{"id":432582,"date":"2026-10-20T01:52:37","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T01:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/432582\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T01:52:37","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T01:52:37","slug":"melting-ron-desantis-statue-unveiled-to-call-out-his-inaction-on-climate-crisis-ron-desantis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/432582\/","title":{"rendered":"Melting Ron DeSantis statue unveiled to call out his inaction on climate crisis | Ron DeSantis"},"content":{"rendered":"

A life-sized statue of Ron DeSantis<\/a>, the Florida governor, was unveiled and promptly began melting in front of an audience in Tallahassee in a symbolic protest at his rejection of action on the climate crisis.<\/p>\n

The silvery statue, revealed to an audience of onlookers last week, melted away to show a skull under DeSantis\u2019s face. The structure was cast from solid gallium, a metal that melts at 85.6F (29.8C), which is below summertime high temperatures frequently reached in Tallahassee, Florida\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n

The environmentalists behind the statue-based protest said it was a fitting monument to DeSantis\u2019s eight years as Florida governor, which comes to an end in January.<\/p>\n

The face of the statue melted away to reveal a skull-like structure under it. Photograph: 350 Action<\/p>\n

The Republican has frequently criticized what he has called a \u201cradical climate agenda\u201d, blocking the ability of Florida municipalities to slash planet-heating pollution and even erased terms such as \u201cclimate change\u201d and \u201cgreenhouse gas emissions\u201d from Florida state law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This law has hindered the ability of state agencies to even mention a climate crisis that poses an outsized threat to Florida. In classrooms, meanwhile, state education regulations are also ensuring the steady elimination of any reference to climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not a global warming person, I don\u2019t want that label on me,\u201d DeSantis, who unsuccessfully ran to become Republican nominee for US president in 2024, said in 2018.<\/p>\n

Southern Florida is acutely threatened by sea level rise<\/a>, while homes and businesses across the entire state have been increasingly lashed by powerful hurricanes, worsened by rising global temperatures. The increasing damage wrought by storms supercharged by ocean and atmospheric heat has proved so costly that several major insurers have exited<\/a> Florida entirely.<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s stance towards the climate crisis looks unlikely to change, however. Florida has become a Republican bastion in recent years and Byron Donalds, the GOP candidate, is heavily favored<\/a> to win the governor\u2019s race in next month\u2019s midterm elections.<\/p>\n

The installation, called \u2018DENIAL,\u2019 was created by Uncommon, an advertising agency, climate advocacy group 350 Action and M ss ng P eces, a production company. Photograph: 350 Action<\/p>\n

Donalds has said<\/a> he wants to maintain Florida\u2019s environment but has said he doesn\u2019t accept<\/a> the link between climate change and human actions, despite scientific consensus that the burning of fossil fuels is causing temperatures to rise.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe climate crisis is one of the top issues facing our planet today. And yet, some candidates running for office still deny it\u2019s happening, and deny the bold climate action that the people want.\u201d said Candice Fortin, campaign manager at 350Action, the environmental group behind the DeSantis statue, along with advertising agency Uncommon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why it\u2019s more important than ever to deny them back at the ballot box,\u201d Fortin added. \u201cIf everyone who cares about people and our planet makes their voices heard on election cay, we\u2019ll be too loud to deny.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeSantis has defended his position on climate. \u201cWe\u2019re restoring sanity in our approach to energy and rejecting the agenda of the radical green zealots,\u201d DeSantis said in a post on the X social media platform when making climate a lower state priority in May 2024.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A life-sized statue of Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, was unveiled and promptly began melting in front of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":["post-432582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}