are forcing many Florida senior living centers to close.

Meteorologists are among those starting to rebel against DeSantis and his climate nonsense. 

Steve MacLaughlin, a meteorologist at a NBC affiliate in Miami, tore into DeSantis on social media and a video posted on his stations web site. "As Florida is on fire, underwater and unaffordable, our state government is rolling back climate change legislation and language, " he said on X, formerly Twitter.

On the video, MacLaughlin says, "The world is looking to Florida to lead in climate change, and our government is saying that climate change is no longer the priority it once was."

Other Florida meteorologists are starting to follow MacLaughlin's lead. John Morales, a longtime South Florida meteorologist, urged colleagues in broadcast media to do the same as MacLaughlin.

On X, formerly Twitter, Morales linked to MacLaughlin's video and said, "this is the time like no other to be courageous. Here's how."

MacLaughlin emphasized he was not telling people how to vote or who to vote for, but rather was emphasizing the science and the risks. 

Pointing out the obvious dangers of climate change can affect a television meteorologist's career. Last year, Chris Gloninger, a meteorologist at KCCI in Des Moines, resigned from his position after he got tons of hate mail and threats from MAGA types because he dared to note how climate change was endangering Iowa. 

Gloninger is now a Senior Scientist at Woods Hole Group.  

I'm not sure why so many far right politicians think that not mentioning things they don't want to deal with makes them go away. For better or worse, Americans tend not to want to shut up.  

I have a feeling that DeSantis and his minions will find this "Don't Say Climate Change" nonsense will eventually backfire on them. 

Climate change is powerful enough to eventually overrule any type of right-wing legislation.  Talk about backfiring! 

DeSantis To Florida Outdoor Workers: Drop Dead

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation banning
municipalities from enacting regulations that would
give outdoor workers necessary things like
shade breaks and cool water during hot weather.
The cruelty is the point, apparently. 

 You might have seen a headline I wrote back on March 7 that looks about the same as the one on this post. 

You'd remember correctly. I wrote, "Florida Republicans To Outdoor Workers: Drop Dead."  That's because Republicans were working on legislation that would ban Florida towns and cities from enacting ordinances that protect outdoor workers from excessive heat and humidity. 

Well, Republicans passed the measure and Florida Gov Ron DeSantis just signed the measure. 

The ban on protecting workers from dangerous heat in one of the hottest states in the nation was in response to worker heat regulations under consideration in Miami-Dade County. It was the only one of Florida's 66 counties considering heat protection rules for outdoor workers. 

DeSantis said the statewide ban on heat regulations came from opponents of such rules in Miami-Dade. DeSantis added the heat rule there "was going to cause a lot of problems down there."  He did not specify what those problems would be. 

My suspicions are that part of the reason DeSantis and his minions don't want to see heat safety regulations is that many outdoor workers are Hispanic, and there a number of migrants among that group. 

You have to be as cruel to non-whites as possible to be a Republican in good standing these days.

The actual talking point has been that business can't afford to deal heat regulations that vary from town to town across Florida.

As Florida Politics reported:

"'Running a small business is never easy, but it's even harder when owners have to contend with a patchwork of local and sometimes contradictory rules and regulations,' said Bill Herbie, National Federation of Independent Business Florida state director, in a written statement supporting the bill signing."

The obvious solution to that problem would be to enact a statewide worker heat protection law, but tellingly, Florida's Republican-led legislature, and DeSantis, never introduced or supported such a law.  There was vague talk of looking at such regulations in 2028.  Even if they were being honest, why wait?

Frustratingly, I can't find any news articles in which reporters pressed lawmakers on why statewide heat regulations are a bad idea, other than business groups oppose them. I guess they think heat regulations would save them money, which of course is way, way more important than workers' lives in their minds. 

I'm also not sure how risking workers' lives in hot weather is a smart business plan, but what do I know? I guess the cruelty is the point.

There's evidence that heat regulations can actually save businesses money. Some states and munipalites have heat safety regulations.  As NPR reports:

"California was the first to establish regulations in 2006. They require employers to provide shade, rest breaks, and access to cool, clean water for outdoor workers. After the rules were implemented, heat-related workers compensation claims dropped, according to a 2021 study from UCLA."

In any event, labor groups were understandably livid at this Florida bill signing.

"'It's no surprise that Gov. DeSantis signed this cruel and terrible bill late at night; that's what you do when you're embarrassed about what you're signing,' said Jessica E. Martinez, co-executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, a labor-oriented organization," reported islandernews.com  

The federal government has a general rule that workplaces should be "free from recognized hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm," but nothing specific on heat. So federal regulations are no help.  Congress could enact nationwide heat safety laws, but I don't see that coming any time in the near or distant future.

Texas last year also enacted rules preventing municipalities from instituting heat protection for workers. Same arguments.

Florida and Texas seem determined to torture outdoor workers via hot weather even as heat waves worsen as climate change escalates.  Other states, learning lessons from those climate fueled heat waves, are moving in the opposite direction. 

 After extreme, record-shattering heat in 2021 that caused several deaths, Washington and Oregon instituted hot weather protections for outdoor workers. 

It looks like there will be a patchwork of regulations that business lobbying groups say they oppose. Some states, like Texas and Florida, will just regard workers who die of heat stroke just dumb machinery that broke.

Other states, like California, will regard outdoor workers as, well, human beings. Different regulations will probably be introduced in other states, some humane, some not. 

And in the not-so-humane states, some of the people out in the hot sun picking your tomatoes and building your silly resort hotels, and landscaping those resorts will get sick and or die, because providing shade breaks and cool water is just way to "woke" to consider, apparently.