Florida has always been a land of profound changes. Sea level has naturally risen and fallen over thousands of years, greatly expanding and contracting the peninsula. A key difference now is that the invading sea that confronts us is rising as a result of human causation. This is a new reality we are facing.

Florida has always been a land of change in the human era. It has been a land devoid of people; a land of native tribes; a land of Spain, England, the United States, the Confederacy, then the United States again. Many flags have flown over Florida.

In 1900, Florida was one of the least-populated states in the American South, with a population of roughly 528,000 people. By 1970, the year of my birth 55 years ago, Florida had grown to a population of 6,800,000 people.

Now, in 2025, Fl

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