NATURAL RESOURCES
CLEAN ENERGY

The environmental focus of Florida’s League of Women Voters is having a healthy natural environment and combating the effects of climate change. Here in North Florida the importance of natural resources focuses primarily on the health of our springs and the Floridan Aquifer, the Apalachee River Basin and oyster industry, and opposition to fracking and other oil exploration in the Big Bend area. The clean energy focus is aimed at promoting the adoption of electric vehicles and building EV infrastructure, reducing our dependence on natural gas, the expansion of rooftop solar, and building energy efficient schools and other buildings. 

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Here at the local level, we focus chiefly on developing a relationship with our local legislative representatives and keeping them abreast of the League’s position on environmentally related bills that come before the Florida Legislature, plus working to incorporate state initiatives at the local level. For example, several years ago we started a solar cooperative in Tallahassee for the purpose of obtaining a bulk discount by going solar in a group. We are also proud of our participation in the city’s development of its 62-megawatt solar farms. Our committee is also active in Tally 100, the local group monitoring the city’s development and implementation of their Clean Energy Plan. 

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Recently, we were successful in promoting Leon County’s and the City of Tallahassee’s adoption of a ban on certain single-use plastics in county and city activities. Our most recent achievement is getting the city to adopt a Green Building Policy for city buildings. We also testified regarding Blueprint’s Office of Economic Vitality Targeted Business Program and hope to have the office incorporate clean energy incentives into their applicant scoring process.   Our current initiatives include asking the city to revisit and update its natural gas rebate program. We are also working with the Leon County School District toward the adoption of a sustainability plan for our public school system.

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As to volunteer activities, we would love to have you participate in our monthly committee meetings. We also participate in the City of Tallahassee's Adopt A Street litter campaign and have adopted a portion of downtown Tallahassee bordered by South Boulevard, West Gaines, St. Michaels, and All Saints streets, for which we pull together a group of about 8 volunteers and pick up the liter about 3 to 4 times per year.  This effort often also includes participating in Leon County's annual trash pickup and other Keep Tallahassee Beautiful campaigns. Finally, along with Leon County, the Elections Office, and Marpan we are exploring a campaign sign collection project to take effect in 2024. We are definitely going to need volunteers for that.

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Meta Calder, Chair

Natural Resources and Clean Energy