TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - It's test time in Tallahassee, as one man wants to get lawmakers and other state leaders to state once and for all where they stand on climate change and the risk it poses to Florida.

Environmental engineer Bart Bibler is the driving force behind what he calls the climate-change "litmus test." In it, he's asking policymakers to acknowledge climate change is real and primarily caused by human activity, and that Florida is particularly vulnerable.

He says Floridians have the right to know where their elected officials stand.

"Because it drives all policy," says Bibler. "And without that fundamental clarity about the position of elected officials, there's all kinds of ambiguity to a renewable future."

So far, only a handful of state lawmakers surveyed have been willing to go on the record as climate-change affirmers.

The full results are posted at Tallahassee350.org, with Bibler including those who refused to respond as "deniers."

Experts say sea level rise driven by climate change threatens Florida's infrastructure, fresh water supply, real estate, beaches and tourism, which is why Bibler believes in an election year in particular, the public needs to know what all candidates and those already in office plan to do about it.

"I hope that this will spread to Congress, to every elected official across America and even globally," says Bibler. "I think it's the fundamental issue of our lifetime. Every local elected official in my city and county is being asked."

Bibler is a former state employee who found himself at the center of controversy last year for allegedly violating the Scott administration's unofficial ban on using the term "climate change."

He received a written reprimand and eventually left the Department of Environmental Protection and is now working for a solar-energy firm.


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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- People who live on the Navajo Nation near the San Juan Basin are closely following work by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to adopt new methane rules to restrict oil and gas emissions at well sites.

Kendra Pinto, community field advocate for Earthworks and a resident of the Navajo Nation, was one of several New Mexicans who testified this week when the EPA held three days of hearings to gather public input.

"The decisions made in offices hundreds of miles away from the oil fields have a direct impact on people," Pinto asserted. "Those faces must be considered. Do not waste any more time, when change is needed now."

On Wednesday, a coalition of oil and natural gas businesses in New Mexico released a commissioned study showing state and local governments are more reliant than ever before on the industry to pay for basic public services, including public education. It claims the oil and gas sector pumped a record $5.3 billion into New Mexico communities in Fiscal Year 2021.

Some 200 educators responded to the report, calling on elected leaders to continue efforts to diversify the state's economy and reduce reliance on revenues from extraction.

Pinto pointed out the health of her community would be greatly improved if the new methane rules are adopted for oil and gas sites.

"Due to the proximity of the sites near schools and residential areas, it is imperative that oil and gas sites are regulated with the full authority of the Clean Air Act and monitored thoroughly," Pinto contended.

Under the Trump administration, the EPA rolled back limits on methane pollution from the oil and gas industry enacted by the Obama administration. President Joe Biden has since signed legislation to reinstate the 2016 safeguards.

SALEM, Ore. -- The Oregon Department of Forestry recently approved its first Climate Change and Carbon Plan, to embrace climate-smart forest management in the state.

The Board of Forestry unanimously approved the plan last month.

Danny Norlander, forest carbon and forest health policy analyst for the Oregon Department of Forestry, said the plan has three legs: adaptation, mitigation and a social dimension, focusing on communities and local economies.

He explained adaptation is looking at how forests can adapt to the changing environment, using different tree species, for instance, and mitigation is using forests to store carbon.

"The third leg there is the social dimensions," Norlander emphasized. "We really need to just support natural resource-dependent economies in rural Oregon that have been experiencing a lot of impacts from wildfires and the heat wave that we had last summer."

He added the plan also gets into urban and community forestry, to make sure no communities get left behind.

Grace Brahler, Oregon climate action plan and policy manager for Beyond Toxics, said the plan incorporates strategies and goals of a bill passed this year, Senate Concurrent Resolution 17, which calls attention to the disproportionate impact of climate change on BIPOC, immigrant, rural and low-income communities.

She pointed out it also emphasizes the need to invest in a regenerative economy, and to have a fair and participatory process.

"Incorporating SCR 17 principles into Forest Practices will result in cleaner air and water, good jobs with family sustaining wages and a range of workforce services and skills training, and more climate resilient forests and communities across Oregon," Brahler outlined.

Peter Hayes, a 6th generation experimental family forest business owner in the Oregon coast range who is working towards a better model of forestry, noted almost half of Oregon is covered in forests, and historically a lot of focus for forests has been on producing lumber.

"Our superpower is the capacity of our land -- in particular, our forests -- to catch and hold carbon," Hayes contended. "And I think the plan marks a shift to acknowledging that we need to have a range of priorities."

HELENA, Mont. - Nearly three dozen Montana businesses are thanking U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., for his work on the infrastructure bill signed by President Joe Biden last month. They're also urging Tester and other senators to pass the Build Back Better Act, which passed the House last week.

In a letter to the senator, the businesses say the bill takes a critical step on climate action.

Robert Keith signed the letter as co-founder of Beartooth Group, which invests in and advises conservation-minded Montana ranches. He said he thinks a transition to a clean economy is necessary for Montanans to maintain their livelihoods.

"That really is what's at stake, whether you're a fly-fishing outfitter or an agricultural producer or everything in between," he said. "We need to be addressing climate change at a large scale."

Keith said droughts and wildfires have hit Montanans hard in recent years. Just this week, the annual West Yellowstone Ski Festival was canceled because of lack of snow.

Opponents of the Build Back Better Act say it's too costly and that its scope is too wide.

In their letter to Tester, the signers underscored the important role outdoor recreation plays in Montana. It makes up more than 5% of the state's gross domestic product, the second largest share of a state's economy in the country.

Steven Ladefoged, who owns Montago Coffee in Helena, signed the letter. He said these bills would help protect the state from the effects of climate change, which in turn protects the state's recreation economy.

"If we can make a lot of money from it and we can continue to grow in a sustainable way, it just benefits everyone," he said, "especially those future generations who will rely on cleaner energy, so that the impacts of climate and severe storms aren't as bad as they could be."

The Build Back Better Act is a spending package totaling about $2 trillion over 10 years, including $555 billion for climate-related and clean-energy investments. It now awaits a vote in the Senate, where certain provisions will be hotly debated.