Craig wants America's most hated man, unelected shadow president Elon Musk, to keep his hands off our National Parks . ( Resistance Rangers ) Longleaf pine once covered an area of over 90 million acres from Virginia to Texas along the Southeastern coast and well inland. Today, only about 5% of that original habitat remains . Karl Etters works at Tall Timbers Plantation in Tallahassee , an organization committed to the use of fire ecology in land management. We discuss the history and biolog...
Mar 11, 2025•41 min•Ep 246•Transcript available on Metacast Alcoholic, womanizing, Islamophobe U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is also a climate denier. He has instructed the armed forces to ignore climate impacts and has demanded the Pentagon cut funding on military installations aimed at combating the effects of climate change, including at bases in Florida . The Montbrook Fossil Site roughly 45 minutes south of Gainesville in Levy County has become one of the most globally significant paleontological digs in the world. Jonathan Bloch runs the site...
Mar 04, 2025•41 min•Ep 245•Transcript available on Metacast A combination of increasing and increasingly devastating hurricanes along with skyrocketing property insurance prices have resulted in an amazing demographic event in Florida. Our guest this week is Michael Sipos from the Florida Sea Grant who joins us to talk about mullet. Make it a point one year to attend the Seminole Tribal Fair & Pow Wow held each late January at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood. While you're in the area, take a Tigertail airboat tour . Each week "We...
Feb 25, 2025•42 min•Ep 244•Transcript available on Metacast Donald Trump's threatened tariffs would be another nail in the coffin for Florida's citrus industry. You can support the "Welcome to Florida" podcast by becoming a $5 a month "patron" at www.patreon.com/welcometoflorida. Greg Asbed from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers joins us on this episode to discuss the history of working conditions for agriculture workers, especially tomato pickers, in southwest Florida. The CIW was instrumental to enacting one of the most e...
Feb 18, 2025•58 min•Ep 243•Transcript available on Metacast Donald Trump signed an executive order seeking to open the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil drilling , potentially endangering Florida's beaches and economy from the spills that inevitably follow drilling. In 1960, Cuban parents began sending their children, unaccompanied, to Miami on Pan-Am flights to get them out of the country and away from Fidel Castro. This program was called "Operation Pedro Pan" - Peter Pan. Yvonne Conde was one of the Pedro Pan child immigrants from Cuba and ...
Feb 11, 2025•35 min•Ep 242•Transcript available on Metacast The federal government in the closing days of the Biden Administration failed to secure a protection for critically endangered North Atlantic right whales. Stories like this can be found in our weekly "Florida Conservation Newsletter" exclusively available to "Welcome to Florida" patrons at www.patreon.com/welcometoflorida . Marineland opened south of St. Augustine on the Atlantic Ocean in 1938 as a movie studio and roadside tourist attraction. In the decades since, it has se...
Feb 04, 2025•42 min•Ep 241•Transcript available on Metacast Ron DeSantis wants the state to assume responsibility of Everglades restoration from the federal government. Terrible idea for the Everglades . Our guest this episode is Susan Anderson, outgoing executive director of the Apalachicola Riverkeeper . Susan grew up on the river and shares what makes it special and the numerous threats it faces. "Welcome to Florida" patrons receive exclusive access to our weekly Florida Conservation Newsletter for only $5 per month. Visit www.patreon.com/We...
Jan 28, 2025•43 min•Ep 240•Transcript available on Metacast The Cape Sable seaside sparrow is one of the most endangered birds in the continental United States, numbering only 2,000 or so individuals, all living in the Everglades. Conflicting water management aims in South Florida pitting Big Sugar against the environment is resulting in the state taking drastic measures to pursue survival of the species. In 1960, African American equal rights activists in Tampa followed suit along with those in other cities around the South, staging sit-ins at segregate...
Jan 21, 2025•51 min•Ep 239•Transcript available on Metacast Buyer beware when it comes to a new organization promoting itself as a gopher tortoise conservation solution. Miami's Criteria Recording Studios has produced a staggering volume of hit music from James Brown's "I Feel Good" to Eric Clapton's "Layla," Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours," the Eagles' "Hotel California," Jimmy Buffett's "Margaritaville," and on, and on, and on. Trevor Fletcher grew up at Criteria Recording Studio...
Jan 14, 2025•50 min•Ep 238•Transcript available on Metacast Craig takes a look back at the most amusing and unusual Florida news stories from 2024. Fred Rogers studied in the Music Department at Rollins College in Winter Park before going on to host "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" on PBS. Fred Rogers' nephew, Daniel Crozier, teaches in the Music Department at Rollins and shares stories of his uncle and how the famous TV personality got to Winter Park. Our Florida conservation newsletter is a concise, weekly look at the top environmental...
