Advanced Placement Environmental Science teacher Caitlin Hanley evaluates how her connection with the environment has evolved over the course of her life
Growing
Marjory’s Garden club fosters student involvement
Climate Change club and Project Moana inform students about sustainability
In the River of Grass
The Everglades faces restoration efforts to preserve the ecosystem’s biodiversity
Brace for Impact
Climate Change poses various threats to Florida’s ecosystems and citizens
Invasion
Non-native species infest South Florida
Sink or Swim
Junior Mckayla Barton pursues challenging scuba diving certification to further passion for sea life
Nurturing Whiskers
Sisters Madison and Riley Cousans care for foster kittens
Pedaling Through Life
MSD student Rebecca Rinderknecht describes her hobby as a cyclist
Natural Beauty
MSD students capture their environment through photography
Lechtenstein
Lyla Sachs
Gabie Soilvilus
Ahana Tippanagoudar Ava Thomas
Recycled Lies
PHOTO BY Ava Thomas
Editor Letters
Food for Thought
Dear Editor,
One thought I always have regards the events they hold during lunch periods. I think they should be more frequent, since it’s clear a lot of people do like to participate in them. The hosts should add more games in the courtyard, like when they had the bean bag toss and other little games around, so after having lunch, students can play the games instead of walking or sitting around being bored.
I think it shouldn’t be restricted to when there’s special occasions, but maybe there could be a few designated days every month to hold these events. Maybe there could be a club dedicated to hosting these events, to get students more involved in those kinds of activities.
JASMIN BEATO, 12
Sign of the Times
Dear Editor, Environmental impacts of humans have been the talk for years. Most dismiss things such as climate change as a hoax while others look at it as that if we do not change things, it will be our demise. However, one thing is for sure, humans are the most destructive thing to Earth We are an invasive species to everywhere and everything and without trying to improve and mend the mistakes we have caused, it will only get worse. The last few years, policies have been put in place to protect our environment and Earth. We have joined organizations to put ourselves a step forward.
Disappointingly, we have been taken out of these agreements and our environment policies been taken away and called useless and a waste of money. I fear that we will feel the effects of our actions sooner rather than later.
KALLI WHEELER, 11
The Devil Wears Fast Fashion
Dear Editor,
Although fast fashion is a popular choice to buy clothes from, most people disregard the extreme environmental effects it has on our planet. Every time someone orders fast fashion, it contributes to climate change and other environmental changes. The amount of cheap material it takes to make and ship these products hurt our environment.
Although other clothing options that are not fast fashion can sometimes be pricey, it is worth it to cause harm to our planet. It should be far less normalized to order from brands like Shein and Fashion Nova, as they are affecting our environment more and more every day.
ALEXA BASSER, 10
Editor to the
Disconnected
Dear Editor
I’ve noticed a lot of people, including myself, spending a lot of time on their phones. It seems like everywhere I go, people are looking down at their screens instead of looking around and talking to each other
While phones are great for staying
Dear Editor,
connected and learning new things, I think we’re missing out on real-life experiences when we’re always glued to them. Maybe we could all try to put our phones down a little more and enjoy the world and the people right in front of us.
OLIVIA PADOWITZ, 10
Hook, Line and Sinker
Bottom trawling should be less prominent in today’s age of commercial fishing. Different fishing methods do not harm the environment as much as bottom trawling.
In bottom trawling, large cone-shaped nets drag on the ocean floor disrupting the ocean floor as well as scooping up far too much bycatch, any unwanted fish caught in fishing.
Along with the bycatch, many bottomdwelling plants and animals’ habitats are
uprooted when these trawls roll over their burrows and root systems.
Bottom trawls are not the only kind of fishing method that should be lessened in use or overall eliminated if possible.
Long line fishing results in too much bycatch when other unsuspecting animals get hooked on the many fishing hooks that this method uses to reel in fish or other animals like shrimp and dolphins.
TAM-AN NGUYEN, 12
Sunny Side Down
Dear Editor,
The Egg Shortage: This is yet another issue confronting the increasingly vulnerable food supply chains in the US. Prices soar due to avian flu, and often the production and distribution are interrupted, leaving shelves empty in our local grocery stores.
Though the issue may seem small, the effects are felt everywhere, in schools, homes, and communities.
Many school cafeterias have had to make changes to their menus, eliminating popular egg-based items.
The nutrition benefiting those students who depend on school for meals has substantially reduced or even been lost in some cases. How prepared are we, then, to face similar penurious conditions in the future?
Schools and communities can use this time as a moment for more serious reflection on their future sustainable food practices. Perhaps they would find that more readily supporting local farming, cutting waste, or creating a food systems curriculum for students could go a long way toward building a more resilient future.
ANUSHRI SEEPERSAD, 10
Room to Grow
Dear Editor,
When I grow up, I want to grow a garden. I have always loved nature, and as a kid, I’ve dreamed of having my own garden filled with fruits, vegetables, and flowers. I feel like people take nature and what it has to offer us for granted.
We rely on it for food, clean air, and beauty, yet we often ignore the damage being done to it every day. Gardening is a way to give back. It teaches patience, responsibility and care. It also helps the environment by supporting pollinators and reducing waste if you grow your own food.
I believe that if more people took time to connect with the earth, they would appreciate it more and work harder to protect it. In a world full of concrete and technology, having a space where life can grow is important. A garden isn’t just a hobby, it’s a small step toward healing the planet. That’s why I want to start mine as soon as I can.
HAYLEY BLANC, 12
In the Bin
Dear Editor,
I recently learned that despite having separate recycling and garbage bins at our school, all waste still ends up in the dumpster. This is not right.
Keeping things like plastic, glass, and paper out of landfills and giving them another use reduces our dependence on seeking new and nonrenewable resources and limits the production of greenhouse gases.
Many teachers are environmentally conscious enough to have recycling bins in their classrooms; disregarding this is unacceptable. Anyone who contributes to mitigating anthropogenic climate change should be able to do so freely.
LIA SCHWARTZ, 11
Note from administration: The school does have a recycling program in place, and materials from the blue bins are emptied into a separate recycling dumpster.
Dear Editor,
Each month on our calendar signifies change in weather, movement, and life. Every month a new season stretches for 3, and it changes the way we dress, the way we do our hair, our outdoor activities and our everyday lives. Each season brings its own chapter of life. Summer brings warmth, winter brings cold, spring brings flowers, and autumn brings pumpkins and falling leaves. Effecting
Slow it Down the environment and moods. The seasons remind us to slow down. To sit down and observe the things happening around us. People out in the sun or shivering with hot chocolate and layers in the winter. It’s time to slow down and appreciate this cycle of life and how it connects us all. There’s beauty in everything and there’s opportunity to reflect and renew.
EMAAN KHAN, 12
Send Us a Letter
Have something to say about the school? Have something to say about a local, national or global issue? Have something to say about this issue of the Eagle Eye?
We want to hear your opinions. Email submission to: MSDEagleEyeNews@gmail.com Submissions must be between 100-200 words
Dear Editor,
I do not understand people that walk around smelling like body odor and just stink in general without even trying to cover it. Deodorant is approximately $9 and is very easy to apply. I understand if you have had a long day and it wears off, but I do feel reapplying is necessary even if you do not think you stink. It is just a hygiene thing.
I should not be sitting in my government class with a headache because one person cannot apply deodorant or take a quick shower. If one is struggling to afford deodorant they sell minis for $2 in the Walmart travel section. Nowadays they even have whole body deodorant.
I get it... life happens... but hygiene is such an issue for some reason. Come on guys! Freshness and cleanliness is great!
RHIANNON MARKAJ, 12 Stop the Stink
WHO WAS SHE?
Marjory Stoneman Douglas, the namesake of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, was an activist who fought for conservation of the Everglades and the rights of the marginalized through her writing, political activism and community work. During a time when the Everglades was on the verge of destruction due to draining and building projects, she wrote material that created awareness around and organized everyone together in opposition to the destruction. Moreover, as many migrants arrived to work in Florida and women were not given the right to vote, she was on the forefront of the efforts to preserve the people’s rights.
During her life, she had two schools named after her, including MSD. However, in 1980, when the Florida Department
“
Be a nuisance where it counts. Do your part to inform and stimulate the public to join your action. Be depressed, discouraged and disappointed at failure and the disheartening effects of ignorance, greed, corruption and bad politics—but never give up.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas
Marjory Stoneman Douglas’ passion for protecting the Everglades lives on today
The pen is mightier than the sword
than the sword
Journalist
Stoneman Douglas joined the Miami Herald staff in 1915. She started as a society columnist writing about tea parties and society events.
In 1916, Stoneman Douglas was tasked with writing a story on the first woman from Miami to join the U.S. Naval Reserve. When the woman did not show up for the interview, Stoneman Douglas joined the Navy herself as a first class. However, she did not like waking early and requested a discharge. She joined the American Red Cross.
After World War I, Stoneman Douglas served as assistant editor at the Miami Herald. She became popular due to her daily column “The Galley.” She had many devoted readers, who read the poems at the beginning of her columns. Stoneman Douglas had the freedom to write about anything she chose. She promoted urban planning when Miami saw a population boom. She wrote supporting women’s suffrage, civil rights and better sanitation while opposing the ban of alcohol and foreign trade tariffs.
Stoneman Douglas became involved with the Everglades in the 1920s when she joined the board of the Everglades Tropical National Park Committee. At the time, the Everglades was not a national park, but the group was working towards that recognition. By the 1960s, the Everglades was in danger of disappearing because of mismanagement in the name of progress, real estate and agricultural development.
At the age of 79, Stoneman Douglas founded Friends of the Everglades. The group was created with the purpose of protesting plans to destroy a large portion of the Everglades to build a huge jetport in the wetlands in the Big Cypress.
She toured the state giving hundreds of condemnations of the airport project, and increased membership of Friends of the Everglades to 3,000 members within three years. Due to her efforts and other Everglades groups, President Richard Nixon scrapped funding for the project and the jetport was stopped after one runway was built.
“We have to start small, which is what I try to do here locally at the school and get people to understand how important it is to conserve
MWomen’s Rights Advocate
Stoneman Douglas was interested in women’s suffrage from one of her first days writing as a columnist. She focused on writing about women in leadership positions.
In 1917, she and a group of women went to the Florida Legislature to speak in support of women’s right to vote.
“All four of us spoke to a joint committee wearing our best hats,” Stoneman Douglas said. “Talking to them was like talking to graven images. They never paid attention to
us at all.”
She spoke in Tallahassee to lawmakers in support of the Equal Rights Amendment, which would ban sex discrimination.
Environmentalist
our wild habitats,” Advanced Placement Environmental Science teacher Tammy Orilio said. “On a larger scale, it’s important for us as voters to vote in the people who are going to best represent our ideals in terms of preserving.”
Stoneman Douglas spent the rest of her life defending the Everglades. She expanded Friends of the Everglades into Broward, Palm Beach, Lee, St. Lucie, Osceola, Hendry, Glades and Monroe counties, and criticized two groups that were doing the most damage to the Everglades: sugar cane growers and the Army Corps of Engineers.
The sugarcane growers in South Florida polluted Lake Okeechobee by pumping chemicals, human waste and garbage into the water, which is a major freshwater source.
“I’d like 10 more years,” Stoneman Douglas said, when she was interviewed at the age of 104. “I’d probably do the same sort of things I’m doing, but I’d certainly fight sugar.”
Today, the sugarcane industry continues to affect the Everglades ecosystem through pollution.
“Everglades conservation is even more
Author
arjory Stoneman Douglas’ love of writing started from a young age. She was a straight-A student at Wellesley College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1912. She arrived in Florida newly divorced and worked as a newspaper reporter.
After quitting the Miami Herald in 1923, Stoneman Douglas worked as a freelance writer. From 1920-1990, Douglas published 109 fiction articles and stories. In that time, she also wrote one of her most instrumental works that changed everyone’s perspective about the Everglades: “River of Grass.” She wrote about the ecosystem, history and people of the Everglades.
Before Stoneman Douglas became an author, publisher of the “Rivers of America” series Hervey Allen dropped by her house to see her. He wanted her to contribute to the series by writing about the Miami River. However, upon researching it, she became more interested in the Everglades and
convinced Allen to let her write about that instead.
During her five years of research to write the book, Stoneman Douglas spent time with geologist Garald Parker. He discovered that South Florida’s only freshwater source was the Biscayne Aquifer, which the Everglades filled. Stoneman Douglas asked him if she could call the freshwater flowing from Lake Okeechobee the “River of Grass,” hence the title of her most iconic book.
“[The book] was important in terms of getting out to the general public about this rare gem that we have in our backyards,” Advanced Placement Environmental Science teacher Tammy Orilio said. “A lot of people didn’t know about the Everglades and didn’t know that there is this large swath of area unlike anywhere else on the planet.”
The book was published in 1947 and sold out of its first printing in a month. The book starts with the words, “There are no other Everglades in the world.”
important than when Marjory Stoneman Douglas first proposed everything,” Orilio said. “As more and more people are coming to Florida and living here, there is more and more pollution happening and a lot of habitat loss.”
Stoneman Douglas spoke out about the damage the Army Corps of Engineers was doing to the Everglades by altering the natural flow of water. The Army Corps of Engineers constructed more than 1,400 miles of canals to divert water away from the Everglades after 1947.
After Miami-Dade County approved building permits in the Everglades, the land flooded. When homeowners demanded the Army Corps of Engineers drain their neighborhoods, Stoneman Douglas was the only opposition.
During a hearing in 1983, she was shouted at by the audience of residents. However, the Dade County commissioners eventually decided not to drain the land.
When she died in 1998 at the age of 108, her ashes were scattered in the Everglades she worked to preserve.
Today at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High
School, teachers and students preserve native plants within Marjory’s Garden.
“We have an area called the Everglades Zone specifically for that purpose,” Astronomy teacher Kyle Jeter said. “Mr. [Eric] Garner wanted to ensure that we had an area to represent what Marjory Stoneman Douglas fought to preserve. It’s a unique ecosystem in the entire world.”
