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Wow the locals collected 10 million to make a nature preserve and prevent more condos and strip malls. Not really something you expect in Florida, kudos to them caring about their environment. And also I feel they got pretty lucky the state didn't screw them.

Oh, don't worry. DeSantis&Co. plans to screw them in all sorts of other ways.

You'd be surprised to learn how much Floridians care about their environment :)

I expected headline to be 'Florida city opens nature preserve for development after citizens saved it.'

We used to call people getting together to stop oligarchs and robber barrons from seizing every valuable resource, a representative republic!

This is local to me and I can't tell you how thankful I am that this worked. Screw these developers.

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Good bot

Which ways?? I’d love you to enlighten us on how Florida became the most popular state to move to in the country despite “DeSantis&Co” screwing it up?

Thanks for being your typical leftist hive mind self, Reddit!

True Floridians care very deeply about the environment. I’ll gatekeep being Floridian in that way; I’ve never met another born and raised Floridian who didn’t have qualms about deforestation, development, and destruction of our nature. Florida is a vast state with incredibly diverse ecology. The majority of native Floridians do not like development, not of our natural lands or of our historic resources. Floridians have come together many times to preserve our environment. It’s a shame we don’t win every time.

From the Everglades to the Aucilla River, Florida shows it’s diversity. You can’t drive under a live oak canopy in north Florida, witness the soft southern breeze rustling the Spanish moss, and tell me it isn’t one of the most stunning, scenic drives of your life. Nor can you go down to the Keys, snorkel off the coast, and experience the vibrant life of our coral reefs and say it was a bad time! But these things require preservation! Thank you to the Floridians in Pinellas County for saving another piece of Florida’s environment!

>I expected headline to be 'Florida city opens nature preserve for development after citizens saved it.'

They added the developer part which changes the entire sentence. Makes it seem like Florida City opened it to developers after the citizens saved it from becoming a nature preserve.

The actual headline states that the citizens saved a nature preserve from getting developed and the city opened the nature preserve.

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I'm sure once news reaches desantis that something good happened in Florida, he'll put a stop to it

Because rightists like angry man and move to where angry man is.

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Good bot

Yeah, the manatee license plate project really put it on full display

You mean a bunch of hyper conservatives from other states got mad that their state actually handled the pandemic like adults, and decided to move to a state that willfully manipulated and then covered up data re: covid and kept the state running as if it was business as usual?

You mean other fascist wannabe’s like the fascist strongman who says and does the things they like and decided to move where their fascist strongman is making moves to set himself up as a king?

You don’t say!

I'm a native of Tampa, and I approve this message.

I appreciate the thought, but there’s plenty of “true” Floridians who are so far right leaning they’d rather listen to businesses that would rape the land and not care about the damage than the environmental experts who are pleading with us to do exactly the opposite.

We don’t have to “no true scotsman” this thing. Some Floridians care, some don’t. Some who were born here and lived here a lifetime think the environment should take one more for the team, and folks who move here halfway through their lives think it’s abhorrent that industry gets away with what it gets away with here. It runs a gamut.

The problem is ultimately how property taxes and local ordinances work in the US. It’s cheaper to buy and develop undeveloped land than to tear down and redevelop existing property. If the tax laws and ordinances were written to make it more profitable to redevelop existing property, it would go a long way to change this trend. And it would make sense for communities to do this, the larger the land area developed for a municipality, the greater the expense for maintaining streets, sidewalks, drainage, police, fire, schools, etc. So how could this be done? One example would be for property tax to be, in part, based on historic boundaries, so the farther you go from the city center the higher the taxes. Or, you could grandfather property taxes, so, you could build a brand new building or house on the property of an old house and charge the taxes based on the old house.

> prevent more condos and strip malls

B-BUT MUH REAL ESTATE VALUE GO UP WHEN THEY BUILD STUFF!!!!!11

How do most people you know feel about the introduction of invasive species into the environment? Is it talked about much?

Hey now they represent CORPORATIONS! You should just submit to our capitalistic overlords peon :) /s

He’ll say preserving nature is “woke”

Yeah, as a transplant to Florida for the past 3 years (thankfully moving back out in a week) this person is conveniently ignoring the fuck ton of native Floridians driving their ridiculous lifted trucks, and casually tossing their empties into the water when out on the boat.

