Hello, hello Seasiders! From October 5 to 11, Florida Climate Week puts more than 130 free events on the calendar, and a handful land right on our stretch of coast. So what's actually worth your time? We picked them out for you.

Let's dive in.

🌎 Florida Climate Week starts next Monday
🌿 Our new guide to the stinky seaweed
📅 Cleanups, a mangrove walk, and a garden to wander

— Camila Hernandez

A statewide week of climate and conservation events, run by VoLo Foundation, and it's back for its sixth year. More than 130 free events, including over 95 in person and over 35 online.

It’s open to all Florida residents (and visitors), experts, and conservation/sustainability enthusiasts.

Cities, universities, nonprofits, and neighborhood groups will host events covering topics like clean energy, water conservation, coastal ecosystems, and green infrastructure. It’s a real good time!

Thais Lopez Vogel, co-founder and trustee of VoLo Foundation, put it this way.

That's the part I like. Most of what's on the schedule near us is small and hands-on. You can tour a boat, walk a mangrove shoreline, or join a beach cleanup.

Search events by place, date, or topic at FloridaClimateWeek.org, and join the virtual sessions through Whova. Our local picks are in the events section below.

Full schedule

⚓ Climb aboard a research vessel. On October 8, the West Palm Beach-based ANGARI Foundation opens its 65-foot research vessel, R/V ANGARI, at Safe Harbor North Palm Beach Marina. The boat supports research on sharks, sea turtles, coral reefs and, yes, sargassum. Kids can learn how scientists measure sharks and decorate drift cards. Details

🛍️ A plastic-free shop worth knowing. One World Zero Waste, at 354 S. Cypress Drive, sells reusable swaps for single-use plastic: unpaper towels, snack bags, bamboo utensil kits and bowl covers, plus organic bulk foods. It's open Monday, Tuesday, and Friday 11am to 6pm. Saturday 10am to 2pm. Shop

🚗 County beach parking stays free. A plan to charge at least $4 an hour at 12 more county beach parks came out of the 2027 budget before the September 3 budget hearing, Parks and Recreation Director Jennifer Cirillo told WFLX. Details

🐢 A Climate Week event worth checking out. Loggerhead Marinelife Center's By the Sea lecture on October 7 is part of Climate Week. Researchers will talk about how temperature shapes sea turtle development, and what nest data says about sex ratios in our leatherbacks, loggerheads and greens. Details

Almost. Amounts have been dropping since July, but researchers say the seaweed "is likely here to stay."

So, if you stepped around brown, crunchy piles at the beach this summer, things will get a bit better, but the seaweed remains. The sargassum belt peaked in June at its second-highest level in the satellite record, just behind 2025. The good news? USF says amounts have been dropping since July.

The less-good news, researchers say the belt "is likely here to stay." So we put together everything you need to know. Why there's so much of it, whether it's harmful, what it costs our coastal towns, and how people are turning it into fish food and bricks.

Check out the breakdown.

Anytime