Jan 07, 2025•34 min•Ep 237•Transcript available on Metacast Craig Pittman has a wish list of gifts he hopes Santa brings Florida's environment. Our guest this episode is poet, essayist, and professor of English at Florida State University David Kirby . His latest anthology of poems is titled "The Winter Dance Party." In the episode, Craig quoted an Elizabeth Bishop poem you can read here . Thank you to all of our patrons at Patreon.com/WelcomeToFlorida . For $5 a month "Welcome to Florida" patrons receive exclusive access to bonu...
Dec 24, 2024•42 min•Ep 236•Transcript available on Metacast In Port St. Joe, a 62-year-old woman was handcuffed, arrested, and spent a night in jail as part of a politically motivated attack on local residents investigating damage done to a wetland by the city. The St. Johns River is Florida's longest, flowing south to north along the eastern half of the state. Lisa Rinaman is the St. Johns Riverkeeper , an advocate for the river, and joins us to discuss its importance to the state. Free the Ocklawaha. St. Johns Riverkeeper household river friendly ...
Dec 17, 2024•45 min•Ep 235•Transcript available on Metacast What should Florida and its residents be doing to prepare for the next hurricane season? The Orange Blossom Trail was a popular tourism promotion in mid-century Florida to bring newly middle-class Americans with their cars from the Midwest and Northeast to the middle part of the state traversing along U.S. Route 441 running 400-plus miles from the state line with Georgia to Miami. Photographer Joshua Lutz became fascinated with the Trail on a visit to Florida and produced a photographic essay bo...
Dec 10, 2024•37 min•Ep 234•Transcript available on Metacast Add little Milton in the Panhandle as another Florida town that threw out its pro-development, pro-industry city council in what can now be called a statewide trend. Famous 20th century "Beat" author Jack Kerouac spent the final years of his life in Orlando and St. Pete. Bob Kealing shares this history in his book, "Jack Kerouac: Where the Road Ends." Kerouac is best known for his novel, "On the Road." Visit the Jack Kerouac house in Orlando . Made in Spain Whether ...
Dec 03, 2024•34 min•Ep 233•Transcript available on Metacast Based on his first-term record as the most anti-nature president in American history , Craig sees the Florida environment as a big loser of Donald Trump's second term in office. In 1983, contemporary artists Christo and Jean-Claude created a massive installation of pink fabric in Biscayne Bay titled 'Surrounded Islands.' The couple's foundation recently donated archival items related to the project to the NSU Art Museum in Fort Lauderdale which will stage an exhibition of the...
Nov 26, 2024•40 min•Ep 232•Transcript available on Metacast Timber company Rayonier wants to develop a toxic bioethanol producing plant near downtown Fernandina Beach. Explosions at these plants are not uncommon. A local group, No Ethanol Fernandina , is fighting the effort. Miccosukee Indian J ohn Tigertail leads airboat tours of the Everglades just like his father and grandfather did . Information on the 2024 Miccosukee Indian Arts and Crafts Festival December 26-29 in Miami. Information on the 2025 Seminole Tribal Fair & Pow Wow January 29-Februar...
Nov 19, 2024•40 min•Ep 231•Transcript available on Metacast Craig and I open this episode discussing a return to the White House of the worst environmental president in history. Our guest is David Morton, author of "Motion Picture Paradise: A History of Florida's Film and Television Industry." Florida was an epicenter of film and television production in the early 20th century, and again in the 50s and 60s, but politics has often derailed efforts in the state to create an East Coast Hollywood. Made in Spain Whether you’re an expat chasing ...
Nov 12, 2024•57 min•Ep 230•Transcript available on Metacast Florida's politicians are bought and paid for by polluting industries : Big Sugar, Big Ag (agriculture), cattle ranchers, gas and oil, developers, phosphate mining. Kristen Hare traveled across the state researching her book "Hotels, Motels, and Inns of Florida." On this episode, she shares her favorite historic lodgings. If you'd like to receive an historic hotel postcard from Kristen, email her at oldfloridahotels at Gmail.com. Made in Spain Whether you’re an expat chasing ...
Nov 05, 2024•36 min•Ep 229•Transcript available on Metacast Ron DeSantis thinks the Florida economy would suffer from fighting climate change; Craig Pittman knows the Florida economy won't exist if we don't . Cathy Salustri , host of the "Florida Spectacular" podcast and Florida author - and two-time former "Welcome to Florida" guest - fills in for Chadd Scott on this episode focusing on Robert the Doll. Author, historian, and Florida Keys ghost tour host David Sloan joins to discuss the haunted doll. HauntedKeyWest.com Made...
Oct 29, 2024•38 min•Ep 228•Transcript available on Metacast Back-to-back hurricanes this October have Craig thinking about 2004 when four major hurricanes battered the state in a six week period. What was learned from those catastrophes 20 years ago? Nothing . Our guest this episode is Florida author Leslie Kemp Poole 's whose recently published book, "Tracing Florida Journeys: Explorers, Travelers, and Landscapes Then and Now" follows in the footsteps of famous visitors to Florida, including "Red Badge of Courage" author Stephen...