As someone who lives in Florida after spending 40 years in Pennsylvania, I was amazed when I moved here and saw how many nature preserves, natural springs, gorgeous walking trails, and amazing beaches there are here. Truly breathtaking. Just as people hear "New Jersey" and the think of the industrial wasteland of North Jersey, forgetting how beautiful much of the state is,when people hear "Florida", they think of Miami or a Trump loving trailer park in North Florida. There is so much more here than that nonsense

may just be me but i feel that all the people that are moving down here don’t care about our environment and just want to build more golf courses, i miss the florida i grew up in

“as of today im passing the dont say nature bill”

I’ve spent my whole life in Florida slowly watching the beautiful green spaces be torn down for pointless projects. Every little bit counts. Good job people of Dunedin. ❤️

Let's see how Florida "floridas" this.

Florida won the geographic/topological places to live lottery and state politics don’t affect that in any way. They’d need to start randomly flaying people on the street until they stop coming.

I mean should we start with the conservatives corrupt handling of pollution that lead to all the massive algae blooms that keep wiping out massive amounts of wildlife?

Finally, something good from Florida.

Local here. So fucking proud of everyone who worked so hard on this. It would have been an insult to Mrs. Douglas to have turned that beautiful land into condos and such.

I’m not used to seeing the words Florida and Uplifting used together! Kudos

Maybe my reading comprehension is shit, but based on the article it sounds like the family already owned the land. They could have just designated it as a preserve… but it was appraised at 11 million bucks. So it was this families wish that this be designated as a preserve, but ya know, they also had the wish for millions of dollars. So great idea, let’s have Pulte group come in and hold a 14 million dollar gun to everyone’s heads, then we’ll shake down donors and the city for 10 million bucks.

Idk man, at the very least that family doesn’t deserve to have their name on it. If they donated it, sure, it’s your legacy. Otherwise it was just a real estate transaction so take your money and go.

Same. Everywhere I look in Pinellas, there's a new apartment block or subdivision. I'm so glad people came together to preserve a piece of this beautiful place.

Proud of my hometown!

Those people are called assholes. They will also exist in the utopia you are thankfully moving to in a week.

Maybe just don't rely on Reddit for news would be a start.

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Never said they didn't exist elsewhere, just that it's laughable to assume this "pure Florida native" bullshit where they all care about the environment. I'm totally fine with living around assholes, gonna happen anywhere you're right. But I'd prefer my kids go to schools that are comfortable teaching about Black people and actually have books in their libraries. Something tells me that doesn't require living in a Utopia. Just anywhere besides Florida.

That’s probably true and such a shame. It’s a beautiful state, but it’s crazy it’s becoming south Jersey.

He said Floridians, not snowbird transplants

What's this? A republican pretending their leaders aren't destroying education, the economy, and the environment? What a shock!

Even the scallop poachers are oddly defensive about OTHER people fucking around with Florida's wild bits. I say this as someone born and raised in Central Florida in the late 70s. Our neighbors would go away with their scuba gear and boat for a weekend and come back with a cooler or two filled with illegal/off season seafood and stories about starting fights with boaters speeding through the shallows (that's how you hit/kill manatees)

I just moved to the border of Clearwater and Dunedin and I’m excited to check this place out

Reddit hyperbole at it's finest. They still teach black history here. Just not the "your white classmates are evil oppressors and you should hate them" variety. But hey if that's what you want your kids to deal with.

I too agree, North Jersey is the superior Jersey.

This was all for the monkeys and their habitat

Yes, lifted trucks are what bulldozes forests. Those trucks getting are soooo much worse than corporations dumping their shit into our air and water

Now do Atlanta!

I was under the impression that it was Gladys’ wish to not develop the land. Maybe by “family” you mean the Douglass part of her name, but at least let it be Gladys’. I see a lot of myself in this woman.