This further educates students about Florida’s ecosystems and ways of conservation.
“Working in the garden made me learn about numerous plants and ways to minimize waste, such as using leftover foods or anything organic as compost,” Garden Club Co-President Luana Maldaner Kunzler said. “Also, I think it’s important that awareness is brought about native animals and plants that might be endangered… invasive species are not usually part of the native ecosystems and end up out-competing the native species for resources and over take the environment. Knowing which plants or animals are native and which are not can help people distinguish and be more mindful of what species they should try to help get rid of.”
Migrant Rights Advocate
Stoneman Douglas worked to protect migrant farm workers and helped pass a law requiring Miami homes to have indoor plumbing.
“[Migrants face] the struggle for life that is little more than living,” Stoneman Douglas wrote. “Gambling, the numbers, lotteries, hardly help the monotony, the tragic weight of labor that the genius of their laughter cannot lighten, or their dulled unconscious despair. The non-migrant sugar-cane workers for the great companies fare better. They have better houses and hospitals and ball games and schools.”
In the early 1920s she wrote “Martin Tabert of North Dakota is Walking Florida Now,” which was a ballad about the death of a 22-year-old who was beaten to death in a labor camp. The work was a criticism of convict leasing, a practice where corporations could contract incarcerated people–who were primarily Black prisoners–as a form of forced labor. This
practice still continues around the U.S. Despite Stoneman Douglas’ efforts to improve migrant conditions, migrant workers today live in overcrowded or substandard housing, including dormitories and mobile homes. Some housing may not be up to code, leading to a lack of oversight and potential safety hazards.
In the 1980s, Stoneman Douglas lent her support to the Florida Rural Legal Services, a group that worked to protect migrant farm workers who were centered on Belle Glade, and who were primarily employed in the sugarcane industry. She wrote to Gov. Bob Graham in 1985 to encourage him to assess the conditions the migrant workers endured.
Today, student gun violence activists, like MSD alumni Jaclyn Corin, cite Stoneman Douglas as an influence. Stoneman Douglas’ legacy lives on in those she still inspires into action.
STORY, GRAPHICS AND DESIGN BY
Natalia Dzielnicka
QA QA &
Tammy
Orilio
Advanced Placement
Environmental Science teacher
Tammy Orilio shares journey
navigating marine science field
What kick-started your passion for marine science?
Since I was a little kid, I was always interested in the ocean. I grew up in central New York and remember coming down to Florida as a kid quite a few times, and going out in the ocean and loving it. I also went to Sea World a couple of times and liked it there, and all of that piqued my interest.
When did you first realize you wanted to pursue the marine science field?
In college, I was majoring in biology, and then in my senior year of college, I decided to focus on marine science. When I applied to grad school, it was for marine science or marine ecology. I went to college at a New York state school for my undergrad and Florida Atlantic University for my masters.
In 2011, you were selected to participate in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Teacher at Sea program. Describe that experience.
It was a program where they selected about 10 teachers from a few100 applicants, and the teachers were sent out on some sort of oceanic research expedition. The one I got selected for was collecting a type of fish called pollock up along the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. Us teachers were there to learn the science, and as an education communication officer, I communicated with the public and wrote blog posts. It’s an ongoing project because that type of fish is widely used in the United States, and it’s a well managed fishery. Every year they go out and get an estimate of the population, so that way we know how many to catch and things like that. I was part of gathering that basic research in terms of estimating population size.
What were some of the biggest challenges you faced while conducting your research?
I would say the biggest challenge is just adjusting to being on a ship for three weeks. That takes a little bit of getting used to. But fortunately, I don’t get seasick. And then whenever you’re doing some sort of ship based research, you’re usually working like 12 hours a day, so that was a bit of an adjustment. A 12 hour shift is kind of hard to get used to.
What are some fascinating discoveries you made while working on the fisheries research vessel in the Gulf of Alaska?
I learned how to identify the sex of a fish, because you
can’t do it externally. You have to look at them inside, so we cut them open. We removed some bones in their head that you can look at, and they have rings, kind of like tree rings, to get an estimate of how old they are. I just learned a lot about fish biology, which I previously did not know, and it was my first time in Alaska, and that also kind of spurred me to apply for a seasonal job in Alaska, and I’ve been working up there pretty much every summer ever since.
What do you do at your seasonal job in Alaska?
It’s not really science related. I’m in the tourism industry, working as a deckhand on a whale watch tour ship. I take people out every day to look at seals, sea lions, glaciers, humpbacks, and, probably every other day, orcas.
What do you look forward to when working in Alaska?
It’s a nice break from South Florida. Honestly, everyone’s friendlier. It is chilly, but it’s a nice change, and I’ve made a lot of friends up there. I met my husband my first season working up there.
What are your best memories working at your seasonal job in Alaska?
I would say seeing a really cool phenomenon called beach rubbing. Orcas need to molt and shed their skin, and they’ll do it on a beach that has a lot of smooth rocks in the water. I happened to be on that beach at the right time, and a pod of them came in. You could basically walk into the water and touch them, and they were just rubbing their bodies like a dog.
What were some of the challenges you faced while working the seasonal job?
My first season there, it was an adjustment to my living situation, because I was in my mid 30s when I started, and everyone else was in college. I was having to adjust to living with a bunch of 20-year-olds, so that was a little bit of a challenge. I was the house mom.
What inspired you to begin teaching high school science classes, like marine science and AP Environmental Science?
Well, when I first got hired here, I was teaching marine science and biology, and then I think the people who are teaching AP Enviro[mental Science], one of them left, and it left an opening. I decided it sounded like something interesting to do, and right up my alley, and I’ve been teaching it for 13 years now.
For aspiring scientists, what advice would you give about
navigating the research process?
Communication and networking, that’s the biggest thing. Apply for as many things as you can. Meet as many people as you can because you never know where that’ll take you. Since becoming a teacher at sea expedition in 2011, I’ve done a couple other research things that I’ve learned about from that program. I was on a ship for two months in 2018 drilling into an underwater volcano. I was on another research vessel in 2015 looking at methane seeps at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. One thing will open the door for lots of other things.
You served as an Onboard Outreach Officer for the JOIDES Resolution, Expedition 376 in 2018, where you and your colleagues studied the Brothers Volcano in one of the most hydrothermally-active regions on the planet. Describe that experience.
We
volcano, so it wasn’t dangerous. It wasn’t spewing lava, but just super heated water. That was the first time ever in the world that anyone drilled into a volcano like that, so there was a lot of chemistry, physics and geology involved. I didn’t know any of that. Being on the ship for two months, that was a whole different experience. By the midpoint, we were ready to get off, but there was nothing we could do. We were 300 miles off the coast of New Zealand, and there was no land. It got to me a little bit. I wanted to see plants. You know, all you see every day is just one ocean, so that was a challenge, but for that expedition, it was geology related, and that’s definitely not my forte. I learned a heck of a lot on that trip.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Just encourage people, no matter if they’re interested in science or whatever, to get out there and talk to as many people as you can, and don’t be afraid to ask questions. You’re gonna hear ‘no’ a lot, but at least you’re trying to get information, and it could lead to somewhere else you never know.
REPORTING BY Victoria Damaso
ROCK N’ ROLL. Advanced Placement Environmental Science teacher Tammy Orilio displays rocks collected from the volcano a few thousand feet deep to a live, virtual classroom during her time as time as an Education & Outreach Officer at the JOIDES Resolution Expedition 376 in 2018. The team was responsible for drilling into an active underwater volcano off the coast of New Zealand.
WILD FOR WILDLIFE. Advanced Placement Environmental Science teacher Tammy Orilio uses radio signals to track a tagged pronghorn at the Yellowstone National Park. In 2022, Orilio was accepted into the Ecology Project International Teacher Fellowship where her and her colleagues participated in various hands on, science-related activities such as collecting bison feces to determine their diet and meeting with a wolf biologist to learn about wolf packs.
WHALE WATCHING. Advanced Placement Environmental Science teacher Tammy Orilio drives a whale watching tour boat in Alaska, leading a group of tourists to view whales, seals, puffins and glaciers. Once the school year ends, Orilio looks forward to traveling north and guiding tourists to the various sight-seeing options Alaska offers.
OCEANSIDE VIEW. Advanced Placement Environmental Science teacher Tammy Orilio launches an expendable bathythermograph, an instrument that falls through the water column and takes temperature measurements while on board the vessel Oscar Dyson. She sailed along the Aleutian Islands while working as a Teacher at Sea for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration back in 2011.
SOMETHING FISHY. Tammy Orilio learns how to determine the sex of a pollock by cutting them open to examine the gametes inside. While working as a teacher at Sea for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Orilio and her colleagues had to collect pollock in order to gather an estimate of their population size. “My main job there was to write blogs about the science on the ship,” Orilio said.
PHOTOS PERMISSION FROM Tammy Orilio
WILD FOR WILDLIFE
WHALE WATCHING
OCEANSIDE VIEW
SOMETHING FISHY
Q QA &
ACaitlin Hanley
AP Environmental Science teacher Caitlin Hanley evaluates how her connection with environment has evolved over course of her life
What kick-started your passion for your major at UGA, geology?
My kick-start was really when I was younger. I would be that kid that would go to the beach, and I just really wanted to collect sand. I really wanted to just touch and feel all the things around me on the beach, so from a very young age, I knew that I just wanted to do something outside. I wanted to do something in nature. I’ve always been the outdoor girl.
What did being a teaching assistant at the University of Georgia entail?
This was my doctorate, and at doctorate level, they make you teach classes. Twice a week I had a group of students come to a lab, and I would present material to them. We would carry out real lab studies. But what’s funny is that even then, in grad school, the classes I was teaching were for, business majors who didn’t need or want science classes, but they had to have a science class.
Seeing as you discovered a new shell species, can you tell me a little bit about the discovery process and the shell itself?
That’s actually something I have forgotten about that I had done because it wasn’t something that I was out planning on doing. I was on an excursion. It was the Keys. I was just with a bunch of dive buddies, and we were collecting shells, which isn’t illegal. I spotted one, and I thought it was really pretty. I was like, ‘Oh, look at that.
That looks really cool,’ so I pick it up, put it in my little container while we’re out diving and then back to the lab.
We’re all presenting our finds—our treasures—when one of the professors stops everything. And he’s like, ‘Oh my God, what’s that?’ and I’m like, ‘I don’t know. I found this, and I just thought it’s really cool.’
He was a taxonomist, so he named things–that was his jam–and he was like, ‘This is a new species. I can’t believe you found this.’ I had to right away surrender my shell. I thought I was gonna be able to keep it myself and put it on my window sill.
And, no, I had to surrender it to him basically. He was a publisher of books, and I even have the book it was in because he gave it to me as a present. He takes pictures of them, makes stories, has books published, and he submitted it to the Smithsonian, and it was, and still is currently, a new species.
The crazy thing about this, too, is I’ve never thought of it as being cool or famous, because they can change, and especially with what we’re doing now with genetic testing. He said it was a new species, just by how it looked, what its shape and size was, but genetic testing now can really turn those kinds of theories and ideas upside down.
I’ve heard that you have snorkeled in the Great Barrier Reef and done a lot of backpacking. Can you tell me a little bit more about those experiences and some of the other environment-related
activities
you have participated in over the years?
I wasn’t actually scuba certified at the time, so I just snorkeled it. I was in high school. I was selected for an organization that no longer exists. It was called People to People… they would take underprivileged kids to different countries and meet diplomats. I got to go to Australia, and it was a two week long adventure.
We were able to do some really cool stuff, but it was stuff I did in high school. I couldn’t even believe it. My mom allowed me, when I was 14, to go to another country by myself. There were other people there, but it wasn’t with her. The Great Barrier Reef was absolutely amazing. It was really cool. But the sad thing was, the day that I was there, the Great Barrier Reef was in a bleaching event, so all the coral were white.
I remember we were in a glass bottom boat first, so they kind of gave us an explanation about where you’re going to be snorkeling, and there were people with us. Even at that time, I knew coral wasn’t supposed to be white… but there were people on the glass bottom boat with us that were like, ‘Oh, how beautiful. This is so pretty.’ In my head I was like, ‘No man, they’re dead.’ The guide picked up on it, and the guide was like, ‘No, we’re in a bleaching event right now.’
It’s really bad, but I did see giant clams that were the size of my head. There were so many fish, and it’s a massive structure, like it has very, very steep edges. For hiking, I’ve done a lot of backpacking and hiking, and that’s because of my major, geology, which I think that in college, that’s what really made me want to do geology.
Because I was like, ‘Oh, hey, this major requires you to go camping and hiking, and you have to go; it’s a class; it’s a grade.’ And I was like, ‘Um, okay, I will sign up for a college degree that makes me go on field trips. Yes, please.’
That was a no-brainer for me. I did a lot of geological studies outdoors. It would be students, and we’d go out to the field. We would read rocks. We would look at whole mountain sides, understanding geology formation, what kind of environments were there in the past based on fossils and really sediment identification.
So really, it’s training on how to read the land, like legit mapping land and knowing where things go. Then the underground too, even though you can’t see it, but being able to understand how this layered rock is actually going to go meters into the ground…
On the business aspect of it, I’ve been in a lot of different mines. I’ve been in a uranium mine—a functioning, working uranium mine—and that was really cool with geology and the environment. We got to learn how the processing of it works, the danger of it all, and at UGA we did a lot of beach morphology. We went to Sapelo Island, and we would do digs along the beach, and we would dig out to see how the different sediments layered onto the beach.
Are there any activities/ experiences that you really want to partake in the future?
I still have a major desire to go to Antarctica. My advisor at UGA, she had been to Antarctica, and I studied foraminifera, which are microorganisms. She was scuba diving with some really famous scientists because Antarctica is not just somewhere where everybody gets to go. You have to have formatting and permits. She got to scuba dive under the ice shelf in Antarctica.
