I thought moving down south near the beach would be perfect as long as I found a safe community with a home that wasn’t infected with mold or other age-related issues.
Little did I know that the environment down there is not what it was when I was a child visiting with my grandparents all those years ago.
This place was a literal paradise back then, but much has changed since. The forested lots and farmland has been all sold to real estate developers and we have everything from condos, subdivisions, storage facilities, strip malls, to car dealerships everywhere the eye can see. On top of that, the ocean itself is a source of woe and frustration. What once was a calming presence in our lives can leave many with severe health reactions during certain times of the year. Of course I’m talking about the toxic red tide algae bloom that gets bad in late summer and autumn every year. These outbreaks cause respiratory problems for animals and humans alike, along with disease and death for fish who swim through the affected waters. Unfortunately, you can’t just slap a bandaid on red tide odors and expect them to simply go away with time. For instance, those odor reduction air conditioner filters that work so well on pet odors are just not going to cut it when you’re dealing with red tide or rotting mangroves along the other local waterways. The odors get inside your house and circulate through the central HVAC system. Then you’re smelling the red tide in every room whenever the a/c or heat is cycling.