Yeah, it's pretty clear from your responses that I'm definitely making the right call in getting them educated literally anywhere else. As someone who actually took AP African American history, I assure you nothing like that is part of the curriculum. Convenient you ignored the part about books being taken out of libraries, but I guess that's a bit harder to wave off with casual racism.

Why do you think they're bulldozing forests? Could it have anything to do with needing more roads and larger parking lots for increasingly large vehicles? If people buying those trucks legitimately cared about the environment, they would realize that their consumer spending is the driving force of all those companies you claim to hate so much.

1 truck takes as many parking spots as any other car. You're arguing against all cars but hate trucks specifically because they have more than you. Make a anti car argument rather than a anti truck argument.

Regardless, cars are great. They give a personal freedom that public transportation is incapable of providing.

Lived in Pinellas for 7 years, glad to see this.

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So you're not aware that the average size of parking spots has been increasing over time due almost entirely to the increasing size of pickup trucks? Sure, my car takes up one parking space like a truck would. But if you built a parking lot based on the size of my car it would take up substantially less space than a lot for an equivalent number of trucks.

I'm not dumb enough to pretend that a country that's spent almost a century building infrastructure around cars as the top priority over bikes and pedestrians is going to function okay if we suddenly went car free. But to act like the arms race of increasing truck size isn't causing measurable impact on construction practices and the environment is naive.

I 100% agree with you that it is far from the only reason, and honestly it's not the biggest priority if you're trying to enact changes in policy help the environment. But if you drive one of those trucks, don't come at me with some bullshit about how much you care about the environment, because your actions are 100% opposed to that.

It is, at least within my community! In the panhandle, we deal with kudzu and coral adasia a LOT! I know south Florida has pothos all over the place. I’m not positive on any regulations and laws, but within the scope of my job I’ve only seen native plants being scheduled for State landscaping jobs. Additionally, FSU ‘s lands and grounds are sustainably planted, using as many native plants as possible and protecting wildlife and pollinators!

UF/IFAS runs this program that provides expertise on local plants (this link is specific to invasive species information). My mom sends me info for my garden and hers every year! It’s a super helpful resource. There are also programs throughout the state dedicated to habitat restoration, like FNPS.

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I suppose you could, if you have a couple links explaining it, otherwise you're just proving the previous comments point.

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As a New Yorker who’s got a place down there I am a huge environmentalist and pray we can save more of Florida from these greedy fucks trying to make a quick Buck at the expense of our natural resources

Keyword "their" environment they dont give a shit about the environment in general just what affects them locally.

I used to live right next to it, and this fills my heart up so much!

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Customers don't necessarily demand larger trucks, manufacturers are building larger trucks, ironically because of environmental standards. Not just trucks, but all vehicles from civics to superduty Ford trucks. CAFE emissions standards allow a vehicle to produce more emissions based on its wheelbase and track width. Manufacturers produce longer, wider vehicles to help offset the billions of dollars each of them spend a year on R&D to produce more efficient power plants. It's also why every car Is a luxury car, with better margins to pay for the R&D and why cars are getting so godly expensive.

Farmers, construction workers, or people who just live in rural environments with shitty roads may need those trucks while still caring for the environment. Now there are some who drive giant suburbatanks through city streets. But if they dropped 100 grand on a car or other SUV. I guarantee you the efficiency will be nearly the same. Cars are an extension of yourself for a lot of people, all it is, is a choice of how they present themselves.

I drive a heavily modified jeep that I've built over the years, it gets piss poor gas mileage in comparison to modern cars, but I take it every weekend to the middle of nowhere and camp. Enjoying the natural environment and using the principles of Leave No Trace. Because I drive a lifted jeep, does that mean I don't care for the environment?

Exactly. New Yorkers hate the environment so they want to destroy it everywhere.

It’s really the opposite though, less housing means housing prices keep going up.

I wasn't born in Florida, but I moved there at 2 years old and live there til I was 10, so I kinda feel like there a part of the core of who I am that's from Florida, and I glad this happened. Less buildings and more nature preservations, please?

yeah, when you build affordable housing and don't price certain people out.

city folk or upstate?

I have a comic you might enjoy.

Don't you worry...DeSantis HATES it.

Whoa! Florida in a good news article? What has the world come to!

