The state’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, accepted over $1m from energy companies in the 2022 election cycle and nearly $2m from agribusiness, another top contributor to the climate crisis.
Last month, DeSantis embarked on a campaign to scrub most references to climate change from state law. The very day DeSantis signed the bill into law, Key West registered a heat index of 115 – tying with the highest reading on record for any time of year.
The rightwing governor also came under fire in April when he signed a law preventing Florida municipalities from creating heat protections for workers. The legislation, which will go into effect on 1 July, was seemingly a response to Miami-Dade county farmworkers’ efforts to enshrine rights to mandatory rest breaks, access to water and shade, and other heat protections.
The calming effect of believing climate denial. It is an expensive but powerful drug.
The sand will eventually be too hot to bury their heads in it.