Florida Cactus Goes Extinct According To Media (Except It Didn’t)

“Meet the First U.S. Species to Go Extinct from Sea-Level Rise.” Scientific American crowed.

“Climate change effects blamed for local extinction, a U.S. first,” claimed USA Today.

“Key Largo tree cactus no longer exists in U.S.,” even FOX News declared in a headline, though not always the bastion of balanced thought it claims to be on the surface.

But not so fast: Buried in FOX’s otherwise honest article at the tail-end:

“Although it has vanished from the U.S. ecosystem, the Key Largo tree cactus is technically not extinct.

Scientific American also admitted below the fold and nestled between micro-lectures of man-made climate change:

“… Pilosocereus millspaughii, known to reach towering heights, yield[s] white flowers that entice nectar-hungry bats and produce[s] reddish-purple fruits for birds and mammals to feast upon. Although the cactus still grows on a few scattered islands in the Caribbean, it was restricted to a single population in North America, a thriving stand of 150 plants discovered in the Florida Keys in 1992 …”

Such has been the click-bait overreaction to a paper published earlier this month in the Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas. Rarely mentioned by the press (especially in the headlines) was the white paper’s attribution of the plant’s demise to competition with other species and Florida’s notorious loss of turf to littoral current in the Gulf of Mexico.

A handful of climate change skeptic bloggers have pointed out the fallacy of the rising sea hypothesis, in addition to the misuse of the term “extinction” (or its masking with adjectives such as “U.S.” species or “local” extinction).

Of course, that has not stopped secondary publications with a leftist orientation from blaming Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for the disappearance of the cactus variety from the shores of sunny South Florida.

“DeSantis, amid criticism, signs Florida bill making climate change a lesser state priority” read a hyperlinked headline tucked into Yahoo!’s take on WFLA-TV’s story. (You know, in case you wanted more information. The Hayride begs the reader’s forgiveness for not linking to either excuse for articles.)

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“The state of Florida—Ron DeSantis and his dumdum legislature—has decided that climate change doesn’t exist, but climate change doesn’t care,” wrote notoriously liberal former Bush and Clinton Assistant Education Secretary Diane Ravitch, attempting to tie it to public ed policy. “The Miami Herald reported that the last of a rare species in the Florida Keys has died — because of rising seas. The children of Florida won’t understand any of this because the State Department of Education will not buy textbooks that explain climate change. They think — I suppose — that if you don’t learn about it, it will go away.”

(Is it any wonder we’re only now making progress on public education reform?)

Environmentalists have long warned that hurricanes have been the primary threat for the cactus, but nothing said about how those same hurricanes may have spread the species to Florida in the first place, or at various times throughout history. The first known writing chronicling a plant that fits the tree cactus’s description was in 1909.

Though prickly and stand-offish tree cactii are often portrayed a symbols of strength and independence, they are surprisingly prone to habitat destruction. Yet they are also famous for their ability to adapt and survive in the harshest environments, and for their surprise comebacks.

But in this harsh media environment, it may help for readers to adapt by reading an entire story before sharing on social media. It may be the only way we will survive.

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