She was like, ‘Oh, yeah, in three more years I’m gonna try to do it again. You’ll still probably be my PhD student, so we’ll go to Antarctica.’ Then I quit. I was like, ‘dang,’
UNDER SCRUTINY. AP Environmental Science teacher Caitlin Hanley glances through a microscope in her classroom, where she teaches AP Environmental Science and AICE Marine Science. Prior to becoming a teacher, Hanley attended the University of Georgia as a geology major, where she was even a teacher’s assistant, carrying out lab studies with other students.
PHOTO BY Grace Brill
THE DEEP END. Scuba diving in Ginnie Springs, AP Environmental Science teacher Caitlin Hanley collects sediment samples inside caverns. Prior to getting her scuba license though, Hanley still engaged with the environment, including in high school when she snorkeled in the Great Barrier Reef.
ROCKY ROAD. AP Environmental Science teacher Caitlin Hanley takes part in Florida Atlantic University’s geology field camp, which the school still offers to this day so that students can visit geological sites while applying their classroom knowledge. Throughout her time in college, Hanley did a lot of hiking and backpacking, which is part of what drew her to her major, geology.
SILVER LINING. AP Environmental Science teacher Caitlin Hanley poses in front of an old silver mine amidst one of the geology field camp excursions. Her and the other students who participated were able to look inside old silver mines and see how they stored items and what was done to the mines to keep those items safe.
PHOTOS PERMISSION FROM Caitlin Hanley
but National Geographic has a ship that they run—it’s called Lindblad—and they take people on scientific expeditions. That was actually a job I was trying to apply to, and I never followed through because I got this job.
You work on a vessel, and you are a naturalist to tourists, but you go back and forth to Antarctica, and you’re working two months, you’re off a month...
Also, something as simple as I have not been to South America. I’ve been to Central America, but I want to look into more archeology stuff. My studies have always been the dead things, nonhuman, but some of that ancient culture, that’s super exciting too. I want to go to Machu Picchu. I want to go see how these were indigenous people who moved boulders without gasoline, and it’s different tools. How did you do this? How’d you carve this out? They knew what rocks to use. There’s a multitude of different rocks in South America, some that are good for building, some that aren’t. These are people who are building ginormous structures. There’s a lot of just amazement there.
Have you conducted any research revolving around the environment? If so, what did you study, how did you go about it and what did you find?
I would say all my research was in college, and actually, that’s funny, I’ve been showing my students too. I have my master’s thesis, and my master’s thesis was the distribution and diversity of benthic foraminifera within the near shore ridge complex off Pompano Beach, Broward County. What I was looking at was distribution of microorganisms, these foraminifera, and seeing if their populations changed from the shore.
In Pompano Beach, we actually have three rows of corals, big reefs, and they’re not there anymore. They’re dead. That’s also a reason why I stopped doing science research in that aspect because it’s all dead. I was looking at their distributions or populations, and seeing if some species were missing from some of the reefs...
And another thing I was looking into was artificial reefs. I have a thing against artificial reefs. They are just garbage that we put into the ocean now, and it does draw in fish populations, but no corals live on it. No corals like to grow on it. That was another study it was hoping to do is to look at a kind of substrate or material corals like to grow on. And of course, that had been studied, it’s been well known. They like more porous stuff, not something that’s super slick, not metallic, which a lot of artificial reefs are just metal boats.
It’s kind of a thing where I was also looking into the politics of it; like we have here in Florida the artificial reef program, which is supposedly to conduct research and help create more coral habitat, but really all they’re doing is getting old ships off people’s hands and disposing of them for free for these people. Now, some of these ships are government, some of them are private, but it ended up
being like a study, and I stopped doing it because it was just depressing...
There’s not good biodiversity on these artificial reefs. But a lot of my studies were ocean foraminifera. It was a big deal, which is funny too, because foraminifera is also a big oil company thing. I went for the ocean, not the oil… That was partially why I stopped my PhD… my research was dying, corals were dying.
What do you think is the most important thing for your students to take away from your class? How do you go about stressing the importance of that thing?
My biggest thing is always that I want my students to care about nature. Grades should not be your top focus. It should be the environment around you. It should be what you find passion in like I do. I tell my students every day, ‘go outside, just go outside. Stare at a tree, stare at the grass, stare at the sky, find a bird, identify something.’ Because I really do want younger people, and people in general, to be interested in nature. Just be interested in what you see and what’s around you. We end up staring at one thing for very long, but we never stare at nature for very long. We walk right past it. We ride our bikes right past it. We drive right past it.
I actually started riding my bike home from school now, so I have a little bit more time outdoors, and I’ve stopped a couple of times because I’m not racing home. I just want students to love outside and love something more than money. Love something more than grades. Love something more than just your own inner world. Really care about everything else.
How did you come to acquire the axolotl that was in your classroom last year? Have you had any other interesting pets?
The axolotl is at home, but he’s coming back after spring break... I have grass growing in my tank, and then I’m going fill it with water, and Nebula will be back after spring break. My first year teaching… I had students do a fish tank project where they had to convince me to get these animals… I was serious. I wanted detail… So I got hermit crabs, puffer fish and two axolotls.
On top of teaching about the environment, have you contributed in any way to helping the environment— whether that be through personal contributions, like dietary decisions, or scientific contributions?
They’re small tendencies. I don’t buy plastic water bottles. I would like to say there’s something I do because it’s so hard to be eco-friendly when what you’re provided with, what your options are, aren’t eco-friendly… Companies only give you what they give you.
I’m a conscious consumer, so when I buy things I consciously think about is this my best option? Can I get it somewhere else? Can I get it more local? When I get something when I’m on Amazon I try to make sure that I put ‘Made in USA,’ and that’s just because I know if it has to travel overseas, then that’s more fossil fuels that had to burn for this thing to get to here… I just find local Florida distributors of things. I would say my biggest thing is I try to buy local. I try to buy things that don’t have to travel far…
Eating food, I love my bacon. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to be vegan, but I’m conscious about it. I’m not every night having a steak. I try to make sure that I’m eating a balance of stuff, so it’s not an overuse of one type of food product… I’ll do thrift stores for furniture and things. My clothes—I try to make sure I know exactly where it’s coming from. I’ll look back at manufacturers. A lot of the stuff that I have comes from a company that refurbishes clothes.
REPORTING BY Andie Korenge and Grace Brill
SILVER LINING
ROCKY ROAD
THE DEEP END
UNDER THE STARS. Astronomy teacher Kyle Jeter opens the door to the astronomy tower for a night at the garden. A few Fridays each month, MSD’s Astronomy Club hosted astronomy night, where students come to observe the stars through a telescope. PHOTO PERMISSION FROM Kyle Jeter
IN THE FIELDS. In the crop fields, sophomore Octavio BlancoBulhoes and juniors Brian Listopad and Jaxon Anger begin laying down cardboard to prepare for planting new seeds. At Marjory’s Garden, Blaco-Bulhoes supervised this crop fields section and made sure it was well-kept. PHOTO PERMISSION FROM Kyle Jeter
GLOWING GARDENS. As night falls in the garden, the lights turn on and light up for an astronomy night event. Astronomy Club members or students who just want to experience the stars can attend astronomy nights to learn about the stars and view the sky with a telescope. PHOTO PERMISSION FROM Kyle Jeter
HARD AT WORK. In the hot sun, sophomore Octavio Blanco-Bulhoes, juniors Niki Yuan and Bradley Hau and volunteer Kenny Rattray rake in mulch in the back of the garden. Every Sunday, students come to Marjory’s Garden to participate in volunteer activities and are awarded service hours for it.
PHOTO PERMISSION FROM Kyle Jeter
BY Ava Thomas
Goodness Growing
Marjory’s Garden Club fosters student involvement and environmental education
Goodness
Out in Marjory’s Garden, the music begins to play and the work is starting. The Sunday morning weather is hot and humid, as students begin digging their shovels into the dirt, planting new seeds.
Marjory’s Garden Club meets every Sunday from 9–10:30 a.m. to complete projects in the garden located behind the 1500 and 900 buildings. These projects range from painting to pressure washing to building new sheds, and they change every week depending on what needs to be done.
The club is sponsored by astronomy teacher Kyle Jeter and biology teacher Branden Davis. Other teachers also frequently volunteer on Sundays and work on projects in their respective zones. For instance, chemistry teacher Sean Simpson runs the hydroponics zone and makes sure to take care of its upkeep.
The garden is made up of various zones: the flower beds, vegetable garden, Everglades, hydroponics, food forest, crop fields, butterfly garden and classroom. Each officer runs their own zone to make sure it is maintained and well-kept.
The club is largely student-led, where officers and even enthusiastic volunteers can propose their own additions to the garden. Armed with a price point and a plan, officers can work on whatever projects they believe will help the betterment of the garden. In the past, this has included building newly raised beds for plants, planting an orchard of trees and even building an entire hydroponics system.
“I feel proud of my contributions to the garden,” Garden Club Co-President Riley Walsh said. “Making these projects and working on things throughout my years is just something gratifying, because I can walk through the garden and say, I did that, I made that. I was the one who was able to contribute to making
“
been a crucial time for volunteers and officers to develop and work on important projects.
Students are able to volunteer in the garden whether they are members of the club or not. With a membership, students receive a garden shirt and the opportunity to run for officer positions if they so choose. Other volunteers, such as National Honor Society members, also come frequently to participate for service hours.
“It’s definitely one of the biggest things for us, to make sure that students and teachers feel comfortable at the garden,” Jeter said. “It’s a great thing for everyone’s mental health, to be able to come out and work on projects or during lunch. I absolutely love the garden.”
The club was initially founded in 2016.
It’s definitely one of the biggest things for us, to make sure that students and teachers feel comfortable at the garden. It’s a great thing for everyone’s mental health, to be able to come out and work on projects or during lunch.
Kyle Jeter, astronomy teacher
“I cover the flower beds in the front of the garden, and my work usually involves maintaining the beds and occasionally planting new flowers as the older ones die,” Garden Club Co-President Luana Maldaner Kunzler said. “I water the beds outside garden days as they need a lot of moisture during the hotter days. I love the garden. The garden has been a big part of my life for the whole four years I spent at Douglas, and it led me to meet countless people and build friendships with countless more.”
On occasion, garden meetings invite members of the community to speak on environmental issues and educate students on various aspects of gardening and conservation. The Coral Springs Garden Club members have given lessons with interactive elements and engaging presentations about weeds and invasive species after work days.
flora and
Marjory’s Garden Club grows variety of plants
that. When I hear someone talking good about the garden, or good about certain things, I feel gratified because I know that I was someone who helped make the garden a pleasant place to be.”
The garden welcomes new additions each time an opportunity presents itself. This year, the club was able to secure an extension to the plot of land that was allotted to the garden. This enabled them to expand further towards the baseball fields, where they planted a new orchard. Students spent countless days early this year working in the new orchard to ensure the mulch was placed and the trees could thrive.
In previous years, the garden has been open during both A and B lunches on Wednesdays for students to enjoy. However, due to this year’s construction, the garden has remained closed during lunches for students. It was also closed throughout the summer, which in the past has
The district allotted a plot of land behind the school’s 1500 building to Jeter and Simpson after the portables were removed from that area. The land was mainly concrete and metal pipes following the portables’ removal, so the first few years of the garden were mainly spent removing that concrete and making the land suitable for gardening. The zones were then created year by year and the garden expanded.
The garden has since become a center of healing and work to give back to the community.
Each year on Feb. 14, the club hosts the biggest team of volunteers—sometimes even reaching 100 people—to provide service to the garden for the annual Day of Service and Love. Student volunteers are able to build benches and participate in other volunteer activities to help improve the garden and engage in service.
Marjory’s Garden Club has provided a fun environment for students to spend time with friends, while also enabling them to create their own projects which benefit them as well as the garden. In the coming years, the teachers have more plans for what is in store for additions to the garden. Students can attend interest meetings at the end of this year and next year to consider attending as a volunteer and a club member, and officer meetings will take place later this year.
STORY BY Ava Thomas
DESIGN
Climate Climate
Climate Change Club and Project Moana inform students about sustainability
Astudent and her friends walk down Deerfield Beach on Saturday morning, trudging along in the soft sand, shells and rocks tumbling up and down with the waves. Behind them, they drag trash bags, filled halfway with various cans, plastic bags and bottles. As she laughs and leans down to grab a cap, she feels content knowing that she is helping the environment.
The Climate Change Club at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is constantly working to improve the environment through its passionate members and thought-driven events, like beach clean-ups. The club hosts two to three beach clean-ups every school year, through which they collect up to 21 pounds of trash. Climate Change Club has been spreading awareness about taking care of the planet since 2017. The club has two presidents, seniors Constanza Lamaison and Julia Luchyk.
This school year, club members have participated in multiple events centered around helping the environment.
On Saturday, Feb. 22, the Climate Change Club partnered with MSD’s National Honor Society to hold a beach clean-up at Deerfield Beach from 10-11:30 a.m. In total, they collected 19.7 pounds of litter.
“We also do our cleanups in collaboration with NHS, usually just so we can get more people to come and actually help pick up trash,” Iuchyk said.
The club meets once a month on Tuesdays. During their meetings, club officers present a slideshow that discusses club updates and current climate issues. The club encourages members to recycle, take shorter showers, reduce meat consumption and use less plastic. They also host fun, collaborative activities for members, including rock painting, pumpkin painting and
HOW FAR I’LL GO. Juniors Romi Samara and C.J. Alison clean up trash at Deerfield Beach at one of Project Moana’s beach clean-ups hosted this year. Samara founded the club after going to Hawaii and seeing firsthand the effects of pollution on the island’s environments. PHOTO BY Georgia
Wooley
HELPING HANDS. Climate Change Club President Constanza Lamaison helps fellow officer Bryce Smith at the club’s meeting on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. The club discussed Halloween’s relation to climate change and how to be more aware of its effects over the holiday. “Especially now, with Halloween approaching, we need to be very conscious of what we’re consuming for Halloween, the plastic we’re wasting and the costumes we’re using,” Lamaison said. PHOTO BY Ashveen Saini
RIDDING THE RUBBISH. At Project Moana’s beach clean-up at Deerfield Beach, sophomore Angelina Johnson, junior Isabella Cubillas and other club club members pick up trash. This year, the club has hosted multiple beach clean-ups and held various meeting activities, including decorating buckets and playing ocean trivia.