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You act like there aren't alternatives on the market that don't follow those same manufacturers processes. No one is forcing anyone to buy the big truck. For the majority of lifted pickup trucks it is entirely based on personal vanity.

And I was very obviously not referring to people that drive those vehicles out of necessity by specifying lifted trucks. That is an aftermarket decision by the consumer, and is completely unnecessary for any practical purpose that you mentioned.

I'm sure you like nature, and would be upset if we messed it up. But your actions suggest that you care more about personal convenience than actually changing your spending to reflect your care for the environment. You could easily hike out to the middle of nowhere and camp. But you'd rather drive out, introducing tons of pollutants that wouldn't otherwise reach that more remote environment, and leave tread marks from your 2 ton vehicle while claiming to 'leave no trace.'

Eastern Long Island

> For the majority of lifted pickup trucks it is entirely based on personal vanity

So what? People are vane. The co2 released by those trucks is nothing in the grand scheme of industry.

>That is an aftermarket decision by the consumer, and is completely unnecessary for any practical purpose that you mentioned.

Again, so what. You're mad that people modify their vehicles? It's unnecessary for anyone to drive anything but the most bland milk toast vehicles out there, but you know what, some people enjoy modifying their vehicles because it makes them happy. Let people have fun.

>You could easily hike out to the middle of nowhere and camp

I do. And I'd like to see what alternative there is. I have yet to hear about public transportation that can take me out to the Fischer national forest.

You seem like the type of person who is envious of others because they have more than you. Stop that. It's toxic to others and yourself. Stop caring what other people have, work on yourself

Wish we did this all over the country- we’ve got such beautiful natural systems that are constantly being bulldozed for cheap subdivisions, apartment complexes and strip malls that will be forgotten about in a generation, benefitting no one but a handful of owners who care nothing for the local communities.

I can’t wait for the day we start not only preserving, but reversing all the damage we’ve done and reclaiming overdeveloped lands for nature

If you are driving your vehicle to a national forest, you could easily do that in a smart car if you wanted to. I never implied public transit was a viable option for this.

That said, I do not care at all what people do with their money. At all. I do not care if you continue your drive your Jeep out wherever you please. It's a free country. My very first comment was simply pointing out that native floridians do not care about environment as some universally held belief, as evidenced by the things I pointed out. I could absolutely afford to buy and drive a truck if I wanted to, but my personal values are antithetical to making that purchase. I am simply pointing out that your actions are directly opposed to your stated values. If anyone needs to quit lying to themself, its you. Just be honest about what you like, and accept that the drawbacks of your preference are negative for something you supposedly care about.

I wish you guys would get your politicians in check. That whole deal of making it illegal to say climate change n government communications, and then trying to protect land value by banning future rising seas levels to be considered in home purchases/inspections... Your government should be working for you, not against you.

Edit: lol, downvoted. Go ahead and fuck off in your drowning state then.

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I know the Pinelands preservation alliance has its hands full, but last I checked it's still fully intact.

Florida has a ton of nature preserves and parks

I’m no fan of deSantis, but he’s actually made significant conservation efforts during his reign of terror.

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Hol up, “nature preserve“? Shouldn’t it be “nature reserve” as the land isn’t made out of jam 🤔

So that's where the other Dunedin is.

At first glance I thought this was the road from that YouTube video called something like “scary car commercial”

Our house is on Lake Jerry and we are very thankful

This is how naples is getting, nobody to fill all these apartments but they're still going up

People don't have to inhabit them for them to make money, unfortunately.. this is becoming a thing in the US also. Whole apartment blocks go up and are intentionally priced so high nobody can live there because tenants get in the way

My bad bro I was referring to naples Florida 😂

Spent the first 18 years of my life in Dunedin. Grew up on union street. So proud of what this community has done!

How do they make money off of it if there are no tenants? Sounds like it’d cost a lot of money to build and maintain something like that so I’m just curious the reasoning if they don’t intend to rent out

Most people I talk to are at least aware of our most famous invaders, the brown cuban anole. When I was a kid, green anoles (native) were everywhere. Most Florida residents I've spoken to about it know they've been nearly eradicated by the brown anoles. Many people have discussed the lionfish eradicating life on our reefs as well. There is a lot of pride in Florida's ecosystem among natives, even from some of my more conservative connections. Everyone loves our manatees and gators, too.

