JK spent some time talking about This Moment on Earth in Coral Gables, FL this weekend. He spoke and answered questions at Books & Books and Jose and Danielle were there to take a few pictures.

JK also called into the Jim Defede radio show. Jim asked some good questions and you can listen to their exchange here.

A couple of the local TV stations covered the appearance as well. Check out their reports here and here.

  JK and THK wrote an op-ed, “We can stop a catastrophe”, for Floridians that was published in the Miami Herald today.

Hundreds of thousands of people move to Florida every year, but - for the same reason that people flock there - Florida has more to lose than almost any other state from global warming.

Florida has 8,400 miles of tidally influenced coastline. Scientists estimate that, unless we act, sea levels could rise 18-20 inches by 2100—endangering everything within 250 feet of the shoreline. Hurricanes are already growing stronger, and rising sea levels and fiercer storms could create disasters that dwarf those we’ve experienced in recent years.

Florida stands to lose twice over because of the revenue generated by its beaches and natural beauty. The tourism industry is one reason why, in the 12 months before July 2006, Florida’s population grew by 321,697 people, the second-most of any state in the country. Beachgoers generate more than $15 billion in revenue. In 2001, nearly 5 million people spent around $6.2 billion on wildlife viewing, hunting and fishing—supporting 122,518 jobs in the state.

Difficult choices

So when the next batch of presidential candidates starts converging on your state before the 2008 election, make sure they tell you exactly what they plan to do to stop global warming. Because this state has a special stake in solving climate change.

Here’s the bottom line: Within the next decade, if we don’t deal with global warming, our children and grandchildren will have to deal with global catastrophe.

Business leaders will tell you: This crisis presents an economic opportunity to create new technologies that lower emissions and reverse the damage already done. Every schoolchild knows our history of innovation—from the Wright Brothers to Henry Ford to Bill Gates, from the Model T to the iPod. Why would we stop now?

The real crisis will come if we fail to seize the opportunities that global warming presents—for renewables, efficiency breakthroughs and clean technologies.

We can create millions of new jobs and vast new markets, slow global warming, save taxpayers money, earn the world’s respect and significantly strengthen our long-term outlook. All by making a commitment to solve global warming.

Thankfully, people are finally waking up, and the result is a new face of a new environmentalism. For anyone who ever once ridiculed environmentalists as elitist ’’tree huggers,’’ it’s time to meet the new face of the environmental movement: ranchers out West, CEOs of ten major companies urging mandatory carbon-emissions caps, evangelicals who believe in ’’creation care’’ and parents wondering what’s in the water that their kids drink.

The new environmentalists reject the lazy dodge that caring about the environment means caring less about security or the economy because they understand that, in the long run, these issues are inseparable.

To put it simply, this is a matter of life and death. It is a matter of keeping our children safe and of respecting God’s creation. It is a matter of preserving species and protecting the bottom line.

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The time to act is now.