Consciousness
poster painting—all while using sustainable, natural paints.
The club also hosts movie nights in Marjory’s Garden, where they watch movies like “Wall-E,” “The Lorax” and other films focused on preserving the environment. Students pay a fee of $5 to attend, which also includes food and drink. The club then donates these proceeds to Gumbo Limbo—a national park and reserve in Boca Raton.
Climate Change Club is sponsored by Advanced Placement World History teacher Devin Schaller. He, along with the club’s officers and members, aim to spread awareness about climate change and the various ways it can be prevented.
“Eight years ago, in 2017, I had a student who was particularly concerned about environmental issues, and asked me to be the teacher to host the club, and I’ve hosted this club ever since then,” Schaller said.
On Instagram (@msdclimatechangeclub), the club regularly posts tips on ways to reduce microplastic pollution, partake in eco-friendly activities and implement sustainable hacks for the holidays. These posts help students be more aware of the different ways they can help prevent climate change at an individual level. In addition to promoting their club on Instagram, they also advertise at school events to get more incoming and current students to join.
“To influence new people to join our club, we rely heavily on events like Freshmen Invasion and Curriculum Night,” Lamaison said. “Apart from that, we make use of our social media to gain a following and attract members.”
Two major donation events Climate Change Club held this year were the Halloween costume donation drive and the floss donation drive, the latter of which was for MSD’s Day of Service
and Love on Feb. 14.
The Halloween costume donation drive reduced the waste from Halloween costumes being thrown away by instead giving them to children at the Children’s Home Society of Florida. All costumes donated, including dance costumes, had to be in good condition to be accepted. Each donating student received four service hours per costume.
The floss donation drive was held so that floss could be put in self-care pouches created by students for first responders. The bags were handed out by student volunteers at a breakfast dedicated to law enforcement on Feb. 14.
On Earth Day, April 22, the Climate Change Club served finger foods in the cafeteria to reduce the plastic waste created by forks, spoons and their packaging. The club is now focused on wrapping up their year on an impactful note.
“As the year comes to a close, we are planning on executing at least one more beach clean-up, as well as holding an end-of-year party for our members in room 1516,” Lamaison said.
Climate Change Club is not the only club at MSD dedicated to protecting the environment either. Project Moana is a fairly new club at MSD, having hosted multiple beach cleanups since it was started this year. The club is run by junior Romi Samara, who founded the club, and junior Isabella Shields. The goal of Project Moana is to clean-up the trash and plastic found on beaches and in the ocean.
“I moved to Hawaii temporarily, and I saw all the pollution and the contaminated waters and I decided that when I came back to Florida, I would start a mission to help our beaches get cleaner,” Samara said. “I was motivated to do something I could see the difference in rather than just the idea.”
In their after-school meetings, the club
informs members about upcoming projects and hosts activities. For example, during their meeting on Earth Day, they decorated buckets with paint and played ocean trivia. On the following Sunday, Project Moana hosted their most recent beach cleanup at Deerfield Beach, where they collected trash in the decorated buckets.
“It’s always sad to see that everyone loves the beach, but not a lot of people clean up after themselves, you would be surprised at how much trash you can find in less than 10 minutes,” Project Moana member Isabella Cubillas said. The club is hosted by science teacher Bryce Burgess in room 1307. On their Instagram @ project_moana, run by sophomore Angelina Johnson, they update students about upcoming meetings and clean-ups.
“We’re always having to post for the events that we hold or the after school meetings,” Johnson said. “We post pictures of the events and the buckets that we painted.”
In the future, Project Moana plans on having a kickback at Playa Bowls, as well as an end of year party. They are additionally hoping to host more clean-ups, including one on Loxahatchee.
“We’re also going to have a clean-up besides the beach,” Samara said. “We’re thinking about doing somewhere like Loxahatchee because it’s the Everglades and it still needs protection.”
Climate Change Club and Project Moana have both dedicated themselves to making MSD students more aware of environmental problems, and how they can help combat them. Learning about the current climate crisis and hosting clean-up events allows students to become more informed and responsible about their eco-footprints.
STORY BY Ella Bernbaum and Crystal Goes
PHOTO BY Georgia Wooley
WILD WETLAND. A Times journalist surveys algae at Shell Key Preserve in Pinellas County in 2022. Tangles of seaweed coated the water and surrounded the mangroves.
In the River of Grass River of Grass
The Everglades faces restoration efforts to preserve the ecosystem’s biodiversity
In her book about the vitality of protecting the Everglades, conservationist Marjory Stoneman Douglas famously wrote, “The miracle of the light pours over the green and brown expanse of saw grass and of water, shining and slow-moving below, the grass and water that is the meaning and the central fact of the Everglades of Florida. It is a river of grass.”
The Everglades National Park was opened to the public on Dec. 6, 1947, following a trend of increased awareness about protecting the environment. Stretching across about 1.5 million acres of marshy wetlands, the Everglades remains a unique ecological system, home to over 2,000 different species, 36 of which are listed as endangered.
While work to protect the Everglades is seen as a positive precedent towards modern conservationist work, its current size is an indicator of the effects that drainage and destruction have had on the Everglades. The work of advocates today has helped prevent the Everglades from being further destroyed by developers in the region.
Species of the Everglades
The Everglades formed some 5,000 years ago following the end of the Ice Age. Geologists believe that the decreasing pace of rising sea levels created a buildup of mud and shallow marshes in South Florida. Additionally, as water from nearby Lake Okeechobee flowed into the area, the region flooded, creating the wetlands synonymous with the Everglades ecosystem.
Today, the Everglades contains a unique variety of
wildlife, making it stand out from other national parks and ecological systems across the world. It is the only biome where alligators and crocodiles coexist.
According to the National Park Service, the Everglades is the “largest continuous stand of sawgrass prairie in North America and the only subtropical preserve on the North American continent.”
This uniqueness has allowed the Everglades to sustain the lives of unique flora and fauna. More than 164 plant species and thousands of insects reside in the swamp. In 2020, an article on the Greater Miami and Miami Beach website reported there are about 360 bird species, 300 types of fish, 40 mammal species and 50 reptile species living in the Everglades National Park.
“The Everglades has always been a place where me and my family usually take long walks,” sophomore Avantika Prabhu said. “It’s always been a place where I could just clear my mind and watch the sunset and just relax and have fun with my family.”
Both native and invasive species rely on the Everglades for resources. The West Indian manatee and the Florida panther, both native to Florida, have been found in various parts of the swamp. Burmese pythons, originally from southern and southeastern Asia, are invasive, outcompeting other species for food and shelter while rapidly multiplying in the Everglades. Other invasive species, such as hydrilla and lionfish, are doing the same.
History of the Everglades
While the Everglades is known today for its biological
PHOTO PERMISSION FROM Douglas R. Clifford/Tribune News Service
WINGING IT. A great blue heron fans its wings in the sawgrass of the Everglades north of the Tamiami Trail.
PHOTO PERMISSION FROM Joe Burbank/Tribune News Service.
diversity, its roots lie with the Native American tribes that once lived in the region. The Calusa, Seminole and Miccosukee tribes all resided in the Everglades. However, when Spanish explorers arrived in Florida during the 16th century, the Calusa tribe was wiped out by European diseases to which they had not yet been exposed.
Meanwhile, the Seminole fought against American forces in 1818, 1835 and 1855 as the U.S. government attempted to force the tribes out of the region. The tribe found refuge in the terrain of the Everglades, which was still foreign to the U.S. government. The conflict ended with a peace treaty, in which the Seminole surrendered over 2 million acres of land in 1856. Today, the Seminole are located in reservations across Florida and have found success outside of the Everglades with casinos in South Florida.
The Everglades National Park, as it is known today, did not see its beginnings until 1928 with the work of two environmentalists: Ernest F. Coe and Marjory Stoneman Douglas.
Coe was an architect and landscaper who drew inspiration from the beauty of the Everglades. Wishing to see such a beauty protected from increased destruction from development, Coe created the Tropical Everglades National Park Association, which later became the Everglades National Park Association, in 1928. Known as the “Father of the Everglades,” Coe’s work is now honored through the Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center in the Everglades National Park.
After spending time in South Florida, Stoneman Douglas became infuriated by residential developers draining the Everglades, which was destroying the wetlands. To help bring attention to the issue across the country, Stoneman Douglas began writing articles about protecting the Everglades, hoping to raise awareness about the importance of the ecosystem.
Her work culminated in the novel “A River of Grass,” which helped to shift public perception of the Everglades, which went from being seen as a sticky swamp to a whimsical wetland deserving of federal and public support
for protection. Ironically, despite Stoneman Douglas’ efforts to preserve the Everglades, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was actually built on drained land from the Everglades.
Other people have also contributed to the preservation of the Everglades, fighting for its right to exist and thrive.
May Mann Jennings, former first lady of Florida from 1901-1905, used her political power to support a wide variety of causes, including those designed to protect the Everglades. In 1916, she created the Royal Palm State Park, which would later become the center of the Everglades National Park.
Destruction of the Everglades
Beginning in the mid-1800s, the region of South Florida quickly began seeing exponential growth as white settlers began looking for fertile lands to start their farms. The landscape of South Florida changed with developed, planned housing. As a result, there was an expanding desire for the Everglades to be reduced to make room for neighborhoods, streets and businesses.
“I have lived in South Florida my whole life, right next to the Everglades,” junior Samera Kathuria said. “It can be difficult knowing you live in a developed neighborhood that exists at the expense of a natural wonder.”
In 1850, the Federal Swamp and Overflowed Lands Act was passed, giving the state of Florida complete access to the swamp. Florida’s government quickly encouraged people to move to settlements near Lake Okeechobee and formed the Internal Improvement Fund, which used public money to convince developers to drain the land.
Real estate developer Hamilton Disson bought 4 million acres of land in the Everglades in 1881 and began to drain the land for agricultural purposes. He created a canal from Lake Okeechobee to Lake Hicpochee. This was just the beginning of many other efforts to drain the Everglades.
As the U.S. gained control of more regions across the country, more land was needed to accommodate
have made their habitats in various aquatic ecosystems across the state of Florida.
PHOTO PERMISSION FROM Douglas R. Clifford/ Tribune News Service
Florida’s growing population in towns such as Fort Lauderdale and Fort Myers. As people arrived, new roads and canals were created. Mangroves were removed from the shorelines and were replaced with palm trees to ensure good ocean views for new residents.
Railroads constructed by entrepreneurs like Henry B. Plant and Henry M. Flagler cut across the state, including parts of the Everglades. The once united land was now fragmented.
CHOMP CHOMP. A large American alligator suns on the shore of Lake Apopka on Dec. 31, 2021. Now an abundant species in the Everglades, the American alligator was considered an endagered species up until 1987 .
PHOTO PERMISSION FROM Joe Burbank/ Tribune News Service
ON THE PROWL. A 2-year-old Florida panther is released into the wild by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on April 3, 2013, in West Palm Beach, Florida. Known to have a small breeding population in the Everglades, the Florida panther was one of the first species added to the endangered species list in 1973.
PHOTO PERMISSION FROM Joe Raedle/Tribune News Service
PEST CONTROL. Hilary Jones, with Central Florida Zoo, shows off an Everglades rat snake to the students. Lovell Elementary School in Apopka celebrated Science on Thursday, Nov. 17, 2005. The Central Florida Zoo in Sanford made a presentation with live animals, a parrot, bullfrog, rat snake and opossum.
Moreover, the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, gave him the authority to spend $3.3 billion on construction projects, including some in the Everglades.
PHOTO PERMISSION from Julie Fletcher/ Tribune News Service
In 1948, the U.S. Congress approved the Central and South Florida Project. The project allotted $208 million for the construction of a system of roads, canals, levees and water-control structures throughout South Florida. These were constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers and sponsored by the Central and Southern Flood Control District, later renamed the South Florida Water Management District.
The purpose of the project was to provide flood protection for residents and agricultural land, create a water supply for the Everglades National Park, preserve local fish and wildlife and prevent the intrusion of saltwater. Although these goals were meant to help the Everglades thrive, the alteration of the land, combined
continues on page 19
GENTLE GIANT. Manatees congregate at Three Sisters Springs in Crystal River, where the water is naturally warm in winter. Manatees
PEST CONTROL
GENTLE GIANT CHOMP CHOMP
ON THE PROWL
continued from page 17
with the increasing population, actually resulted in the degradation of the Everglades.
The drainage of the land severely disrupted the flow of water in the Everglades. During the summer of 1996, heavy rains forced the extensive pumping of excess water from farmlands. The water was then deposited on land that was originally reserved for South Florida’s deer population. As a result, hundreds of deer and other species of wildlife drowned.
Furthermore, climate change has also contributed to the destruction of the Everglades. As temperatures have increased, sea levels have risen. Because of Florida’s low elevation, the Everglades is vulnerable to the effects of sea level rise.
Florida mangroves have played an important role in the protection of the swamp. However, as previously mentioned, the many mangroves have been removed, providing a way for the ocean to infest the waters of the Everglades.
Effects of Destruction on the Everglades’ Populations
The drainage of the Everglades has negatively impacted the many native species that depend on the swamp for shelter, protection and nutrients.
Invasive species have also been positively affected by the destruction. The construction of canals and levees throughout the land has allowed for the expansion of pests like water hyacinth and water hydra, both of which cause immense interference with water navigation and flood control. Plus, they deplete oxygen levels and decrease water flow.
The Burmese python, another invasive species, is also flourishing. Originally seen as an exotic household pet, the snakes were released into the wilderness of the Everglades and now thrive in its shallow waters, caused by drainage. With few natural predators, they have severely reduced populations of native mammals, upsetting the ecosystem’s natural balance even further. Other invasive plants, such as melaleuca and Brazilian pepper, have competed with and successfully overtaken native vegetation, further degrading habitats as well.
