Gulf Coast Life

There is a movement underway to pass an amendment to Florida’s Constitution that would create a fundamental right to clean and healthy waters in the state. If it makes it to the ballot and is approved by 60% of voters during the 2024 Election, the ‘Right to Clean Water’ amendment could be used to sue State executive agencies for harm, or threatened harm, to Florida’s waters and aquatic ecosystems. To learn more we talk with Joseph Bonasia, he is Chair and Southwest Florida Regional Director of the Florida Rights of Nature Network, and a board member of Southwest Florida RESET.

Beginning Wednesday, August 9 WGCU will begin airing a new essay series called “Reflections of a Colored Girl” by Dr. Martha Bireda. Dr. Bireda was born in southwest Florida in 1945 but spent the first 10 years of her life in a small town in Western Virginia. Her family then moved back to Punta Gorda, where they have deep roots. We sat down with Dr. Bireda to talk about her new essay series, and what she hopes to pass along with it.

As Collier County turns 100, historians and community leaders talk about some of the key moments and interesting stories that have made Collier what it is today.

More than four thousand Southwest Floridians from all walks of life sat down together back in March to talk about the problems that are affecting our region and its residents. Spearheaded by the Collaboratory in downtown Fort Myers, in partnership with the Collier Community Foundation and Charlotte Community Foundation, this is a follow up to an On The Table event held back in 2019. People attended one of about 280 "tables" and about a quarter of them filled out a survey that asked them to rank the issues they thought were most pressing. We dig into the results.

Florida’s corals and coral reefs have been decimated over the past 40 or so years. Only a fraction of Florida’s corals remain, mostly due to diseases but also coral bleaching which is caused by warm water temperatures. The threshold for bleaching is around 86 degrees, and right now biologists are recording temperatures in the lower 90s offshore, and in the upper 90s and even over 100 in bays. Overall, south Florida water temps are about 4 to 5 degrees warmer on average right now than they were last year at this time, and this is leading to widespread bleaching events that are happening earlier than would be expected.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and the state legislature — which is dominated by Republicans who have supermajorities in both chambers — have implemented a series of policies and laws in recent years that critics say are demonstrating tendencies toward autocracy. We speak with three people who count themselves among the critics who are decrying what they see as autocratic tendencies in Tallahassee and here in Florida. They are all members of the nonprofit, Floridians for Democracy, which was formed in April, 2023 to bring together voices from across the political spectrum to push back against this rising trend.

The theme of this year’s Bald Eagle nesting season is resilience, according to Audubon Florida’s EagleWatch Report. We discover how bald eagles are able to endure Florida’s ever-changing landscape and discuss our fascination with the iconic birds of prey.

Florida Gulf Coast University’s new president, Dr. Aysegul Timur, officially took the reins from Dr. Mike Martin on July 1. Dr. Timur is the university’s fifth president, and first female president since in its 26 years. And she is the school’s first immigrant president. She was born in Turkey and received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration at University of Istanbul before heading to the U.S. in the late 90s to pursue her PhD, which she received from University of South Florida in 2006. She joins us for our first sit-down with as president.

We meet Fran Mainella, the new Director of the Alliance for Florida's National Parks. The 20-year-old nonprofit works to promote the Everglades, Dry Tortugas and Biscayne National Parks, as well as Big Cypress National Preserve. Its website says their goal is “to instill in all people an appreciation of Florida's public lands and natural resources for what they are – the key to the sustainability and prosperity of the state - by enriching the park experience and connecting diverse communities to the nature that abounds in their backyards.”

We explore some of what’s been happening in the world of space science with Dr. Derek Buzasi. He is an astronomer and the Whitaker Eminent Scholar in Florida Gulf Coast University’s Department of Chemistry and Physics.