 Many were college students or recent graduates who had grown up along the coast and understood that the window of opportunity for stalling climate change was rapidly closing. During their lifetimes, they told me, their hometowns would be radically altered, if not sunken. By the end of the legislative session that March, none of the bills they wanted were passed. Even though just 10 years ago, it was all but mandatory for both Democrats and Republicans in Florida to at least make overtures about the need for proactive environmental laws.