Many alligators now rely on canals to sustain them and their young. However, their natural habitats, which have slowly been decreasing over time, are the best places for them to nest and maintain populations. This, along with the poaching and hunting of many alligators, led to the endangerment of the species in 1967.
Due to protection efforts, the population has made a dramatic recovery and was removed from the endangered species list in 1987. Even so, hunters and civilians still continue to kill alligators.
“It’s really sad that the alligator population is suffering in its own natural habitat because of human activity,” sophomore Lucy Woo said. “I’m really glad that I got the opportunity to see them in person when I went on a field trip to the Everglades, and it sucks to think that future
generations may not be able to experience that.”
Other species depend on higher water levels to thrive. By draining the Everglades, the depth of its waters decreases, cutting species off from the resources they need. According to a 2018 article in Audubon Magazine, wading birds, like herons, egrets, ibises and roseate spoonbills, have seen a nearly 90% decline since the 1900s. These birds survive off the seasonal flooding and drying of the Everglades’ wetlands to feed and nest. However, human-controlled water levels and systematic drainage have disrupted their natural cycle, leaving many birds without proper breeding grounds and consequently lowering reproduction levels.
Similarly, the endangered Florida panther, once common throughout the state, now survives in only a small portion of its original range due to habitat loss and fragmentation. Manatees, alligators and other iconic species have also been affected by the reduction in clean, flowing water and the destruction of key habitats.
Other wildlife, such as small animals and fish, have also experienced decreasing populations as their habitats have been destroyed. Changes in the availability of nutrients directly affects plants and algae, leading to dwindling numbers. As they are the foundation of the food webs in the Everglades, the species that use them for nourishment are also affected.
The human population is impacted by the destruction of the Everglades, too. The Everglades helps recharge the Biscayne Aquifer, a major source of drinking water for more than 8 million people in South Florida. As wetlands disappear and become polluted, the risk of water shortages and contamination increases.
“The Everglades is important because it plays a vital role in water filtration and flood control,” junior Shrutika Bandiathmakur said.
Benefits of the Everglades and Restoration Efforts
Since the region of South Florida began domestic development in the 1920s, there has been a rapid decline of the Everglades. It was not until the advocacy of environmentalists that the exponential decline stabilized and the Everglades’ importance was recognized.
Around one-third of all Floridians depend on the Everglades for drinking water. Threats to the Everglades are also threats to the supply of drinking water for the central and southern regions of the state. By shrinking the Everglades, thousands of people will be unable to receive the resources they need to survive.
According to a 2023 article from the Everglades Foundation, “an essential component of restoration is increasing the quantity of water delivered to the Everglades. The primary means of doing this is by reconnecting Lake Okeechobee to the Everglades through improved operations such as the Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual and large storage reservoirs such as the Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir project. Increasing freshwater flow will also have downstream benefits in
PASSION PROJECT. Sophomore Connie Chao shares her painting of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in the Everglades, representing the history of advocacy and connection to the national park. She uses the Everglades as inspiration for many of her art pieces and hopes her art will inspire others to advocate for its protection. “We must protect this wild wonder, for there are no other Everglades like ours,” Chao said. “In nurturing this sacred ecosystem we don’t just protect the Everglades, we protect a legacy, we protect a hope and we protect our world.”
Florida Bay, reducing the frequency and severity of hypersalinity conditions that can lead to seagrass die-offs.”
To help combat the growing climate crisis brought about by Everglades’ drainage, Congress passed the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan in 2000, a multi-billion-dollar plan with over 68 project components of restoration.
The project components of CERP are necessary to complete the restoration puzzle and restore the connected ecosystems of the greater Everglades. Key elements of the plan are in various stages of planning, construction and implementation by the state’s South Florida Water Management District and the federal government’s U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which have a 50/50 partnership.
“I’m glad to know that there is more attention being brought to protecting the Everglades from the federal level,” senior Vincent Ciullo said. “I hope that this legislation will bring positive changes to the Everglades and help it grow back to its original size.”
Impact of the Everglades
Advocacy work regarding the Everglades is still present in the 21st century, following the grassroots movements pioneered by Stoneman Douglas almost 100 years ago. Due to its biological diversity, the Everglades remains a source of inspiration for many artists and photographers. Sophomore Connie Chao made an art piece for the MSD media center, in which she drew inspiration from the Everglades.
“A lot of my paintings are based on landscapes and the environment,” Chao said. “The Everglades really inspires [me] because it’s where I live, and this is Florida, and the Everglades is a really big part of South Florida’s climate and culture. I wanted to represent that in my art and help raise awareness just like Marjory Stoneman Douglas, who our school is named after, did through her advocacy.”
Junior Agnes Stephen feels similarly, describing the Everglades as a place where she can reconnect with nature and feel more connected to her South Floridian identity.
“The Everglades have been such a big part of my life since I went on a field trip there in fourth grade,” Stephen said. “I realized how big it is and just how close I lived to historic and national treasure. The Everglades must be protected, so future generations can experience its beauty years from now.”
The Everglades is more than a wetland; it is a home to diverse species and an inspiring force to many people, having remained resilient through destruction. Conservation efforts have proven effective in the past, but there is still much more to do. The government and Floridians’ choices will determine how Florida’s landscape changes. Efforts from the government and activists have ensured that the Everglades will be preserved so future generations, as well as today’s society, can experience all that the unique ecosystem has to offer.
STORY BY Jasmine Bhogaita
and Ahana
Tippanagoudar
PHOTO BY Natalia Dzielnicka ARTWORK PERMISSION FROM Connie Chao
Story
DESIGN BY Ahana
Climate change poses various threats to Florida’s ecosystems and citizens
Brace for
“Colleagues, we are on a road to ruin. But these are not future problems. Climate change is already here,” COP29 President-elect Mukhtar Babayev said while addressing world leaders during the opening ceremony of the 29th Conference of the Parties—an important meeting on climate change.
In 2024, Florida experienced its hottest summer on record, and globally, it was the warmest year on record, according to the 2024 Annual Florida Weather and Climate Summary by the Florida Climate Center. Climate change and global warming are not only real, but pervasive, and Florida is on the front line.
“Our low-lying topography… and the fact that we’re surrounded by water make us very vulnerable to sea level rise and storms of increasing intensity,” Florida and Caribbean Director and Senior Attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity Elise Bennett said. “Our aquifer is also vulnerable to saltwater intrusion, which puts our drinking water at risk. We’re also seeing more dangerously hot days here.”
The September 2023 edition of the Florida Climate Resilience Survey by Florida Atlantic University found that 90% of respondents believe climate change is happening, and 69% support government action at the state level, and 70% support government action at the federal level to address its effects.
Many Floridians have, after all, experienced the ramifications of weather events that were undoubtedly
Sea level rise is one of the greatest threats to Florida stemming from climate change. As temperatures warm, heat causes water to expand and consequently rise. Sea level rise increases the potential for coastal flooding, which Florida is especially vulnerable to given its low elevation, long coast, flat topography and limestone bedrock.
In fact, the 2025 Climate Central report “Coastal Flood Risk Across the U.S.,” reported Florida is the state most in danger of “severe coastal flooding” by 2050. This means that Floridians and their properties are in peril; over 16 million people in Florida are coastal residents as of March 2025, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This is more than half of Florida’s total population.
“According to NOAA Florida has 8,436 miles of shoreline, all of it threatened by sea level rise,” Professor and Environmental Science BS Program Manager at Broward College David Serrano said. “This includes high value properties such as resorts, hotels, national parks and private residences that generate billions for Florida in economic metrics. [We can address this via] infrastructure improvements and storm hardening/resilience projects. Programs such as Fortify Lauderdale, [FPL’s Storm Secure Underground Program] and updating city stormwater master plans are essential to mitigate Florida vulnerability. Legislators can prioritize funding for such projects.”
Even Broward County will endure the effects of coastal flooding if the county’s goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions remain as they are.
People have lost their homes and family members [from the recent hurricanes]. A lot of the people who lose their homes because of the rising cost of housing, are going to have a really, really difficult time getting off their feet… I think definitely climate change causing the worsening of these climate disasters is awful, and definitely something to be a big concern.
Benjamin Goldstein, 11
amplified by climate change, including floods and hurricanes.
“People have lost their homes and family members [from the recent hurricanes],” junior Benjamin Goldstein said. “A lot of the people who lose their homes, because of the rising cost of housing, are going to have a really, really difficult time getting off their feet… I think definitely climate change causing the worsening of these climate disasters is awful, and definitely something to be a big concern.”
Nevertheless, it is also true that a significantly smaller percentage of Floridians believe in the human-caused nature of climate change; in the survey, 57% reported believing it is human-caused and 43% reported believing it is not.
Despite this, scientists find there to be “unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate” and that “human activity is the principal cause,” as stated on NASA’s website.
Believing that climate change is not anthropogenic does not change the fact that the phenomenon has time and time again caused Florida harm, nor does it change the fact that people have the capacity to do something about it.
Coastal Flooding
Climate Central’s Coastal Risk Finder indicates that 1,700 people and 1,200 homes in the county will face flooding by 2050 under the current goals.
“I think it [coastal flooding] is definitely concerning,” Goldstein said.
“I’ve been seeing a bunch of visuals that a lot of Florida’s going to be under water in the next 100 years and with already a housing crisis and a whole bunch of different problems that come with that like… biodiversity loss, it’s very worrying the fact that climate change is on such a rise that this is something we genuinely have to worry about.”
Residents of coastal communities are bound to have their daily lives impacted by coastal flooding if sea levels continue to rise as they are projected to. Businesses and services, including schools and hospitals, may shut down, transportation may be impeded, power supplies may be disrupted, homes may be flooded and ultimately, peoples’ lives may be threatened, all due to climate change.
Further, in response to the increased threat of flooding, coastal communities will inevitably migrate inland. This leads to a process called secondary displacement, or the emigration of residents from receiving communities after wealthier coastal residents increase property values.
For example, a 2021 study funded by the LeRoy Collins Institute at Florida State University found that 30%, 25% and 20% of the census block groups of Duval, Miami-Dade and Pinellas Counties, respectively, face high risk of secondary displacement.
“Receiving communities are likely to be historically
DARWIN’S FINCHES
PRETTY IN PINK
STAY GOLDEN
INTO THE WOODS
INTO THE WOODS. Cypress trees stand tall in Big Cypress National Preserve in Miami, Florida. PHOTO PERMISSION
FROM Jose A. Iglesias/Tribune News Services
DARWIN’S FINCHES. One the most endangered birds on the planet, the Cape Sable seaside sparrow, rests in the hand of Stuart Pim, an ornithologist who is studying the birds that number about 2,500 in Everglades National Park.
PHOTO PERMISSION FROM Tim Chapman/Miami Herald Staff/Tribune News Service
PRETTY IN PINK. A flock of flamingos sit on a mud flat in Florida Bay on the edge of the Florida Everglades. PHOTO PERMISSION from Tribune News Service
STAY GOLDEN. The sun sets over the Everglades on April 12, 2025. PHOTO BY Victoria Damaso.
LATER ALLIGATOR. Chris Gillette feeds an alligator named Bella a piece of shrimp at his animal sanctuary, called Bellowing Acres, in Ocala, Florida on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. PHOTO PERMISSION FROM Al Diaz/Miami Herald Staff/Tribune News Service
underinvested and marginalized neighborhoods,” Jayson Velazquez said in a 2024 Yale Environmental Review article. “Analyzing the demographic characteristics of these receiving communities will help predict the social landscape where the bulk of migrants will settle. Therefore, policymakers and planners in receiving communities must balance serious quality of life needs for residents and newcomers, while avoiding secondary displacement.”
In neighborhoods of lower socioeconomic statuses, redevelopment projects undertaken without protections for affordable housing that attempt to remedy climate-related problems contribute to secondary displacement. The 2022 United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report stated that “Miami-Dade’s efforts to raise roads and build stormwater pumps have raised property values, leading to inequality for vulnerable populations,” for instance.
Aquifers
LATER ALLIGATOR
me] because it means that the aquifers could become impure, and it could make it a lot harder and more energy consuming to convert the saltwater into drinkable water which could increase water prices,” sophomore Alvin Cao said.
Maps from the Saltwater Interface Monitoring and Mapping Program, implemented by the South Florida Water Management District, show that since 2019, the saltwater interface–the boundary between freshwater and saltwater in aquifers–has moved inland significantly. Cities in Broward County have seen some of the most drastic changes. Davie, for instance, has seen an inwards shift of four miles.
Since groundwater is used for drinking water, and groundwater is becoming more saline due to saltwater intrusion, treatment costs are going to increase. This is because saline water poses health problems such as kidney damage and hypertension.
Saltwater intrusion in aquifers has also been exacerbated in Florida as a result of sea level rise.
Aquifers are underground layers of rock saturated with groundwater. The groundwater found in aquifers below land surfaces is typically freshwater, and the freshwater is replenished by rainwater that infiltrates the ground. Freshwater aquifers are often used to supply drinking water, as well as for agricultural, industrial and other domestic purposes.
The Floridan Aquifer System is one of the most productive aquifers in the world and serves as the primary source of drinking water for about 10 million people, according to the “Floridan Aquifer System Groundwater Availability Study” by the U.S. Geological Survey. The aquifer is located beneath all of Florida, in addition to parts of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and South Carolina.
Then, if the saltwater intrusion is excessive enough to render a well useless, it would need to be moved, which is a costly endeavor.
“For the past few years, Everglades National Park has placed notices at the Flamingo campsite bathrooms that the water has elevated sodium levels,” Serrano said. “Last I saw, a couple years back, the signs stated the water was within drinkable range but of concern for people that had issues—high blood pressure, etc. At some point, the level
[Sea level rise causing saltering drinking water worries me] because it means that the aquifers could become impure, and it could make it a lot harder and more energy consuming to convert the saltwater into drinkable water which could
Florida is also home to the Biscayne Aquifer, which serves as South Florida’s principal source of drinking water, including Miami-Dade and Broward County. The FAS and Biscayne Aquifer are both made of carbonate rock, particularly limestone and dolostone. This trait lends them a high porosity and permeability, making them very productive as aquifers but also very susceptible to the effects of sea level rise.
