Manatees Florida Manatees Are Classified Thesis

Total Length: 726 words ( 2 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 3

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Brevard County granted a permit to Florida Power and Light to heat their waters artificially, which is one possible interim solution (FPL Given Permission To Install Heaters For Manatees 2009).

The environmental ethical conflict is clear. On the one hand, power plants in Florida must become more environmentally sustainable, cleaner, and greener. The power plants that serve Florida's population must transition from outmoded technologies like coal and nuclear power to wind and solar power. On the other hand, power plants in Florida have been incidentally saving the manatees. The warm water surrounding the power plants has become the winter haven for manatees who might otherwise have died in waters too cold for their bodies to tolerate. Sudden changes to or closures of power plants would threaten manatee populations.

Saving the manatees and producing clean energy need not be conflicting interests. As power plants become more energy efficient, engineers and scientists should come up with feasible methods of redirecting manatee populations to safe natural sources of warm water. Developers, power plant companies, and local governments must work together to find common solutions. Manatee habitats should ideally be preserved, by state mandate if necessary.
Creating preserves would ensure that during the winter months, manatees migrate to safe warmer waters rather than depend on power plants. One progressive solution has been "solar-powered warm-water refuges" that would "harbor manatees during the winter months," (Bailey 2003).

References

Bailey, R. (2003). Hot water: Of power plants and manatees. Reason. Retrieved May 10, 2009 from http://www.reason.com/news/show/28699.html

Bayan-Gagelonia, R. (2000). The Florida manatee. Retrieved May 10, 2009 from http://www.ecofloridamag.com/archived/manatees.htm

"FPL Given Permission To Install Heaters For Manatees." (2009). Central Florida News 13. Mar 24, 2009. Retrieved May 10, 2009 from http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/2009/3/24/commissioners_consider_manatee_warming_plan.html

Lelis, L. (2007). Manatees rely on power plants: If facilities close, sea cows could be out in the cold. Sunday Gazette-Mail. Mar 4, 2007. Retrieved May 10, 2009 from http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P2-14769505.html

Lovgren, S. (2006). Manatees Seek Power Plants, Warm Springs as Safe Havens. National Geographic News. Oct 20, 2006. Retrieved May 10, 2009 from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/10/061020-manatees.html

Save the Manatee Club (nd). Migrating manatees. Retrieved May 10, 2009 from http://www.savethemanatee.org/info_manatee_migration.html.....

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