The environmental ethical conflict is clear. On the one hand, power plants in Florida must become more environmentally sustainable, cleaner, and greener. The power plants that serve Florida's population must transition from outmoded technologies like coal and nuclear power to wind and solar power. On the other hand, power plants in Florida have been incidentally saving the manatees. The warm water surrounding the power plants has become the winter haven for manatees who might otherwise have died in waters too cold for their bodies to tolerate. Sudden changes to or closures of power plants would threaten manatee populations.

Saving the manatees and producing clean energy need not be conflicting interests. As power plants become more energy efficient, engineers and scientists should come up with feasible methods of redirecting manatee populations to safe natural sources of warm water. Developers, power plant companies, and local governments must work together to find common solutions. Manatee habitats should ideally be preserved, by state mandate if necessary. Creating preserves would ensure that during the winter months, manatees migrate to safe warmer waters rather than depend on power plants. One progressive solution has been...

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