ECO By Nanette Wiser
Water Wise Rebates: To help customers implement water conservation efforts, St. Petersburg is a partner in the Tampa Bay Water Wise Rebate Program, a regional effort that offers eligible St. Petersburg utility customers rebates, information and more for several types of actions. You might also be eligible if you are a potable water customer of the counties of Pinellas, Hillsborough or Pasco, or the cities of Tampa and New Port Richey. www.tampabaywaterwise.org/en/rebates/
Rain Barrel Rebates: The city of St. Petersburg has developed the Rainwater Rebate Program to recognize the positive efforts of its stormwater utility customers to conserve potable water and reduce the amount of stormwater runoff leaving their properties. You must attend a city-approved Rainwater Guardian Workshop to qualify. Email: RainwaterRebates@stpete.org Rain Barrel Rebate — $50 Rain Tote Rebate — $100 Rain Garden Rebate — $100
Native Plant Gardens: Consider growing drought-tolerant Florida native plants (beach sunflower, firebush, dwarf yaupon holly, Chickasaw plum, wax myrtle) that adapt to extreme climate and soil conditions, attract native wildlife, require reduced maintenance (including pesticides, fertilizers) and seldom need additional watering. First, assess your yard with the help of this plant selection guide. www.fnps.org/plantsLooking to invite butterflies? Plant species with nectar needed by adults. Butterflies are attracted by sweet-, pungent- and acrid-smelling flowers that are orange, yellow, pink, purple and red. Plants with deep throated, drooping or enclosed flowers are unsuitable for nectar-gathering. Some of these, especially white flowers that are fragrant at night, may attract moths.
Shell Game: Award-winning author Cynthia Barnett’s new book, The Sound of the Sea: Seashells and the Fate of the Oceans, “will have you marveling at nature.” (New York Times) Acclaimed environmental author Cynthia Barnett blends cultural history and science to trace our long love affair with seashells and the hidden lives of the mollusks that make them. Spiraling out from the great cities of shell that once rose in North America to the warming waters of the Maldives and the slave castles of Ghana, Barnett has created an unforgettable account of the world’s most iconic seashells.
She begins with their childhood wonder, unwinds surprising histories like the origin of Shell Oil as a family business importing exotic shells, and charts what shells and the soft animals that build them are telling scientists about our warming, acidifying seas. Barnett is an Environmental Journalist in Residence at the University of Florida Gainesville and author of Rain.