Help make Florida State Parks greener!
Photo montage courtesy of Florida State Parks Foundation.
The Florida State Parks Foundation is launching its Greener Initiative, a multitiered campaign to plan, develop, fund and install projects that increase environmental sustainability, reduce waste and lower utility costs within Florida's award-winning state parks. The Greener Initiative is funded in part through sales of the Foundation’s “Explore our State Parks” specialty license plate (see top left photo).
The Greener Initiative is a direct result of the “Explore Our State Parks” specialty license plate, which debuted in March 2022. In a little more than a year of availability, the plate has sold nearly 8,000 units and ranks in the top half of all specialty license plates in Florida. Each plate sold contributes $25 to the Florida State Parks Foundation.
Plate sales helped fund the unofficial first stage of the Greener Initiative late last year, when the Foundation partnered with Duke Energy Florida to purchase and install 121 water bottle refilling stations in 85 state parks and trails from the Florida Panhandle to the Keys.
The stations are designed to decrease the use of single-use plastics in state parks and encourage visitors to think of ways to make small, environmentally minded changes at home. Many stations are equipped with digital counters which tally the number of bottles saved. In only a few months, the stations have already saved nearly 100,000 single-use plastic bottles that might otherwise have ended up in a landfill.
On April 5, the foundation announced that it would be installing new, energy efficient LED lighting in state parks. This program, already underway in five pilot parks, will reduce the energy consumption of Florida's State Parks, while also lowering utility costs.
The five pilot parks are Blue Spring State Park (Orange City, Florida), Highlands Hammock State Park (Sebring, Florida), Dr. Julian G. Bruce St. George Island State Park (St. George Island, Florida), Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park (White Springs, Florida) and Wekiwa Springs State Park (Apopka, Florida).
New lighting will replace more than 700 outdated fixtures in campgrounds, office buildings, restrooms and other park facilities. The project will cost approximately $39,000 and comes with a projected payback period of just 1.43 years, upon which it will save an estimated $27,000 and 132,052 kilowatt hours per year. In 10 years, the updated lighting at these parks will have saved an estimated $311,000 in energy and maintenance costs.
“We have seen amazing results from our water bottle refilling stations, and we can’t wait to see the positive effects of these new LED lights,” said Julia Gill Woodward, CEO of the Florida State Parks Foundation. “The Foundation is committed to making our parks even greener and ensuring they remain as beautiful, natural spaces for future generations.”
These and other projects will make Florida's parks even more environmentally friendly, and your donation will help make this happen: https://secure.everyaction.com/Al-7q1xK40eETB4kIM-gXg2?emci=9ddacbc8-bdd4-ed11-8e8b-00224832eb73&emdi=4160411f-cbd4-ed11-8e8b-00224832eb73&ceid=17618020
Your donation supports all the agency's works in Florida State Parks, which includes projects like water bottle refilling stations and new, energy efficient LED lighting to ensure that Florida's parks stay Green and beautiful for many years to come.