SART is a multi agency coordination group consisting of governmental and private entities dedicated to all-hazard disaster preparedness, planning, response, and recovery for the animal and agriculture sectors in Florida.
Creating an Effective County SART: 12 Steps to Success (PDF)
Governor’s Annual Hurricane Conference
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It is “that time” again – June 1st officially marks the beginning of the 2008 Hurricane Season – and the Governor’s Hurricane Conference is scheduled for May 12-16 in Ft. Lauderdale. In his opening remarks, Governor Crist notes that it is the complacent state, the one that has not dealt with a hurricane in a few years – such as Florida – that becomes a danger to itself…and to others called to rescue and relief. ( www.flghc.org) |
SART Conference “Goes Green:” What does that mean?
So what does it mean to “go green?” Does it simply mean that the hotel does not wash your sheets every day? And is it, in an age of Global Warming, too little too late? Regardless of your politics, point-of-view or philosophy, the State of Florida requires that conferences and meetings be held in certified green lodging. Thus, a team representing Florida’s 2009 SART Conference – tentatively scheduled for a hotel/conference facility in the Cocoa-Melbourne area – is scouting for the best possible venue for the next animal and agriculture state get-together. Here is a quick link to the DEP “go green!” site…and no, Kermit is not scheduled to sing www.dep.state.fl.us/greenlodging/default.htm.
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| Sesame Street's Kermit the Frog laments his lot in life when he sings, "It's not easy being green." |
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Does Florida Need Its Own “Doomsday Vault?”
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With Florida’s unique floral treasures, it may only make good sense for the state to create its own repository for precious agricultural seeds. The $10 million Global Seed Vault – dubbed the Doomsday Vault in Svalbard, Norway– has been tunneled into solid rock on a mountainside high enough above climatologists’ projections for sea level rise and so deep in the polar permafrost that it would take extreme global warming decades or centuries to reach its contents. Partly because of its location, but mostly because it will be a minimalist gene bank of last resort for the world’s crop genetic diversity (seeds) maintenance costs are expected to be no more than $125,000 per year. That’s about six cents per seed sample if all of the world’s 1.5 - 2 million unique seed accessions eventually end up in the bank. Since the world is continuing to collect vanishing seed varieties, the bank is roomy enough to accommodate up to 4.5 million samples.
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