“Florida’s geography as a peninsula between two bodies of saltwater creates the potential for saltwater intrusion into the aquifers,” Tara Wade and Tatiana Borisova said in a 2022 University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences article. “...In some places, excessively pumping a well can increase saltwater intrusion. If water is pumped at a rate faster than the aquifer is replenished, the pressure of freshwater over saltwater in the land mass is decreased. This decrease may cause the level of the saltwater-freshwater interface to rise in the aquifer, degrading water quality.”
Sea level rise, in combination with over-extraction, is causing saltwater intrusion.
As sea levels rise, hydraulic pressure increases, pushing saltwater deeper into the aquifers. Over-extraction then contributes by lowering the freshwater table, which is the boundary between an aquifer and ground unsaturated with water. This creates a “cone of depression,” an area where groundwater levels are reduced around wells. The decreased pressure from the freshwater table allows saltwater to move in and fill the empty space.
“[Sea level rise causing saltering drinking water worries
increase water prices.
Alvin Cao, 10
will be too high, requiring the park to begin the costly project of bringing piped city water to the site.”
Water from aquifers is not just used as drinking water though; it is also used for agricultural purposes, often being extracted to use in irrigation systems to water crops. If crops are being watered with saline water, crop yield and quality may be adversely affected.
“Agricultural production has also been affected [by saltwater intrusion], with many wells showing elevated salt levels meaning alteration of soil management and eventual loss of that ‘free’ water source which will increase production costs,” Serrano said.
Hurricanes
Climate change is causing hurricanes to strengthen, leaving Florida’s Big Bend highly vulnerable due to its proximity to the Gulf of Mexico, recently renamed the Gulf of America by President Donald Trump in Executive Order 14172. This was seen with the hurricanes Helene and Milton, which hit Florida in September and October 2024, respectively.
“I feel like climate change did impact the previous hurricanes simply due to how hurricanes work, and everything that’s involved with their formation,” freshman Ariana Maisanova said. “It scares me a little bit… because I feel like as climate change starts to become a bigger and bigger thing I’m scared that hurricanes are going
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to get bigger too. Especially because we know how bad and impactful the last hurricanes were, it just seems like everything else is going to become a lot worse.” According to the Florida Climate Center, sea levels on Florida’s Gulf Coast are six inches higher than they were a few decades ago, and this trend is only accelerating. The federal
government’s Fifth National Climate Assessment found that between 2020 and 2050 the Western Gulf Coast will experience an average sea level rise of 12-16 inches. When water levels are higher storm surges push further inland.
“Experts have documented a substantial increase for most measures of Atlantic hurricane activity since the early 1980s, including the number of strong–category four and five–storms,” Bennett said. “They predict that we will continue to see more storms of greater intensity. These storms threaten human communities in Florida because of the dangerous winds and flooding, which is also exacerbated by rising sea levels. People in my own community have lost their homes because of these storms. These storms also create a greater risk of dangerous pollution events, though fortunately, with Milton, we were lucky this time. These storms also threaten our biodiversity.”
I feel like climate change did impact the previous hurricanes simply due to how hurricanes work, and everything that’s involved with their formation. It scares me a little bit… because I feel like as climate change starts to become a bigger and bigger thing I’m scared that hurricanes are going to get bigger too. Especially because we know how bad and impactful the last hurricanes were, it just seems like everything else is going to become a lot worse.
Ariana Maisanova, 09
Studies have proven that just small increases in sea level rise greatly increase storm surge damage. Hurricane Sandy proved this in 2012.
The 2021 Climate Central paper “Economic damages from Hurricane Sandy attributable to sea level rise caused by anthropogenic
climate change” describes how up to $8.1 billion of the damage caused by Sandy across New York, Connecticut and New Jersey can be attributed to sea level rise. Since 1900, anthropogenic global warming, or humancaused global warming, can definitively be attributed to 3.8 inches of sea level rise in New York City. The paper details how Hurricane Sandy’s storm surge in the tri-state area would have impacted 71,000 (8.8%) fewer people, 36,000 (8.8%) fewer housing units and caused 13% less storm damage had sea levels been 3.8 inches lower.
Also, hotter than normal ocean temperatures cause hurricanes to intensify more quickly: the warmer the temperature, the more energy available for storms to use. This finding was validated by the 2023 paper “Observed increases in North Atlantic tropical cyclone peak intensification rates” published in Scientific Reports, which suggests that weak hurricanes and tropical storms in the Atlantic basin–which includes the Gulf–may be twice as likely to strengthen into a major hurricane in 24 hours as a result of hotter ocean temperatures.
Climate Central’s Climate Shift Index found that human-induced climate change made warmer sea surface temperatures in the Northern Caribbean and Eastern Gulf of Mexico 200-500 times more likely. Both of these locations comprised Hurricane Helene’s path, and Hurricane Helene itself rapidly intensified before hitting the Big Bend.
“The hurricanes have been getting stronger according to the news. Normally I hear about Category 5 hurricanes and I think that that’s becoming a lot more frequent and normal,” senior Matthew Toussaint said. “Hurricanes happen without climate change, but climate change is definitely speeding up intensification where it wasn’t before.”
A similar phenomenon was seen with Hurricane Milton. Milton peaked twice in the Southern Gulf of Mexico, making it one of the five most intense Atlantic storms on record. At the same time Milton was located in the area, a marine heatwave was occurring.
In the Gulf of Mexico, marine heatwaves make rapid intensification 50% more likely on average, as reported in the 2024 study “Rapid Intensification of tropical cyclones in the Gulf of Mexico is more likely during marine heatwaves.”
The Gulf Coast is additionally vulnerable to flooding from hurricanes as a result of seagrass loss. The northeastern portion of the Gulf of Mexico is the location of the continental U.S.’ second largest contiguous seagrass meadow. The 2023 study “Extensive and Continuing Loss of Seagrasses in Florida’s Big Bend (USA)” published in the journal Environmental Management, discovered that between 2001 and 2022, 15% of the meadow’s area was lost.
“The lack of seagrass means more waves and stronger hurricanes,” Goldstein said. “Typically what they do is they block the impact from actually reaching the shore, similar to how our mangrove trees work. The lack of that is going to keep causing a positive feedback loop, where it just gets worse and worse until there’s nothing we can do about it.”
Typically, seagrass serves as a buffer, stabilizing sediments and absorbing wave energy so as to reduce the effects of storm surges. A loss of seagrass along Florida’s Gulf Coast means that the area is more susceptible to the damage posed by future hurricanes.
Coral Reefs
The Florida Reef, located near the Florida Keys, is the only living coral reef system in the continental U.S. Reefs are the most biodiverse aquatic ecosystems, providing a vast variety of marine organisms with shelter, breeding sites and food. Plus, they benefit people by helping mitigate strong waves, pollution and ocean acidification.
All of these benefits are at risk of disappearing if global warming continues to kill coral via a process known as bleaching.
according to the NOAA. These temperatures exceeded the coral’s threshold for bleaching and occurred for a prolonged period of time, leading to mass-mortality.
Even prior to this event though, the coral in the Keys were suffering. The NOAA has seen a 90% decline in healthy coral cover in the Florida Keys since the late 1970s. The 2023 mass bleaching event only made a bad situation worse.
“[The reef decline] does upset me because they look pretty cool, and they also are really good habitats for marine organisms,” freshman Shia Ogilvie said. “If they decline, marine organisms also decline, which is not good. [Plus,] our tourism will also decline because it means less attraction, and our economy is also going to go down.”
The NOAA’s Mission: Iconic Reef program began in 2019 as a means of restoring South Florida’s reefs. To do so, coral colonies were out-planted on seven ailing reefs in the area. The aforementioned heat wave proved costly for the program’s efforts and led many involved with the project to rethink the effectiveness of their approach.
Staghorn and Elkhorn coral are federally protected species under the Endangered Species Act, with both designated as threatened. These species are easy to propagate and have thus been favored in restoration efforts, including Mission: Iconic Reef’s.
In February 2024, after the heat wave, a team of NOAA researchers surveyed the Mission: Iconic Reef sites. Across five of the seven sites, under 22% of the 1,500 outplanted staghorn were still alive and under 5% of the 1,000 out-planted elkhorn were still alive. No staghorn or elkhorn coral were found alive at all in the surveyed sample areas of the Looe Key Reef.
“The climate emergency, along with thoughtless human development, is directly tied to current and predicted global biodiversity loss— and each species lost is the loss of another thread in the fraying fabric of life that supports us all,” Bennett said.
“These species have an inherent right to exist, and we shouldn’t take that from them. Moreover, whether it’s insects, bats, and birds that help pollinate our food, coral reefs that serve as the nurseries for our fisheries, freshwater mussels that filter our water, or the tiniest microbes that keep our soils healthy, we need biodiversity for our own health and happiness.”
Coral are dependent on a type of algae called zooxanthellae for the proteins and sugars they need to survive. The coral and algae have a symbiotic relationship, and the algae are responsible for coral’s color. When ocean temperatures get too warm, zooxanthellae get stressed out and leave the coral, causing them to lose their pigment and starve.
“I’m in AP Enviro right now, and it’s extremely glaring how applicable what we’re learning about is to what is going on in the world today,” junior Lia Schwartz said. “We talked about coral bleaching in class and to know that it’s a genuine threat to aquatic ecosystems right now is such a sad reality for Florida. We are in part to blame too as we contribute to global warming, so it’s really disappointing to witness.”
In the summer of 2023, the Florida Keys experienced a marine heatwave that extensively harmed the Florida Reef. The heat wave constituted the hottest temperatures ever recorded in the region during the satellite record,
“We’re restoring sanity in our approach to energy and rejecting the agenda of the radical green zealots,” DeSantis said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
HB 1645 is most known for removing the phrase “climate change” from state legislation. Specifically, it rids most existing state laws of references to climate change, deletes the phrase from several bills and modifies entire passages of other bills.
“This is a little concerning because if legislators aren’t acknowledging it in legislation, then it begs the question of what they’re doing about the problem,” Schwartz said. “Climate change is real, and we learn about it in almost every class we take in school, from history to science. To see those in charge at the least ignore climate change and at the most deny it, means that they are not taking into account how the problem threatens Florida.”
Still, HB 1645 also does much more.
In 2022 Florida set renewable energy goals after a petition was filed by hundreds of Floridians urging the state to aim for 100% clean energy by 2050. HB 1645 terminates these goals, characterizing them as unrealistic. Plus, it bans offshore wind turbines in state waters, lessens regulations on natural gas pipelines and attempts to
We talked about coral bleaching in class and to know that it’s a genuine threat to aquatic ecosystems right now is such a sad reality for Florida. We are in part to blame too as we contribute to global warming, so it’s really disappointing to witness.
Had there been no intervention by coral practitioners, the possibility looms that all of the wild staghorn and elkhorn coral in the Keys could have been lost.
“[Reef decline] does upset me a little because the coral reefs are supposed to be there to help the ocean and marine life, and without the coral, then the ocean ecosystem could be out of balance which could cause problems,” sophomore Alvin Cao said. “It could mean that Florida’s tourism could get worse too.”
Coral bleaching is not just a threat to biodiversity, but a threat to the state of Florida. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection states on their website that “the total tourism value of Florida’s Coral Reef is estimated at $1.1 billion annually. Coral reefs are estimated to annually support 71,000 jobs in South Florida.” With reefs dying, Florida is susceptible to losing a great deal of money—$55 billion in reef-related tourism money by 2100, as stated in the IPCC report, to be exact.
“Florida’s GDP has tourism as a heavy component” Serrano said. “Loss of reefs, shorelines and recreation translates to billions of dollars of business loss and thus the accompanying tax revenue.”
Reefs are particularly beneficial to a place such as Florida, that is frequently subject to hurricanes. The 2020 NOAA Coral Reef Status Report states that healthy reefs can absorb 97% of wave energy from hurricanes and storms, so to ensure the Florida Reef is thriving is to ensure that the state of Florida is better protected.
Florida Legislature
Human-caused climate change is a risk to the ecosystems and the people of Florida. The burning of fossil fuels releases heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, effectively contributing to coastal flooding, saltwater intrusion, the intensification of hurricanes and coral bleaching, all of which Florida is uniquely vulnerable to.
Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist recognized the potential for such consequences over a decade ago when he implemented measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase renewable energy usage.
On May 15, 2024, current Gov. Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 1645 into law. This law went back on much of what was left of Crist’s policy, which was previously dismantled by former Gov. Rick Scott and even Crist himself starting in 2009 when he attempted to run for the U.S. Senate.
Lia Schwartz, 11
encourage more nuclear power development, among other things.
Natural gas accounted for three-fourths of Florida’s instate net generation of electricity in 2021 and is distributed via five interstate pipelines according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Clearly, it is a major source of electricity in the state.
Given this information, some environmentalists posit that this law is simply another way Florida legislators are doing the bidding of the natural gas industry.
“Floridians are on the frontlines of rising sea levels, rising extreme heat, rising property insurance prices, more frequent flooding, and more severe storms,” Executive Director of the CLEO Institute Yoca Arditi-Rocha said in a statement released on May 15, 2024. “This purposeful act of cognitive dissonance is proof that the governor and the state legislature are not acting in the best interests of Floridians, but rather to protect profits for the fossil fuel industry.”
The Florida Legislature has, however, committed a lot of money to helping the state’s infrastructure better adapt to increasing sea levels and temperatures. What the Florida Legislature is not doing, according to critics, is committing money to addressing the root cause of the issue, nor to protecting nature.
“The Florida Legislature is not helping Floridians curb the driver of climate change: pollution from burning fossil fuels,” Bennett said. “Instead, they appear to be denying the existence of climate change. Last year, the legislature passed and Governor DeSantis signed a law that removes mention of climate change from state statutes.
Florida lawmakers are also not doing enough to prepare communities for the extreme weather, extreme heat, and flooding that are being driven by climate change. For example, protecting wetlands is important to buffer communities from storm surge and flooding; however, legislators have been weakening laws that manage human development away from important environmental resources like wetlands while environmental officials continue to issue permits for extensive wetland destruction across the state.”
