Did you know that manatees love warm water? They do, they do! That’s why they tend to be found in warm water. It’s why they head up to warm springs when even Florida cools down in the winter. But, doom
Conservation advocates in Florida are warning that 1,000 manatees in the state’s water could die this year—hundreds more than in recent years—due to starvation driven by water pollution, the climate crisis, and other man-made harms to the mammals’ ecosystem.
As The Guardian reported Monday, 749 manatees died between January 1 and May 21, compared with 637 deaths in all of 2020, qualifying as an “unusual mortality event” according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).
Experts in the state point to the death of seagrass, manatees’ primary food source, including the majority of 80,000 acres of the plants in the Indian River Lagoon due to blue-green algae blooms—”which have themselves been caused by decades of human nutrient pollution from wastewater and runoff that continues unabated to this day,†Bob Graham, a former Democratic Florida governor and co-founder of Save the Manatee, wrote in the Tampa Bay Times last month.
Runoff containing fertilizers, microplastics, and other chemicals has been linked to the growth of blooms.
So, pretty much environmental issues, right? Plus, too many humans in their areas. But, of course
Warmer water temperatures linked to the climate crisis have also been known to foster the growth of algae, which cover the water’s surface and deprive sea grasses of sunlight. In response, manatees overgraze the remaining seagrass.
I’m pretty sure warming has occurred multiple times during the Holocene, some periods warmer than the current one. And manatees have survived, and survived during the last glacial age. Of course, there might not be those blooms without the runoff issues, so, we’re back to environmentalism, which the Cult of Climastrology has hijacked.
A study by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) in March also found traces of pesticides in more than 55% of the manatees the group tested.
But, climate crisis! Causing people to tune out. Sadly. Can we just deal with the real issues? The water quality in Florida has gone way down over the past decade.
