USF Students Spurring Climate Action Against All Odds

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Ah, climate change. That mythical beast, lurking somewhere between government conspiracy and inconvenient reality. You’ve been told it’s real, then you’ve been told it’s not, and now you’re mostly told to shut up about it and let the "adults" handle it—those very same adults who still think oil spills are just aggressive seafood seasoning.

But let’s be honest, you don’t need a PhD in Environmental Science to know that breathing in wildfire smoke from three states away isn’t exactly a sign of a thriving planet. And while half the country argues over whether rising sea levels are real, the other half is busy investing in waterfront property that’ll soon come with complimentary snorkeling gear.

The president recently spoke about the California fires and said the following: “I invaded Los Angeles and we opened up the water, and the water is now flowing down. They have so much water they don't know what to do. They were sending it out to the Pacific for environmental reasons. Ok, can you believe it? And in the meantime they lost 25,000 houses. They lost, and nobody’s ever seen anything like it. But, uh, we have the water—uh, love to show you a picture, you’ve seen the picture—the water’s flowing through the half-pipes, you know, we have the big half-pipes that go down. Used to, twenty-five years ago they used to have plenty of water but they turned it off for, again, for environmental reasons. Well, I turned it on for environmental reasons and also fire reasons, I didn’t think anything like could happen like this, but they didn’t have enough water. Now the farmers are going to have water for their land and the water’s in there, but I actually had to break in. We broke in to do it because, ah, we had people who were afraid to give water. In particular they were trying to protect a certain little fish. And I said, how do you protect a fish if you don’t have water? They didn’t have any water so they’re protecting a fish. And that didn’t work out too well by the way….”

Luckily, we have two courageous guests who refuse to let the world burn without at least putting up a fight. And they’re college students with more backbone than all of Congress. Ashton Maddox and Adrian Reyes-Alzate are senior students at the University of South Florida, where they’ve been knee-deep in the battle for climate justice, policy reform, and—believe it or not—actual solutions. They don’t just sit around shaking their fists at the sky; they’re organizing, lobbying, and drafting plans to ensure that Florida and beyond don’t end up as Atlantis 2.0. How many category 4 and 5 hurricanes – In a single year – does it take to make you scratch your head. Or the Gulf of America heating up to 101°? You’ll have to pardon me for being cheeky, but it’s way better than having me sob about the big hairy climate mastodon lurking in the middle of the room.

Ashton’s been working with the CLEO Institute - an environmental nonprofit, pushing for community-driven solutions to our self-inflicted ecological collapse, while Adrian’s also with the Cleo Institute and has been using Geographic Information Systems to map out just how bad things are—because nothing says “we’re doomed” like a well-labeled, data-driven disaster forecast. These are the guys behind Tampa Bay’s Climate Action & Equity Plan, which is a game-changing template that can be used nationwide.

Now, because we live in an era where critical thinking is considered optional, let’s enjoy a reality check amidst the slosh of propaganda