The Florida Department of Environmental Protection named October as officially Greenways & Trails Month. It’s a way to encourage Floridians and visitors to check out the many trails offered on state-owned property. The number one-ranked area for visitors looking for “green” recreation is in North Central Florida. WUFT’s Donna Green-Townsend talked with the Regional Manager for the DEP’s Office of Greenways and Trails, Mickey Thomason about why 100-thousand mountain bikers say Marion County has the best trails.
Learning how to look up words in a dictionary may seem like a simple task and something we all take for granted. But it’s a skill that has to be learned. And as Donna Green-Townsend reports, third graders in Marion County are getting a little help on the task from a special partnership.
The Hippodrome State Theatre is holding its second annual costume sale tomorrow (Saturday). The general public will have a chance to help raise funds for the professional theatre organization by purchasing clothing and costumes worn during Hippodrome productions created by award winning designer and Hippodrome Co-founder, Marilyn Wall. Donna Green-Townsend talked with Wall and Jessica Herov, the director of Marketing for the Hipp about this unique fundraising event.
Don’t be surprised if you see the University of Florida President riding to work at Tigert Hall on an electric bicycle. Working toward a sustainable campus is just one of the efforts of Bernie Machen. Machen spoke at the annual Joint Civic Club Luncheon on Wednesday and then sat down with WUFT’s Donna Green-Townsend to talk about some of the projects UF has underway as well as other issues.
The Obama administration will no longer allow new deep water drilling projects to go forward without environmental reviews, as happened with BP’s Deepwater Horizon. The administration announced the new policy today (Monday) after the White House Council on Environmental Quality reported that BP got environmental exemptions based on decades-old data. Shallow-water drilling will also be subjected to stricter environmental scrutiny under the new policy.
Tar balls continue to wash up on Gulf shores despite the positive spin the President tried to give by vacationing in the Panhandle over the weekend. The big questions remain, ‘just how much oil remains in the water column below the surface and what will the impact be on coral reefs in the Gulf?’. Donna Green-Townsend talked with Gustav Paulay from the University of Florida about those issues. Professor Paulay is the Curator of Invertebrates at the Florida Museum of Natural History. Paulay says in addition to the Florida Keys, there are several other coral colonies at risk in the Gulf.
Shark experts from around the globe recently met in Providence Road Island. Among them was George Burgess from the University of Florida. Burgess wears many hats including work as the Curator of the International Shark Attack File and as the Coordinator for Museum Operations at the Florida Museum of Natural History. Though the BP oil spill was not on the official agenda for the conference, Burgess says it was a hot topic amongst all the shark researchers. In part two of her interview, Donna Green-Townsend talked with Burgess about how the BP oil spill will virtually take a toll on the entire food chain in the Gulf of Mexico.
Florida hotels and resorts are trying to stay afloat despite negative news about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This past Monday the online travel booking company Orbitz launched what it calls an “Open Beach Guarantee” to help travelers and the hotel industry. Donna Green-Townsend talked with Orbitz spokeswoman Jeanenne Tornatore about the new travel concept and how it’s designed to possibly save Florida’s key tourism season.
No one is watching the traveling oil plumes in the Gulf of Mexico more than David Godfrey. Godfrey is the Executive Director of the Caribbean Conservation Corporation, which next week will change its name to “The Sea Turtle Conservancy”. This not-for-profit organization is continuing the turtle research and conservation efforts started by the late Archie Carr, the internationally acclaimed sea turtle expert from the University of Florida. Godfrey talked with WUFT’s Donna Green-Townsend and says his staff is at alert status because of the BP oil spill.
Imagine someone having access to all of the deleted messages, voicemails and contacts on your cellphone. That’s what happens in the Hippodrome State Theatre’s new comedy, “Dead Man’s Cellphone.” the play opened January 8th. Donna Green-Townsend talked with one of the actors in the production, Jessica Morris, who plays the role of the estranged wife and widow of the dead man.
Jean-Michel Cousteau has spent his entire life either on the ocean or educating the public about protecting the ocean. Jean-Michel is the eldest son of the late Jacques Cousteau who will forever be remembered as an ambassador of the sea. Jean-Michel spent much of his life traveling aboard the famous Calypso with his father exploring and videotaping the undersea world. He recently published a book about his life with his father called, “My Father, The Captain.” Jean-Michel talked with WUFT-FM’s Donna Green-Townsend about why he’s continuing his father’s work and how that work took him to the current oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
