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As vast parts of Florida sweltered in oppressive heat over the weekend, South Florida TV meteorologist Steve MacLaughlin criticized the state’s new legislation that deleted most references to climate change from state law, and urged his viewers to vote.
“The entire world is looking to Florida to lead in climate change,” NBC 6’s MacLaughlin said during a May 18 segment. “Our government is saying that climate change is no longer the priority it once was.”
MacLaughlin’s comments come as South Florida swelters in exceptional heat for the month of May. The extreme temperatures prompted the National Weather Service to issue the first May heat advisory in 15 years on Friday. The month so far has been the warmest May on record for much of South Florida.
Just days earlier, Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a controversial bill that deleted many references of climate change from state laws – a measure that MacLaughlin called in his X post, “Don’t Say Climate Change.” It made several changes to the state’s energy policy, in some cases deleting entire sections that discussed the importance of cutting planet-warming pollution. It also gave preferential treatment to fossil fuel and banned offshore wind energy, even though there are no wind farms planned off Florida’s coast.
Read more at the link in @cnnclimate’s bio.
📸: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto/Getty Images