Consequently, many concerned parties argue that until legislators are willing to recognize the continued threats of climate change, the state, its citizens and its ecosystems will remain in jeopardy.
STORY BY Andie Korenge
Invasion Invasion Home
Non-native species infest South Florida
Burmese Python
Burmese pythons were first introduced to Florida as pets, brought in from regions in Southern and Southeastern Asia. Irresponsibility on owners’ behalves led to the snakes escaping into the Everglades. In some cases, the owners would intentionally release them because they were unprepared for the level of difficulty it took to manage them. The pythons soon dominated the Everglades as they had few competitors. They began to rapidly reproduce, resulting in damage to native species. According to a 2012 study from the United States Geological Survey, raccoon populations have declined 99.3%, bobcats 87.5% and opossums 98.9% since 1997 due to the abundance of pythons in the area. Other rodent populations have declined as well.
PHOTO PERMISSION FROM Tribune News Service
Hydrilla
Hydrilla, an aquatic plant, was introduced to the U.S. in the 1950s through aquarium trade. The plant blocks sunlight and replaces native plants, disrupting the ecosystem in the Everglades. It also blocks waterways, interfering with boating as it gets tangled in motors. Furthermore, due to its rapid growth rates, hydrilla reduces the oxygen levels and depletes the quality of the waters it has infested.
PHOTO PERMISSION FROM Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant/Tribune News Service
Green Iguana
First sighted in the 1960s, green iguanas are some of the most common animals found in South Florida. Similar to Burmese pythons, iguanas were also frequently kept as pets and released into the wild because they were difficult to care for. They are native to Central and South America. Now, they wreak havoc by damaging the local flora and fauna. They outcompete native species for food and shelter, reducing populations. Iguanas also cause damage to infrastructure as they like to burrow.
PHOTO PERMISSION FROM Dreamstime/Tribune News Service
Brazilian Peppertree
Originally from Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, the Brazilian peppertree was introduced to Florida in the 19th century as an ornamental plant. The small tree is regarded as the most widespread invasive plant species in Florida. Its rapid growth contributes to damage across the regions it resides in. The forests the trees are found in are poor habitats for animals as they exclude other plant species, decreasing biodiversity.
PHOTO PERMISSION FROM Tribune News Service
Cogon Grass
Cogon grass is considered to be one of the worst weeds in Florida due to its aggressive nature. It was first introduced from Southeast Asia to Alabama in the 1900s, and then was later brought to Florida. Originally used for forage and soil stabilization, it now displaces native plants and is a significant fire hazard. It also destroys native indigo snake and gopher habitats, lowering their chances of survival.
FFeral Hog
eral hogs were introduced to Florida from Europe in the 1500s by settlers and colonists. Originally used as a food source, they quickly reproduced, making it impossible to control their populations. Now, they eat plants, taking them from the native species that depend on them. They also root up the Earth, destroying land. Feral hogs can carry diseases and parasites that are harmful to both humans and pets.
PHOTO PERMISSION FROM Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman/Tribune News Service
Cane Toad
Cane toads are native to the Amazon basin in South America. They are poisonous to most animals that attempt to consume them. They are omnivores, meaning that they eat both vegetation and insects or small mammals. Cane toads compete with native frogs for food, shelter and breeding areas.
PHOTO PERMISSION FROM Matthijs Kuijpers/ Dreamstime/Tribune News Service
Giant African Land Snail
The giant African land snail has been eradicated twice in Florida. However, there were sightings as recent as 2023. The snails are a significant danger to Florida agriculture and even eat plaster walls. They also carry the rat lungworm parasite, which is known to cause meningitis in humans. The snails reproduce quickly and can produce up to 1,000 offspring during their lifetimes. Giant African land snails were first eradicated in 1975, then again in 2021. Currently, there are three quarantine areas for these snails in Florida: Lee, Pasco and Broward County.
PHOTO PERMISSION FROM Tribune News Service
Lionfish
Lionfish are frequently found in Florida’s reefs, causing damage to the marine ecosystems found off the east coast of the state. Native to the Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean and Red Sea, they were first reported near Dania Beach in 1985. They compete with native fish such as groupers and snappers for food, effectively removing species that are extremely important for coral reefs.
PHOTO PERMISSION FROM Tribune News Service
www.martyfeldmansatprep.com
Junior Mckayla Barton pursues challenging scuba diving certification to further passion for sea life
SSwim
Swim Sink and
taring out into the expansive blue in front of her, junior Mckayla Barton takes a few deep breaths into her mask, watching the bubbles formed float past her. As she makes her way through the water with her diving partner, Barton is suddenly shoved back by the current. Her resistance is futile, the force too strong to oppose, and she is whisked away. Once she and her partner are able to safely leave the current, the two stumble across an astonishing sight: a huge Spotted Eagle Ray swimming right in front of them.
This is one of the most memorable moments in Barton’s four years of scuba diving. While she has seen plenty of stingrays, she had yet to see one that was so large and of a species she does not see very often. However, Barton says these kinds of surprises are typical on her dives as she never sees the exact same creatures every time.
“I love that every dive is a different experience,” Barton said. “The sea life is so diverse from what we see in our daily lives.”
Barton became interested in scuba diving because of her friends and family, who were already certified and recommended for her to go through the process as well. After receiving her certification, Barton has been able to go on dives throughout Florida, discovering new animals and exploring different habitats.
Yet, Barton’s journey to certification was not as simple as she had hoped. She first had to begin the process by taking lessons online, which once completed allowed her to start training in a small body of water. After she became familiar with the sign language, basic skills and gear, Barton was then taken out on an open water dive to review what she had learned.
“It was tiring,” Barton said. “Our certification sessions started very early in the morning and they were often physically demanding because the water was rough with lots of strong currents. I started to dread it.” Having no control over the conditions on her dives, Barton was often pushing herself to her limit in order to complete the tasks at hand
to earn her certification. Still, she says the taxing environment was all worth it in the end, as she has continued to dive in her free time ever since.
Throughout the years, Barton has stumbled across sharks, stingrays, sea horses, sea turtles and even an octopus. The diverse sea life she has observed has contributed to her fascination with the ocean, as well as pushed her to overcome the challenges associated with scuba diving.
“
I love that every dive is a different experience. The sea life is so diverse from what we see in our daily lives.
“It’s allowed me to put myself out there and go places that not many are willing to travel to,” Barton said.
Her participation in scuba diving has also affected her interests outside of the ocean, such as with her art. Barton often finds herself incorporating the animals she has seen into some of her pieces, as well as including certain features of them when creating fantastical creatures in her fictional work.
“I think the uniqueness of the animals and their colors play a part in why I sometimes draw them,” Barton said. “The ocean is just something that has shown up in my art repeatedly.”
Scuba diving has allowed Barton to be more aware of her surroundings, and has even opened her up to different possibilities she could partake in later down the line.
“I’ve considered studying marine biology, not pursuing it as a career, but I just think that it would be good to have a deeper understanding of the environment,” Barton said.
Barton has access to the diverse environments and creatures she has seen because of Florida being a peninsula, meaning she can access the ocean in a multitude of places throughout the state. Because of these qualities, she encourages anyone who is interested in scuba diving to pursue their certification as well.
“If you do have the opportunity to learn to scuba dive, do it while you can because our area has beautiful sea life compared to many other places,” Barton said. “It’s definitely something you have to work for, but it will be fun in the end.”
STORY AND DESIGN BY Grace Brill
Mckayla Barton, 11
JUST KEEP SWIMMING. After escaping a
this one of the most memorable moments in her four years of scuba diving.
PHOTOS PERMISSION FROM Mckayla Barton
UNDER THE SEA. An octopus lays on the sea floor at Peanut Island. The island was originally planned to be used as a terminal for shipping peanut oil, but now is a popular spot for snorkeling and fishing.
strong current, a spotted eagle ray swims in front of junior Mckayla Barton. The ray is not something she sees very often on her dives, making
FISHY BUSINESS. Junior Mckayla Barton displays a clown fish and an angelfish in her sketchbook. Barton regularly incorporates the sea life she sees on her dives into her art, some of which she is commissioned for.
THE WAY OF WATER. A nurse shark and scorpion fish hide among surrounding sea creatures at junior Mckayla Barton’s drop off dive. On the trip, Barton was left to explore the nearby area after being dropped off in the middle of the ocean.
PHOTO PERMISSION FROM Mckayla Barton
Nurturing Nurturing
Whiskers
Soft meows and purrs echo through the house as senior Madison Cousans and sophomore Riley Cousans step through their front door. One kitten runs up to the sisters, while another hides in a nearby cat tower. Both sisters set their respective backpacks down before completing their daily chores, including cleaning out litter boxes and refilling water bowls.
The Cousans family began fostering cats in early 2022, following the news that one of their adopted cats was nearing the end of his life. They receive the cats from the Saving Sage Animal Rescue Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to rescuing abandoned, neglected or abused animals.
“Honestly, we always had a lot of cats, and my mom was very involved with the Saving Sage Rescue,” Riley said. “We decided to help them out one day when there was an overflow in the rescue, and we haven’t stopped since then.”
Madison said. “It was definitely an experience, and I wouldn’t recommend it if you like your sleep.”
Riley’s cat allergy also complicates their work. She mitigates her allergies through frequent hand washing.
Most of the foster cats the Cousans take in get adopted by various families. After being with the kittens for so long, the siblings find it hard to say goodbye to them as they have created meaningful bonds with them.
“
I feel very happy when our fosters meet their adopters, and of course there’s that wave of sadness that this is your last time seeing them.
“I feel very happy when our fosters meet their adopters, and of course there’s that wave of sadness that this is your last time seeing them,” Riley said. “But, it’s good to know they’re in good hands.”
Riley Cousans, 10
Although complicated, the fostering process has been rewarding for both the sisters. Each has their own duties and responsibilities to provide care for the animals. When Madison is home, she feeds the cats both lunch and dinner. Meanwhile, Riley cleans out the cats’ litter boxes. While they are at school, the siblings’ parents feed the cats lunch and take care of them.
“The cats form our schedule,” Madison said. “Everything we have going on in our lives has to allow time for them to be fed, cleaned and played with.”
The Cousans have fostered all types of cats with varying medical conditions or special needs. While it is more difficult to provide for those specific animals, Madison and Riley use their best efforts.
“A few kittens we’ve had came in with ringworm,” Madison said. “Ringworm is very contagious, so we had to constantly be washing our hands, otherwise we would spread it to the other kittens.”
Most of the kittens enter the Cousans’ household with plenty of resources and supplies from Saving Sage. Usually, the cats need to be fed with solid food and can clean themselves. Nonetheless, there has been one case where a group of kittens required bottle feeding.
“The kittens required feeding every 3 to 4 hours, which meant that we had to wake up in the night multiple times just to feed them,”
Madison and Riley have learned a lot throughout their years of fostering cats, such as the best ways to feed them and how to engage with them, as well as general facts about cats.
“Something we learned about different cat breeds is that a lot of breed stereotypes are true,” Madison said. “For example, orange cats really live up to the crazy energetic stereotype, while on the other hand, black cats tend to be more quiet and reserved.”
The fostering experience is different for every kitten. Some may not be very social, while others constantly demand attention.
“My current foster, Alder, climbed one of the decorative tapestries hung up high on the wall in my living room,” Riley said. “None of our other cats have done that before, and none of us were really sure how he got there.”
The sisters’ enthusiasm is not just limited to their family; their friends and teachers all know about their endeavors and are very supportive.
“[My friends] love coming over to hang out with the cats,” Riley said. “It’s very fun.”
Since Madison graduates soon, Riley and her family will have to take over her foster duties, as they plan on continuing to foster kittens. Both siblings encourage others to foster, as they believe it is a fulfilling process that not only allows people to learn different skills, but also to help animals in need.
STORY BY Ashveen Saini and Ahana Tippanagoudar
Statistics highlight stray cat issues in Florida and nation
70 million cats are either currently strays or homeless across the United States
3.4 million cats enter rescue shelters a year across the U.S.
2.4 million healthy cats in the U.S. are euthanized each year that could have been adopted
24, 289
Sisters Madison and Riley Cousans care for foster kittens
PLAYFUL PETS. Laying on the floor, both of the Cousans family’s new foster cats, Archie and Edith play around. The Cousans found homes for all of their foster cats and personally adopted four of their past fosters.
FELINE FOSTERS. Holding the kitten, senior Madison Cousans poses with Edith, her family's new foster cat. The Cousans family started fostering cats in 2020 and have found homes for all of them.
CUDDLY CATS. Sophomore Riley Cousans holds her new foster cat, Archie, in her arms. The cats have made a large impact on Riley’s life helping her gain life skills, like responsibility. PHOTOS BY Ashveen Saini
PLAYFUL PETS
FELINE FOSTERS
CUDDLY CATS
Source: Humane Society, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Best Friends Organization
DESIGN BY Jasmine Bhogaita
ROLLING JOY
Pedaling Thro
Sophomore Rebecca Rinderknecht cycles internationally with her family
For many, cycling is just a pastime, but for sophomore Rebecca Rinderknecht, it is much more. It is a way to connect with family and challenge herself mentally and physically. Every ride pushes her further, both on and off the bike.
Rinderknecht’s love for cycling started at a young age. Inspired by her father at 12 years old, Rinderknecht began her cycling journey with simple rides in her neighborhood. This simple bonding activity turned into a passion she still enjoys to this day.
“My dad and I used to do [cycle] in the afternoons, after he got home from work, just to, relax and go see nature,” sophomore Rinderknecht said.
One of her most memorable moments from cycling was her first time seeing wildlife up close. On her trips, she would see animals such as deer and cows, especially on her cycling venture in Germany.
“My favorite memories from cycling would have to be when I saw a deer for the first time up close, and the beautiful scenery I saw during my rides,” Rinderknecht said.
What started out as just a family vacation to Germany turned into an enduring but rewarding
adventure. Rinderknecht’s father discovered a trail when he came up with the idea of a fourday bike trip across the area.
