Earth Equity News

Crist Convenes Florida Climate Summit. By Rasha Madkour, AP, June 25, 2008. "Gov. Charlie Crist on Wednesday evoked President Kennedy's challenge to land on the moon and called for the same dedication and innovation to finding ways to save the Earth in an address that kicked off his second annual summit on climate change. The two-day meeting began with the Republican governor pushing for the development of clean technology to liberate the country from its dependence on fossil fuels and foreign oil... Crist has come under fire recently from environmentalists for saying he was now open to the idea of expanding oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. [He tried to quell criticism by saying,] 'Only when we are able to do so far enough from Florida's coast, safe enough for our people and clean enough for our beaches should we even consider increasing our oil supply by drilling off Florida's shore.'... The conference comes a day after the governor announced a tentative agreement for the state to buy nearly 300 square miles in the Everglade [headwaters] from U.S. Sugar Corp., the nation's largest producer of cane sugar, for $1.75 billion... Crist -- who was wearing a lime green tie for the occasion -- signed into law an energy policy that supports the development of renewable technologies, and directs the state to set up a cap-and-trade program to limit carbon dioxide emissions by power plants."