Don't Trash Our Treasure

Communities on both Florida coasts are bracing for impact as they monitor the billions of gallons of water being discharged by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from Lake Okeechobee since mid-February.

What started as a normal afternoon on the water became a memorable encounter for passengers on the MyKeys Tours of Islamorada on Friday.

As the end of the legislative session came to a close last week in Tallahassee, an item was added to the state budget that would fund research on a marine mystery that’s developing in the Florida Keys.

Something bizarre is happening to the fish in the lower keys.

For the third straight year, Miami Beach is hosting critical conversations about climate change and action as part of the Aspen Ideas Climate 2024 Conference.

Liveaboard boaters in Miami Beach breathed a sigh of relief Monday night after a state Senate bill that would have limited anchoring within 200 yards of any part of Miami Beach, lying between State Road A1A and Palm Island was amended.

A battle between boat dwellers and a city commissioner is brewing in Miami Beach.

For weeks environmental and community activists have been pushing against a pair of bills in the Florida legislature that would ban local governments from regulating single-use plastics.

Plastic pollution continues to strangle our marine environment — and there’s no place where that is more apparent than South Florida.

James Duncan is the special projects administrator for the county’s Division of Environmental Resources Management program, or DERM as most people know it.

“Miami is ground level for sea level rise. We are the example of climate gentrification,” local climate organizer Valencia Gunder explains in the new movie “Razing Liberty Square.”

Crowds come from around the world to see a slice of Cuban culture in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood. The historic community has been deemed a national treasure, and yet it is drowning in street litter.

What goes up, must come down.

As 2023 comes to a close, Local 10 News is taking a look back at the top five stories in our ongoing “Don’t Trash Our Treasure” initiative from this year.

Tis the season! It’s the happiest time of the year, but also the trashiest.

When you’re hungry for food, you probably head to the grocery store or restaurant, but for TikTok sensation Gray Davis, the great outdoors are all he needs to satisfy his cravings

Miami Art Week is in full swing and this year a provocative installation is making waves at the Faena Hotel on Miami Beach, putting the climate crisis on center stage.

For decades, scientists have warned about the imminent catastrophic impacts that a rapidly changing ocean will have on coral reefs around the world.

Biscayne Bay activists rejoiced after the city of Miami unanimously passed a resolution that was supposed to protect the marine birds of Mangrove Island last week.

An island in Biscayne Bay’s northern basin that is home to marine birds is at risk because of increased boating activity, and Miami commissioners meeting on Thursday are set to decide whether or not to protect it.

Two recent reports from the Environmental Protection Agency revealed a startling statistic.

With the recent king tides, and hottest summer ever on record, we here in South Florida are already getting a glimpse of what the future holds as our planet keeps getting warmer.

A global alarm in going off regarding plastic pollution. Scientists warn that there are now 21,000 pieces of plastic for each of the Earth's 8 billion residents.

Scientists are calling it the worst coral bleaching event in Florida's recorded history. Millions of corals starving to death because of the extremely hot ocean temperatures over the summer.

This summer has been devastating for Florida's reef tract, with a mass bleaching event mostly impacting corals in the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas.

Data shows more and more young people are worried about the state of the planet and are becoming a lot more engaged in conservation efforts.

Thanks to a state grant, Miami-Dade County is launching a new pilot program aimed at cleaning up storm water polluting Biscayne Bay.

Scientists are again warning that Earth’s life support systems have become so damaged by human caused pollution that our ability to maintain a healthy planet is in danger of failing.

A controversial vote is coming up next Tuesday before the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners on whether to approve a new lease to build a water theme park right next to Zoo Miami, abutting land conservationists say is a critically important biodiversity hotspot.

Every week on Local 10 News' Don't Trash Our Treasure report, we show you ways your neighbors are taking action to protect our fragile Biscayne Bay.

There is an ongoing mission to save Biscayne Bay, but frustrations are mounting after another disheartening video went viral showing boaters trashing the watershed.

A recent study found that overfishing is driving reef sharks to extinction. The study comes as NOAA is considering raising the limits of how many sharks and what species of sharks can be fished in federal waters.

It's just after daybreak on Fort Lauderdale Beach.

From day one when Local 10 News launched Don't Trash Our Treasure, we've been documenting the growing litter problem plaguing South Florida that causes street flooding, poisons our bay and waterways and kills wildlife.

South Florida's coral reefs continue to suffer the effects of this unprecedented summer heat wave, that shows no end in sight.

There's an urgent rescue of corals to bring them to safe havens as warm water temperatures are causing devastation