49 States Green With Envy Over Florida's Environmental Progress

Radio Green Earth: Making the world safer for tree frogs

​Bet you thought South Florida was a lot more likely to win accolades for "best strip malls" or "extra egregious decimation of natural wildlife" than for anything much greener than development dollars. But it turns out Florida is among the top states in the nation when it comes to a clean, green energy economy, according to a study released last month by the Pew Charitable Trust. And we're also among the top ten states for jobs in the green sector (we got beat by Texas and California). To recap our victory over the forces of evil, the Pew study found:
• 31,100 jobs in Florida's clean-energy economy and 3,831 clean businesses.
• that venture capital investment in clean technology throughout the state totaled almost $117 million over the past three years.
• Florida is the only state in the country with its own cap-and-trade policy.
• Florida's clean-energy economy increased by 7.9 percent throughout the country from 1998 to 2007 compared to 3.7 percent for total jobs.

So green are we, in fact, that somebody thought a talk-radio program devoted entirely to clean energy might have a shot at making a profit. Probably safe to say that "Radio Green Earth" isn't siphoning off listeners from Limbaugh or Joyce Kaufman. Eco Advisors of Palm Beach Gardens is broadcasting the show on Mondays from 10 to 11 a.m. on WWNN-AM (1470) out of Pompano Beach. Recent shows, hosted by Missy Tancredi and John Poggi, among others, have run the gamut from best hybrid and electric cars to how to make your home greener to "the business case for sustainability." The show we caught touched on unadulterated Florida honey and also disentangled the alternative biofuels controversy over sugar cane versus algae.