Although air quality is just one of Florida’s enviornmental concerns outsiders must understand that this pollution is not just a high altitude problem. The porches and outdoor furniture of my little house need constant cleaning. So many flights arrive in and depart from the Sunshine State daily that a black carbon residue from their aviation fuel can be found on every stationary surface. Breezes carry a drift of sand and silky dirt resulting from the unchecked land clearing for new housing developments and add it to the fuel smudge. The leaves of trees growing beside the busy roads are sooty. As of this writing, a different enviornmental issue is threatening our narrow peninsula. A mass of Sargasso seaweed twice the width of the continental United States is on its way to our sugar sand beaches. It is visible from space and although a precise cause for the bloom has not been identified, scientists suspect that climate change might be responsible. You know climate change, that phenomenon forbidden to be mentioned in Florida’s state legislature or on any official state documents. This last example of air pollution is the most egregious, most disturbing. While these climate and enviornmental conditions contribute to making life here less than ideal, our Republican governor continues to rant and rave about “woke” culture, crooning his message of revolution to rabid die hard followers of lunatic right wing socio-political causes and theories. His speeches are not intended for all citizens of the state he governs, just his followers. While he could have been a voice of moderation and unified political effort to combat the enviornmental problems the state is confronting, he has chosen instead to spew his own version of soot, using the state as a springboard for his Presidential ambitions. I watch helplessly as this sad situation continues to develop beyond my control. What I will do is fill a few plastic bags with the seaweed drift, let it dry out and then use it in my garden. It isn’t much but it’s more that Governor De Santis did, and that’s good enough for me.