TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Back in September, as Hurricane Sally battered Florida's panhandle with a deluge of rain and high winds, some locals said their living shorelines were their best defense against the area's storm surge.

Instead of a hardened seawall aimed at protecting shores from erosion, living shorelines use vegetation and other natural elements like oyster shells to stabilize estuarine coasts, bays, and tributaries.

Josh Poole built a living shoreline around his property in Gulf Breeze to stop erosion from his beach.

Despite seeing Hurricane Sally's waves break as high as 17 feet over his boathouse, he said his shoreline stayed strong.

"I literally thought that the beach would be gone," Poole maintained. "I thought that the rocks would be gone, I thought the oyster shells would all be just washed away. And I was absolutely amazed to find that a few of the late boulders on top had been moved around maybe a few feet, I mean, literally 18 inches."

Hurricane Sally was expected to strike Alabama and Mississippi. Instead, it made a slow crawl over land in Florida's Panhandle with 105-mile-per-hour winds, ripping roofs, snapping trees, and leaving thousands without power.

Poole hopes other homeowners will consider living shorelines as a means of erosion protection.

Matt Posner, interim director of the Pensacola & Perdido Bay Estuary Program, also manages the RESTORE program for Escambia County where he oversees several large-scale public living shorelines.

One of them is Project Greenshores, a multimillion-dollar habitat protection program in downtown Pensacola, which he said was resilient through the storm.

"There is certainly a significant amount of habitat value as well," Posner contended. "Which of course is critically important for the protection of our estuaries and making sure that we have this nursery habitat to restore and protect productive recreational fishery habitat."

Posner also manages the Pensacola Bay Living Shoreline Project, which will result in the creation of 205 acres of emergent marsh and submerged aquatic vegetation when it's complete.

But he wants to see more residential properties convert to the softer nature-based solutions, which he said has the dual benefit of self-maintenance while restoring natural wildlife.

Jessica Bibza, Florida policy specialist for the National Wildlife Federation said one way to foster this is to educate the public, marine contractors, and policy leaders that living shorelines are a viable and more sustainable option. She added they initially had a training course set for last April, but they had to cancel due to the pandemic.

"There is really a need to get these marine contractors more familiar with living shorelines and with understanding the process for how to permit them and install them," Bibza urged.

Bibza noted they are now looking at providing training in a virtual setting.

She hopes the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Florida's Department of Environmental Protection, and local governments will soon see the value of living shorelines and work to streamline the permit process.

West Virginia lawmakers are pushing legislation forward to pave the way for state management of the transport, storage and disposal of potentially dangerous radioactive waste.

House Bill 208 would set up an agreement with federal regulators to allow the state Health Department to control low-level radioactive waste, commonly associated with fracking.

Morgan King, climate and energy program manager for the West Virginia Citizen Action Group, argued the state is already dealing with poorly managed fracking waste, such as the Fairmont Brine processing site, where residents discovered unsecured radioactive ponds.

"If we rush into an agreement that would allow more radioactive waste to be brought into our state from out of state, especially given that so much fracking is going on in Ohio and Pennsylvania, we could see the same thing happen again in other parts of our state," King contended.

The bill recently passed in the House of Delegates and is now being considered by the Senate during a special session.

King pointed out critics of the bill are concerned the state lacks the knowledge and infrastructure to keep residents safe, given the stakes for public health. Research shows radioactive waste from fracking can spread to groundwater, which supplies more than a quarter of the nation's drinking water.

"We want to make sure that if this is going to move forward, that the agency has enough resources and expertise for their responsibility," King emphasized. "We don't believe that, at the moment, the Department of Health has that expertise to manage it."

Exposure to radioactive fracking waste has been linked to leukemia, low birth weight and preterm births, asthma and early deaths.

Federal data show health care and technology-related jobs are still in high demand but a career in clean energy is now at the top of the list, too, and Wisconsin labor leaders said opportunities are unfolding in the region.

New findings from the Climate Jobs National Resource Center list 82 Wisconsin projects tied to the clean energy transition in the pipeline, which could qualify for tax incentives and key labor standards under the Inflation Reduction Act.

Emily Pritzkow, executive director of the Wisconsin Building Trades Council, said companies behind wind, solar and similar development need to attract workers while adhering to hiring benchmarks.

"Excellent pay, flexibility," Pritzkow pointed out. "And we are rising to meet that."

Labor standards for Inflation Reduction Act projects call for apprenticeships to be offered, so new hires can learn on the job. Pritzkow stressed Wisconsin unions play a big role in carrying out the learning aspect of the hiring boom. There are challenges though, with labor groups noting not enough people are aware of job possibilities and the need for things like affordable housing if a worker has to relocate for their new career.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists wind turbine technicians and solar installers as the fastest growing occupations in the U.S. In amplifying messaging, Pritzkow emphasized they have to overcome long-held beliefs only certain other industries, such as dentistry, routinely offer stable employment.

"I think there maybe are some old ideas about what working in the trades means," Pritzkow observed. "These are not temporary jobs. These are meant to be careers."

She added clean energy projects are helping to fuel record demand for apprenticeships. Earlier this year, four major utilities operating in Wisconsin pledged to hire union workers for development spurred by the Inflation Reduction Act. The Climate Jobs National Resource Center estimates the incentives will lead to more than 42,000 union-scale jobs in Wisconsin.

A volunteer program has caught the attention of West Virginia tourism officials.

The Dolly Sods Wilderness Stewards program has been recognized with a "Spirit of West Virginia Award." The program started as a collaboration in 2021 with West Virginia Highlands Conservancy and the Monongahela National Forest.

Dave Johnston, program coordinator, said volunteers are trained to educate visitors on 'leave no trace' principles, trail cleaning and more.

"Taking inventories of campsites and things like that," Johnston explained. "We're basically serving as eyes and ears for the Forest Service for what's going on in the backcountry."

More than 100 volunteers work to preserve and maintain the more than 17,000-acre area in the Allegheny Mountains. According to the International Journal of Wilderness, more states are turning to volunteer groups to maintain trails and collect data, as dollars for the management of federal lands have decreased.

Johnston added the work is important for sustaining protected lands for future generations, noting wilderness areas are specially designated by Congress to remain as pristine as possible.

"They're the most primitive form of public lands that are set aside for people to enjoy in this country," Johnston emphasized.

According to numbers by the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, an estimated 35,000 people hike and retreat to the Dolly Sods each year.


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