“The most difficult trail I’ve done was in Germany,” Rinderknecht said. “It was tough waking up early every morning and biking the entire day.”
The family traveled from one end of Germany to the North Sea, encountering wildlife, cities and wilderness on their way there.
The trail ranged from rocky dirt paths to cement streets of cities. Rinderknecht saw many animals and interacted with many different groups of people.
“
My dad and I used to [cycle] in the afternoons after he got home from work just to relax and go see nature.
Rebecca Rinderknecht, 10
Such a lengthy trip requires preparation. Commonly, cyclists focus on endurance when training for longer trips. They ride consecutively for weeks with rest periods to prevent over training. In preparation for the ride, Rinderknecht and her family did as such.
“When we’re doing a tour, like we did in Germany, we’ll go [cycling], every day of the weekend for a few months leading up to it,” Rinderknecht said.
Her regimen taught her endurance, patience and discipline. She felt her motivation would trickle down to nothing every day, but her father would often words of encouragement.
“When I’m tired my dad will tell me that I’m slow,” Rinderknecht said.
As a high school student, it may be challenging to balance academics and extracurriculars. With this in mind, Rinderknecht has a schedule that works for her that she sticks to. This allows her to focus on both cycling and her studies.
“I just focus on finding a balance,” Rinderknecht said. “I do [cycling] once a week, usually on the weekends.”
Though currently cycling is just a hobby for Rinderknecht, she hopes it will remain a substantial part of her life in the future.
“I definitely want to keep doing it, and do a similar thing with my kids,” Rinderknecht said. “I think that’d be nice.”
For now, cycling for competitions may not be on her agenda, but Rinderknecht knows there will always be a bike nearby. For her, it is not about competing; it is about the freedom of the ride, appreciating nature and making memories with loved ones.
STORY BY Chelsea Townsend
ROLLING JOY. Sophomore Rebecca Rinderknecht smiles at the camera as she rides her bicycle on a trail. In July of 2024, Rinderknecht and her family rode their bikes across Germany in the span of four days, and the trails consisted of many different terrains and cities.
PEDAL PARADISE. Sophomore Rebecca Rinderknecht cycles through a trail, whilst admiring the greenery. On a trip to visit family in the summer of 2024, Rinderknecht’s father came up with the idea of doing a bike tour throughout Germany.
BICYCLE BONDS. Sophomore Rebecca Rinderknecht and her father Micheal Rinderknecht pose for a photo while on their cycling journey. At the age of 12 years olds, Rinderknecht’s father encouraged her to start cycling with him, which sparked a new passion in her and lead to cycling becoming one of her favorite hobbies.
PHOTOS PERMISSION FROM Rebecca Rinderknecht
BICYCLE BONDS
MSD students capture their environment through photography
Beauty Natural Beauty
RIO RICE, 11
RILEY WALSH, 12
RIO RICE, 11
GABRIEL NIERMAN, 12
MCKAYLA BARTON, 11
GABRIEL NIERMAN, 12
RILEY WALSH, 12
MCKAYLA BARTON, 11
GABRIEL NIERMAN, 12
RIO RICE, 11
NATALIA SOLERA, 10
RILEEY WALSH, 12
GABRIEL NIERMAN, 12
CHELSEA TOWNSEND, 11
GRACE BRILL, 11
GRACE BRILL, 11
GABRIEL NIERMAN, 12
CHELSEA TOWNSEND, 11
GRACE BRILL, 11
GABRIEL NIERMAN, 12
MCKAYLA BARTON, 11
RIO RICE, 11
GABRIEL NIERMAN, 12
RILEY WALSH, 12
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU. Eagle Eye News welcomes reader input. Please send any comments, responses, reactions or corrections in the form of a letter to the editor to msdeagleeyenews@gmail.com. Letters must be signed to be published. We will not necessarily publish all letters received and reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.
Opinions Student
Eagle Eye News is an open forum for student expression. Staff editorials represent the opinion of the editorial board arrived at by discussion and will not be bylined. Bylined articles are the opinion of the individual writer. The views expressed on the opinion pages of Eagle Eye News do not represent the views of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School or Broward County Public Schools.
Future of climate change in U.S. depends on government taking action
Florida’s Cooked Cooked
or
The most recent hurricane that hit Florida, Hurricane Milton, broke the record for the fastest intensification from a tropical storm to a Category 5. July 2023 broke the record for the hottest temperature recorded in Florida, with southern parts of the state reaching 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Sea level has risen an outstanding 8 inches since 1950, infiltrating clean drinking water and the Everglades freshwater ecosystem with salt water.
Each of these natural disasters have been exacerbated by one thing: climate change.
Recalling the basics of eighth gradelevel science, fossil-fuel burning has trapped greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere, causing Earth’s average temperature to steadily increase.
Given that unnaturally high temperatures disrupt typical weather patterns, global warming accelerates climate change.
Climate change exacerbates rising sea levels, droughts, flooding and other natural disasters, which consequently interferes with the balance of ecosystems.
In the views of critics though, the escalating evidence of climate change backed by various studies and various scientists has been reduced to a fictitious theory spurred and dramatized by liberals.
In fact, this scientifically proven phenomenon has become a subject of political debate, its entire existence regarded as mere opinion by some people.
Unfortunately, these people happen to be the very ones responsible for making legislative decisions for the state of Florida.
In 2024, the Florida Department of Education led by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, requested that science textbook authors remove multiple climate change references in what an educational department spokesperson said was an attempt to ensure no school product includes “any form of ideology or indoctrination.”
On May 15, 2024, the very same week the Florida Keys reached a record high of 113 degrees Fahrenheit and South Florida endured exposure to Mexico’s wildfire smoke, DeSantis signed House Bill 1645 into law.
This effectively removed the phrase “climate change” eight times from existing legislation, eliminated requirements for state agencies to consider climate friendly products and removed the requirement that state-purchased vehicles be fuel efficient.
“Florida rejects the designs of the left to weaken our energy grid, pursue a radical climate agenda and promote foreign adversaries,” DeSantis said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Regardless of what benefits DeSantis expects Florida to attain by making it harder for students to find information on climate change in their school textbooks and amending legislation to diminish the severity of the climate crisis, his intentions are clear: one of the U.S. states most vulnerable to climate change is to be withdrawn
from initiatives that may help mitigate its effects.
DeSantis may be under the false assumption that doing so will insulate the voices of “radical green zealots” pleading for the government to solve the crisis. However, his ignorance does and will not silence the thousands advocating for climate action.
There are currently over 1,600 action nonprofit organizations throughout the state of Florida alone, in which nearly 6,000 people are involved in advocating for climate action.
All together, these organizations have assets of over $2 billion. Clearly, a significant portion of people across the state acknowledge the issue and are willing to do their part in fighting it.
The Florida government, rather than using this level of involvement to leverage the movement, immaturely responds to the matter by undermining the climate crisis.
This raises the question of how younger generations are expected to care for their future if their own government, responsible for caring for them, will not.
Yet again, those in Florida eliminating legal measures aimed to solve climate change will not be inhabiting the planet by the time the effects become salient and unbearable. It is this very privilege that sanctions their ignorance, a privilege that millions of students across the world–who will eventually assume the responsibilities of the current political leaders–do not have.
Climate change will harm the only source of
for the
politicians choose to acknowledge it. The only solution to resolving it is to take actions which help subdue global warming.
Unfortunately for the people in Florida, the only body that has the power to make a change to the most impactful degree are those who regulate power plants, transmission lines and energy efficiency and renewable energy programs. This body is their government.
If the Florida Department of State is concerned with their stated mission to improve “the quality of life for all Floridians,” they would address climate change with the same diligence they employ when it comes to shutting down climate-friendly measures.
This is beyond politics.
A problem as grave and consequential as climate change demands attention, especially from those who are in positions to make legislative amendments that adequately address it.
The Florida government acting like the issue is nonexistent is equivalent to smothering a fire using gasoline.
The environmental measures those in power implement now will create the Earth’s future living conditions, so let it be one where the average weather patterns do not threaten the safety of the people.
EDITORIAL BY Eagle Eye News
Editorial Board
GRAPHIC BY Lynn-Gabrielle Soivilus
habitation
human race whether
not
recycled lies
Most of what society recycles tragically ends up in same landfills as normal trash
For decades, citizens around the world have made a great effort to sort their waste, believing their efforts will one day save the planet by halting climate change and pollution. Countless campaigns, public service announcements and global initiatives have been made to encourage society to recycle more, promising that all of the items people throw into blue bins will be repurposed.
However, what actually happens to recyclables is far from what is promised. The hard truth behind recycling is that only a small percentage of what is sent into recycling facilities is actually reprocessed. The plastic and paper citizens rinse and sort is more likely to end up in a landfill or burned than turned into something new.
A study conducted by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection shows that in 2023, Florida had a recycling rate of just below 50%. This falls about 40% short of the Department of Environmental Protection’s established interim goals, which promised a steady growth of around 10% every two years.
The recycling rate looks even more dire when observing the statistics nationwide. In 2018, the United States Environmental Protection Agency reported as low as a 32.1% recycling rate, meaning that roughly 68% of recyclable items ended up in landfills.
There are several factors that contribute to low recycling rates, but the primary contributor is a lack of market demand for recycled materials. Often, batches of recyclables will go unused because there are no buyers for the materials. This, combined with the expensive
costs to process recyclables, sways many cities and counties not to implement the practice.
Contamination is another factor stopping materials from being repurposed. A large amount of recyclable waste is improperly cleaned before it is sorted into garbage bins. Sometimes, dirty items can contaminate entire batches, resulting in unusable recyclables that must be thrown away.
The landfills and garbage piles where waste is dumped make the situation even more severe.
In Broward County, a large portion of waste is shipped to the Monarch Hill Landfill, locally nicknamed “Mount Trashmore.” The site is 210 feet tall, about 500 acres long and can be seen from miles away. Landfills like Monarch Hill, among others in the area, often release gases like methane and carbon dioxide and contaminate groundwater, destroying the environment further.
Other methods of disposal in Florida are not better alternatives. In 2022, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law Senate Bill 1764, which established Municipal Solid Waste-toEnergy plants, or MSWE plants, with the goal of reducing landfills. These plants, however, may not take up as much space, but they release
profitablepanic
National news media oversensationalizes hurricanes to drive profit
It is a well-known fact that Floridians tend to stubbornly downplay the impact of hurricanes, measuring the hurricane’s intensity on whether or not their local Waffle House is closing in anticipation of the storm’s arrival. However, on the opposite spectrum, Northerners lose their minds at videos of news anchors struggling to stand upright as wind and rain moves sideways.
Neither are entirely correct. There are countless stories of Floridians who defied mandatory evacuations in favor of staying in their home who ultimately needed rescuing after storm surges placed them in danger. Yet often, hurricanes are not quite as bad as non-Floridians are led to believe.
National news media organizations tend to overexaggerate and oversensationalize hurricanes in an attempt to draw in viewers who do not typically experience hurricanes.
They create a spectacle, drawing in audiences with dramatic headlines, horrifying graphics and footage of reporters battling brutal winds on live TV. Words like “catastrophic” and “historic” dominate headlines, even if the storm is days out or predicted to weaken. Viewers across the country cannot escape the 24/7 news cycle zeroing in on a hurricane; it is the top post on social media and the first thing they see when they turn on the TV.
This is journalism by its design. It is a concept known as “gatekeeper journalism,” meaning the news decides what issues people care about by selectively choosing what to cover and focus on. For example, the majority of Americans know and care about the mishandling of private military information by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth because the news constantly covered it for days.
However, this directly creates harm by driving panic when the media decides hurricanes are the issue to care about. Hurricanes become inescapable from the time national news discovers their existence—typically days after Floridians learn and begin tracking them—and the coverage does not end after they hit either.
After a major hurricane, news organizations continue to drive interest in hurricane forecasts by running headlines about new developments in the Atlantic. However, new developments in the Atlantic happen all the time during hurricane season, especially when conditions are right; most ultimately never develop, weaken after reaching cooler water or wind shear or never make landfall.
Despite this fact, national news media often runs headlines about a “possible Category 5 hurricane” as hurricanes dominate public attention, when there is little-to-no credible threat of destruction or even landfall.
just as much emissions, such as nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide.
While the lack of recycling is despairing, there are many steps people can take to mitigate the problem and save the environment.
One way to help recyclable waste be utilized is to encourage corporate responsibility. Pressuring businesses to use recycled materials when packaging and promoting sustainable product designs can not only conserve resources, but also create more of a demand for recyclables, diverting them from being sent to landfills.
Another way society can improve the statistic is to push for cities to make it more clear to citizens that contaminated recyclables
can not be used, and let citizens know how to properly sanitize their waste. Making information more accessible to the public raises awareness about the problem, ultimately leading more eyes on the problem and how society can solve it.
Improving our carbon footprint is dependent on government and corporate responsibility, but it can also be changed through action in local communities. By taking these local steps, and even smaller changes such as simply advocating for accessible recycling, recycling rates can be improved exponentially. With collective effort, the environment can be saved.
OPINION BY Luke Dautruche
GRAPHIC BY Grace Brill
These headlines are fear mongering—the act of deliberately inciting public fear or alarm about an issue—because fear is profitable. The public’s continued attention on hurricanes creates clicks and views—and thus profit—for national news organizations, a multi-billion dollar industry. The more interesting they make hurricanes seem, the more people are willing to tune in.
By focusing on generating clicks through exaggerated images and videos, news organizations avoid covering what may truly help the public. During a hurricane, people in the storm’s path need to understand a hurricane’s track, intensity and whether or not they should evacuate. Instead, they are greeted
with terrifying headlines of a “historically catastrophic” storm.
Local news organizations, on the contrary, prioritize helping the people in their area prepare for the storm without fear mongering, so much so that the chief meteorologist for ABC Tampa, Denis Philips, has a rule to not freak out. This coverage allows people to make the best decision regarding preparation and evacuation.
National news media should follow the model that local news provides by prioritizing realistic coverage based on tracks and predictions from the National Hurricane Center over profit.
