Wildfires and burn bans are very much in the news now, as North Florida and South Georgia face “exceptional” droughts and a rainfall deficit of as much as 2 feet this year alone — the most extreme in 15 years. But while the state grapples with the effects of the current crisis, Florida's longer term challenges are often overlooked. The water scarcity crisis is not just a function of a warming planet or periodic drought. It’s driven by rapid population growth, overdevelopment and rising demands on the Floridan Aquifer, the region’s principal source of freshwater. We get the lay of the land from the statewide expert who leads the University of Florida’s H2OSAV (Water Savings, Analytics, and Verification) extension program, designed to measurably reduce water use across the state.

Guest: Dr. Nick Taylor, state specialized extension agent, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and Center for Land Use Efficiency

Pepper pot

A new cookbook celebrates “the pepper of St. Augustine,” framed by the Minorcan cuisine that holds the fiery capsicum dear. Illustrated by visual artist Gayle Prevatt, the “Datil Taste Good” cookbook is itself peppered with familiar local names of the original Minorcan immigrants (Pacetti, Masters, Manucy) and features no fewer than five recipes for Minorcan clam chowder and two kinds of “Bottled Hell” datil sauce. We discuss how the pepper became synonymous with St. Augustine, its mysterious origin story and why it remains largely confined to its Northeast Florida home turf.

Guests:

• Magen Altice, executive director, St. Augustine Historical Society
• Nicole Diehm, head librarian and curator, St. Augustine Historical Society

Carry on

For more than 30 years The National Association of Letter Carriers has hosted an annual food drive collecting nearly 2 billion pounds of goods for food banks across the United States. The Stamp Out Hunger campaign is the largest food drive in the nation, with postal workers in 10,000 cities participating. We talk to the branch leader of the local letter carriers union about the event and why the need becomes especially keen as school winds down for the summer. Residents who wish to donate can leave nonperishable food items in a bag by their mailbox on Saturday.

Guest: Jim Thigpenn, president, North Florida Letter Carriers, Branch 53