Not the commenter you responded to, but I think they're overstating the problem a bit. Some of these places are purely used as second homes. The owner only lives in them for a very limited part of the year, and the rest of the time they sit empty. They're also used as investment properties. Maybe a company buys them to sit on the unit(s) for several years hoping to flip and sell, or they could be foreign purchased units....

Ultimately, if you're not earning money from a commercial or residential tenant then they're not "making money" off the property . . . until it's sold. And I *think* that's the point the other commenter was making.

> If you are driving your vehicle to a national forest, you could easily do that in a smart car if you wanted to. I never implied public transit was a viable option for this.

My brother in Christ, why do you think I've lifted and put larger tires on my vehicle? Do you think these roads are paved? Have you ever left the city?

I disagree. You're one of the good ones. I've met so many conservatives from Florida through my time in the military and I desperately wish your statement was true. More often than not I found that they subscribe themselves to the current radial right wing ideologies

Because you're lazy and don't want to hike out to the campsite? I go to big cypress, park my car where the road ends at a lot for park visitors, and hike to camp. Not every weekend mind you, but its not that hard. It's literally a mile or 2 at most to get to a remote enough spot that there aren't other people around. If you want to drive out even further than that, more power to you. But suggesting it's necessary to off road to get to a remote camping site is ridiculous.

Look, I'm not trying to take your jeep from you, or even say you're a bad person for driving it. Do what makes you happy. But an individual's choice of transportation is the single most impactful decision they can make for themselves that will impact the environment. You can tell me you care about the environment all you want, but the fact you made literally the worst choice possible for your mode of transportation as an individual tells me you really don't care that much.

Maybe you have trouble understanding me. I'll go to Fischer national forest. The nearest gas station is over 100 miles away. There is no one nearby. To get to the trail is a borderline off-road obstacle course. There is no taking a car and hiking in to the trail head. You have to drive 30 miles deep into the park. This is the middle of no where Utah. You understand not all locations are the suburban getaway your talking about correct? There's tens of thousands of different parks, forests, BLM lands in the united stated. You understand how each of them can be different, no?

> You can tell me you care about the environment all you want, but the fact you made literally the worst choice possible for your mode of transportation as an individual tells me you really don't care that much.

Are you able to comprehend that not all situations are black and white? How you can be a conservationist, in preserving the natural beauty our great nation has, while caring less so about CO2 output. I mean come on man. You can live totally off the grid, never burning a single particle of fossil fuels in your life, while being absolutely dwarfed on the global scale with the likes of China, India, and developing African Tribes and nations.

I guess it must be pretty remote, considering there's not a listing on Google maps for that park in Utah. Even if we assume that wasn't just a bullshit anecdote to try and prove your point, let's look at it. If you're 100 miles from a gas station before getting to the park, we can safely assume you live no less than 100 miles from this park. You are correct about there being 10s of thousands of different parks in the country. With that many, it's probably a safe assumption that there's other options closer or as close as Fischer, especially in the western part of the US where the population is more spread out. I am 100% confident you could find an adequately remote nice campsite that wouldn't need an off road vehicle to get to.

You realize your attitude is exactly why those other countries are producing as much pollutants as they are? That pollution is the direct result of consumer spending, and the attitude of it's always someone else's fault. That's exactly how those countries' citizens view the US and western Europe. People that buy whatever they want without caring about how it impacts the world, why should they then care themselves? I can't control those countries actions, but I can control my own, same as anyone else.

Yeah dawg, imma take that as a no

👍🏻

This almost made me cry. I’m not from Florida but I look down upon the cruel and insensitive development patterns of the state. It’s really a state that sold its beauty for profit and makes me really upset. It should be the swampy wetlands and scrubland it was meant to be… not endless parking lots,Publix, and single family homes that are gonna get wiped away from a hurricane anyways:((

It was a joke… (but honestly reading the New York Times still doesn’t change what I said much lol)

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