Like you, I must speak up. I get why you are going to Florida (to see your son and family). However, your suggestion that people are boycotting Florida and not going there as tourists seems like it deserves more than a suggestion. If a boycott is to be effective, it will have to be much more widespread. I would encourage everyone to avoid going there at all and tell them to make sure to tell all their friends the reasons why. I am alarmed by heat waves and extreme weather and do not think that we should be visiting Disneyland, either by driving or flying there, adding to global warming. Further I am also alarmed by the reduction in diversity being caused by invasive species, such as the python. The state of Hawaii did not get my visit some years ago because of their pursuit of the tourist dollar at the cost of so many endangered species there.
(Comment sent to me because Substack wasn't working properly):
We’ve been wintering in FL since 2007 after we sold our new home on St John USVI. The politics in FL can be alarming at times. When Rick Scott was governor of FL he forbid the use of the words “climate change” or “global warming “ and required they be stricken from all official state records. It is definitely a different world there. I refer to it as a third world country, but that really is disrespecting those developing countries.
The first FL Scrub Jay I saw was on a field trip with the Spacecoast Birding Festival. The birds were sparse and so I went off on my own path to see what I could see. I thought maybe I should try this new pishing thing and see if it would get the attention of any birds. And sure enough, immediately an irate Jay came and perched on top of my head and made his presence known! So very glad I was wearing a hat for sun protection. There was an older man behind me on the same path that tried to take a picture with his cell phone but he got so flustered when this Jay perched on my head that he dropped his phone. Quite memorable way to find a new lifer, for both of us humans. Other Jays then showed up so the tour group did get to see them eventually. And I learned that pishing does sometimes work well.
Like you, I must speak up. I get why you are going to Florida (to see your son and family). However, your suggestion that people are boycotting Florida and not going there as tourists seems like it deserves more than a suggestion. If a boycott is to be effective, it will have to be much more widespread. I would encourage everyone to avoid going there at all and tell them to make sure to tell all their friends the reasons why. I am alarmed by heat waves and extreme weather and do not think that we should be visiting Disneyland, either by driving or flying there, adding to global warming. Further I am also alarmed by the reduction in diversity being caused by invasive species, such as the python. The state of Hawaii did not get my visit some years ago because of their pursuit of the tourist dollar at the cost of so many endangered species there.
(Comment sent to me because Substack wasn't working properly):
We’ve been wintering in FL since 2007 after we sold our new home on St John USVI. The politics in FL can be alarming at times. When Rick Scott was governor of FL he forbid the use of the words “climate change” or “global warming “ and required they be stricken from all official state records. It is definitely a different world there. I refer to it as a third world country, but that really is disrespecting those developing countries.
The first FL Scrub Jay I saw was on a field trip with the Spacecoast Birding Festival. The birds were sparse and so I went off on my own path to see what I could see. I thought maybe I should try this new pishing thing and see if it would get the attention of any birds. And sure enough, immediately an irate Jay came and perched on top of my head and made his presence known! So very glad I was wearing a hat for sun protection. There was an older man behind me on the same path that tried to take a picture with his cell phone but he got so flustered when this Jay perched on my head that he dropped his phone. Quite memorable way to find a new lifer, for both of us humans. Other Jays then showed up so the tour group did get to see them eventually. And I learned that pishing does sometimes work well.
Charlene Nelson