Oct 22, 2024•36 min•Ep 227•Transcript available on Metacast VOTE "NO" ON AMENDMENT 2 , the so-called "Right to Hunt and Fish." Big Cypress National Preserve in south Florida celebrates its 50th anniversary as the nation's first National Preserve on October 11, 2024. The Preserve will be hosting a variety of events through the end of the year in recognition of the milestone. Lisa Andrews is the education and outreach coordinator at Big Cypress and joins us to discuss what makes it a unique place. Made in Spain Whether you’re an ex...
Oct 15, 2024•46 min•Ep 226•Transcript available on Metacast We start by explaining how climate change and increased development have made hurricanes in Florida stronger and more destructive . Theodore Pratt isn't a name most folks will know, but he was a highly acclaimed and prolific mid-century Florida author who is largely responsible for sustaining the legacy of the Barefoot Mailmen. Taylor Hagood is a professor at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton where Pratt's archive is housed. Hagood had a biography of Pratt published in summer o...
Oct 08, 2024•36 min•Ep 225•Transcript available on Metacast Florida's so-called "law and order" governor isn't concerned about law or order when it comes to the state's freshwater springs . The best way to stay informed on news related to our springs is via the Florida Springs Council. We've previously featured Marjorie Kinnan Rawling's "The Yearling" book in an episode, this episode will center on the movie adaptation which starred Gregory Peck and won a pair of Academy Awards. Our guest is documentary filmma...
Oct 01, 2024•43 min•Ep 224•Transcript available on Metacast Another secretive, shady deal attempted between a private developer and the state government on supposedly protected public land has been exposed by the media. Harry Truman spent a remarkable amount of time during his presidency at his Little White House in Key West. The home is open to the public for tours. Clinton Curry, Director of Operations in Key West for Historic Tours America , which operates the home, joins us this episode. Made in Spain Whether you’re an expat chasing the dream, a trav...
Sep 24, 2024•40 min•Ep 223•Transcript available on Metacast A secret meeting about water policy convened by a Florida congressman allowed polluting industries and state officials to scheme behind closed doors without the public or press allowed in. This episode takes us to Florida's most remote location, the Dry Tortugas. Ian Wilson-Navarro spent a month there photographing and fishing, and recalls the experience in a new book out this fall, "Dry Tortugas: Stronghold of Nature." Made in Spain Whether you’re an expat chasing the dream, a tr...
Sep 17, 2024•38 min•Ep 222•Transcript available on Metacast Craig recently turned a story in to "Flamingo" magazine about Miami's Criteria Recording Studios , one of the 20th century's most influential hit makers. Our guest this episode is social media personality, humorist, and Florida Man OMGitsWicks . Follow him on TikTok , YouTube , Instagram , Facebook , and Twitter . Made in Spain Whether you’re an expat chasing the dream, a traveller inspired by European elegance... Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify...
Sep 10, 2024•33 min•Ep 221•Transcript available on Metacast Don't believe Ron DeSantis' lies when he says he had no advance knowledge of plans to bring golf courses and hotels into Florida's state parks. Our guest this week is Florida author Cathy Salustri . She joined us all the way back on Episode 5 to discuss her first Florida book, "Backroads of Paradise," and she's back to discuss her latest book, "Florida Spectacular: Extraordinary Places and Exceptional Lives." We focus on her chapter about Polly Parker . Ma...
Sep 03, 2024•45 min•Ep 220•Transcript available on Metacast Craig's column on the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's plan to build golf courses and hotels in the state parks . Story update . Another episode, more politicians lining up with developers to destroy protected natural areas against the wishes of citizens. Our guest is Florida food, travel, and lifestyle writer Carrie Honaker who took a trip scalloping off New Port Ritchey and wrote about the adventure for Flamingo magazine. Scallops are in trouble across Florida , but r...
Aug 27, 2024•33 min•Ep 219•Transcript available on Metacast Florida's estuaries are warming faster than the Gulf of Mexico or Atlantic Ocean. Doug Alderson kayaked down the Kissimmee River twice, once in 2007 and again in 2024. He wrote about those experiences as well as the river's historic importance to Florida, it's channelizing in the 1960s, and restoration efforts to renaturalize it beginning in the 1990s, in his book "New Dawn for the Kissimmee River: Orlando to Okeechobee by Kayak." More information on: Kayaking in Kissimm...
Aug 20, 2024•35 min•Ep 218•Transcript available on Metacast When is protected land not really protected? When it's in Florida . A.E. "Bean" Backus (1906-1990) is one of Florida's most esteemed artists. While best known today in connection to the Florida Highwaymen , Backus was an exceptional artist in his own right. J. Marshall Adams, executive director at the A.E. Backus Museum and Gallery in Fort Pierce joins us to talk about Backus' life and legacy. Listen to our previous episode with Kelvin Hair , son of legendary Florida Hig...
Aug 13, 2024•48 min•Ep 217•Transcript available on Metacast 
