The Florida Microcosm of Waste & Warming

Found: running a mile-long stretch of beach in Fort Lauderdale

I’d never seen a Bentley before, let alone three in one night. Or, for that matter, the sheer number of Hummers and SUVs in a place famous for their lack of hills. I’ve never been on an extended stay in a place where air conditioning is not a luxury but a life-support system. Another first: mountains of garbage.

Spend a single day in urban south-beach Florida and you’ll see why global warming is a reality. There are vast expanses of pavement moving thousands of Suburbans, V10 Ferraris and Bentleys, an air conditioner in every building, and mountains of trash on the horizon. Coffee shops chill their establishments to near-arctic conditions in order to provide Floridians an excuse for a warm cup of coffee, and tanning salons are abundant despite the punishing sun. Everything tangible is a pinnacle of excess and unnecessary living.

Living in Portland, growing up in the Northwest, and never really getting out much to see the rest of the country, it was shocking to see Florida and what a departure it is. If this is how the majority of the United States lives their lives, it’s no wonder global warming is a reality.