No, USA Today, Rising Seas Aren’t to Blame for ‘disappearance of rare cactus in Florida’
By
Anthony Watts
July 12, 2024
A recent article in USA TODAY claims that a rare cactus in the Florida Keys has gone extinct due to sea level rise. This is false. Many factors have contributed to the decline of this cactus and much of it began over 100 years ago. USA TODAY and many other news outlets are misleading their readers into believing climate change is at fault by not reporting the full set of facts.
The July 10, USA Today article, titled, A troubling first: Rising seas blamed for disappearance of rare cactus in Florida, says:
A rare tree cactus that grew for decades hidden by a tangle of mangrove trees on Florida’s Key Largo has lost its battle with rising sea levels and other pressures.
It’s now considered locally extinct in the United States, a group of researchers reported in a study published this week. The demise of the cactus is believed to be the nation’s first local extinction as a result of sea level rise, the study’s authors say.
https://climaterealism.com/2024/07/no-usa-today-rising-seas-arent-to-blame-for-disappearance-of-rare-cactus-in-florida/
