The state, known for its sunny beaches, is reportedly fast running out of the precious commodity due to erosion from storms and tides, a rising sea level and man-made structures like jetties that have been built on beaches, causing sand to build up on only one side of the structure.
"It is quite a concept but unfortunately it's true," Jerry Scarborough of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers told NBC News of the sand scarcity.
But in South Florida, the situation has become dire, with Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties facing a shortage like none they've experienced before.
"We're running out of sand off-shore, we've pretty much vacuumed everything up," Stephen Leatherman of Florida International University told NBC.
Part of the worry, of course, is that without stretches of pristine beach, people -- particularly tourists -- will be less likely to spend their money in these counties.
But, there's a larger concern as well.
“These beaches, people think they are recreational, but they are storm damage reduction,” Jason Harrah, the Army Corps project manager in charge of the Miami-Dade beach restoration, told the Times. “They are meant to sacrifice themselves for the loss of property or life. In the event we have that kind of storm, we wouldn’t have the means to replenish them.”
Communities in South Florida are thus now scrambling to come up with the best way to get sand back on their beaches.
Some ideas include crushing up recycled glass bottles to make artificial sand and buying the coveted commodity from from mines in Central Florida or countries in the Caribbean.
In 2005, National Geographic ranked the Florida Everglades/Big Cypress National Preserve as the worst preserved national park in North America. Though it is protected land, urban sprawl is pressed right up against wildlife habitat and motorized watercraft chop up seagrass, especially in shallower bodies of water like the Florida Bay. "These public lands should get all of the protection that they can get. Wildlife, they're the last consideration. More than anything, these national parks were established not for recreation but to protect these valuable resources that we have," Schwartz said.
2. Urban Sprawl
With Florida's growing population comes cars and never ending construction -- right up to the edge of the Everglades. According to the Wildlife 2060 report prepared by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, 7 million acres of rural and natural land could be converted into urban space in the next 50 years. That's hundreds of thousands of acres lost to Florida's wildlife, such as the black bear, panther and bald eagle. "South Florida is clearly a biological hotspot... protected areas are going to become little islands, completely separated from each other by roads and development. We might in our minds imagine that that's OK, that wildlife can still live on these little patches of public land, but that's not always the case," Schwartz said.
4. Lack of Fresh Water
The tri-county area in South Florida relies on the Biscayne Aquifer, and with Florida shifting between the wet and drought season, it can be difficult to supply drinking water to the millions of people who need it. New plans are to build reservoirs in the northern edge of the Everglades.
5. Stormwater Sewage
Stormwater drains capture rainwater on roads and move it into canals and, eventually, the ocean. However, the water is generally not cleaned. That means antifreeze, gasoline and any other toxins from cars goes into Florida's oceans. Cities like Miramar are working to educate its residents about how to avoid dirtying this water to avoid having to clean it later.
6. Oil Drilling in the Gulf
Florida is surrounded by major drilling projects, including those by our neighbors Cuba and the Bahamas. Should there be an oil spill, the state is in danger of it being fed into Florida's loop current, Schwartz said. Luckily, this wasn't the case in the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010, but should an oil spill reach Florida's loop current, the effects on the state's ecosystem would be catastrophic. "We've got oil drilling on all three sides, we're surrounded by oil," Schwartz said. "Given the amount of oil drilling out there, we can't expect that to keep happening."
8. Unclean Energy
In 2011, the National Resources Defense Council named Florida the third most toxic state in the country, based on its output of pollution from power plants. The same year, a power plant was proposed to be built in panther habitats. With more people moving to Florida, more energy is used, and experts, including Schwartz, believe there needs to be more investment in cleaner energy, like solar power, and calls upon Florida Power & Light to move in that direction.
9. Lack of Mass Transit
Everyone talks about the "carbon footprint" each person leaves behind. In such a car-reliant region such as South Florida, carbon dioxide is emitted into the air and ocean. Generally speaking, about one gallon of gasoline can produce 20 pounds of carbon dioxide. With projects such as the $1.2 billion I-595 expansion project in Broward, this could get worse. However, there has also been a push for improving on the area's public transportation, including Miami's trolley, Decobike, adding a new line on the Metrorail, and the construction of the Miami Intermodal Center.
Affluent Americans may want to double-check how much of their bank deposits are protected by government-backed insurance. The rules governing trust accounts just changed.
Former NBA guard Darius Morris has died at the age of 33. He played for five teams during his four NBA seasons. Morris played college basketball at Michigan.
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Jake Mintz & Jordan Shusterman discuss the Padres-Marlins trade that sent Luis Arraez to San Diego, as well as recap all the action from this weekend in baseball and send birthday wishes to hall-of-famer Willie Mays.
Miami Heat president Pat Riley rebuked comments Jimmy Butler made about the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks, while also implying that his star needs to play more.
An annual government report offered a glimmer of good news for Social Security and a jolt of good news for Medicare even as both programs continue to be on pace to run dry next decade.
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Minneapolis Fed president Neel Kashkari said interest rates will likely stay at current levels for an "extended period" and didn't rule out a hike if inflation stalls near 3%.
