H₂O Zone

We start this edition of the H₂O Zone with an admission that we're again looking at the nature of the flood risk faced by large swathes of the state. This time, it's in the form of ‘compound flooding’, which is as worrying as it sounds. To balance this, however, we have some very positive tales of activities aimed to improve prospects for the environment and our future, as well as a superb collection of photos showing Florida at its very best.

Get ready for some good news! The H₂O Zone for May is here, and this month's curation is bursting with universally positive stories. Yes, they spring from challenges like ailing coral reefs and algae-ridden lagoons, but these narratives truly shine a light on the incredible, ingenious ways people are fighting back against nature's decline.

April has been a month where both the damaging effects of a changing climate and the good things we're doing to help mitigate that damage have been particularly apparent.  As always, despite some of the bad news, we take great delight in flagging up good news stories highlighting the many ways in which Floridians are doing their best to bring about change.

From birds and manatees to Navy SEALs, this month's H2O Zone is pretty optimistic. Our March 2025 edition looks at the development of an aquatic robot, the Mechanatee, being developed to ‘spy’ on manatees and, above all else, learn to speak their language. Communication is everything!

We’re hitting the beach in this month’s H2O Zone, with four of the stories taking place along various parts of the glorious Florida coastline. Two of our stories discuss the appearance of items washed up on the beaches when they shouldn’t be. If we tell you these things happen to be mystery tar balls and more than a thousand cold-stunned sea turtles, we hope you’ll be intrigued enough to want to find out more. 

This month’s H2O Zone is the first of 2025, and while it brings a selection of brand new stories it also emphasizes that some things never change, and one of them is our concern with water. That concern is reflected in our commitment to state of the art irrigation systems, and in a desire to flag up stories which revolve around conserving water or maintaining it in the best possible condition.

The ecologically diverse wetlands, prairies and forests that we call the Everglades provide habitats for many rare and endangered species and this month we're checking in on the latest major milestone in the Everglades Restoration Project. All in all, we've been delighted to see plenty of positivity in November this year. Long may it last.

If there’s a theme to this month’s H₂O Zone then it’s probably the impact that changes in climate and weather can have on the places we call home. Not just Florida, but the actual bricks and mortar, timber and concrete we live in. 

Our latest H₂O Zone contains a collection of contrasting stories. While there’s always plenty to talk about when it comes to some of the extreme weather events we experience in the Sunshine State, you’ll know they aren’t the only items of interest we like to bring your way. 

There’s quite a lot of building going on in this month’s H₂O Zone, underlining the fact that, done properly, construction projects can have a key role to play in protecting the natural environment, rather than simply being imposed upon it.

There are lots of living creatures in this month’s H₂O Zone which is only right and proper. After all, many of the impacts of a changing climate tend to show up in the animal and plant kingdoms first, and efforts to protect wildlife can lead to solutions that make life better for us all. 

This month’s H₂O Zone is an intriguing mix of large scale projects designed to help protect and preserve the delicate eco-system of Florida, and smaller scale individual efforts aimed at making changes one step at a time.