We're a month away from choosing a new governor in Florida.

While we've seen lots of breathless prognosticating about a possible "blue wave" or "red wave" in the impending midterms, some far more tangible forces are affecting Florida politics in these final weeks of election season:

Red tide and blue-green algae.

Florida's environment is now enduring a full-peninsula assault. And voters are sick about it, literally.

Let's review the conditions:

The year-old red tide bloom off Southwest Florida has killed upwards of 400 sea turtles, 67 manatees (with 105 more deaths suspected), and washed ashore so many millions of pounds of dead fish that Lee County's landfill has been used to burn the carcasses.

In early September, red tide reached parts of Florida's Panhandle, where fish kills have been reported in Walton, Bay and Gulf counties.

And last weekend, red tide emerged along the Atlantic coast — only the eighth time since the 1950s it has been documented on the east coast of Florida — apparently carried around the peninsula by currents. Red tide is naturally occurring, but it can be fueled by coastal pollution.

Fish kills were reported in Palm Beach County on Wednesday. By Thursday morning, red tide had been confirmed in the tourist mecca of Miami-Dade County, where some beaches closed.

Lifeguards abandoned their posts in Martin County last weekend after having respiratory problems consistent with red tide, which later was confirmed in Martin and neighboring St. Lucie County.

Residents of Florida's east coast are bracing for the carnage Gulf Coast residents endured earlier this year.

Then there's the toxic blue-green algae that's been fouling the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers since early June — a side effect of discharges of billions of gallons of polluted water from Lake Okeechobee to the estuaries.

All 70 people who had their noses swabbed last month by researchers in Stuart tested positive for the microcystin toxin in blue-green algae. It was confirmed as the cause of at least one dog's death, too.

Nothing against Erin Brockovich, but it's generally not a good sign when she makes multiple stops in your state, as she did across Florida in recent days. She is to the environment what Jim Cantore is to tropical weather.

Since May, I've been traveling the state with my photojournalist colleague Leah Voss, interviewing Floridians for the Florida Voices project. Our goal in each of these interviews is straightforward: to listen closely and document what issues each subject cares about this election year.

The environment is a recurring, dominant concern. That was evident from our first Florida Voices interview last spring, with teacher Jonathan Hilliard at Apollo Elementary School in Titusville. We asked him, as we do every Florida Voices subject, what worried him about the future of Florida.

“We’re such a beautiful topography, geography, but I don't think we are good stewards of our lands," Hilliard said.

He reflected on the dolphins and manatees he has long enjoyed sighting along the Indian River Lagoon.

“If we’re not good stewards, eventually my grandchildren or my great-grandchildren might not see these animals for much longer,” Hilliard said.

The almost two dozen Floridians we've interviewed for this project come from diverse backgrounds, but they are unified in their alarm about Florida's natural environment.

How could any Floridian not be worried?

Ninety percent of Lake Okeechobee was covered with toxic algae in July.

Florida's freshwater springs are in failing health. The Everglades are ever-imperiled.

Is it any wonder Florida's environment has emerged as a top-tier election issue as the state prepares to elect a new governor Nov. 6?

"For a while I think it was just the environmentalists that were concerned, and yelling so loud about what’s going on," said Palm City resident Lisa Davis, whom we interviewed last month for Florida Voices. "Now I think the general public is starting to become aware, with deterioration of our natural resources and watching our water just get worse and worse.”

Naturally, it's on the lips of every politician running for office. Gov. Rick Scott, now running for U.S. Senate, is blaming his opponent, incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson. And Nelson blames Scott, who as governor wielded great power over the state's environmental policies.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum vows to put environmental protection ahead of corporate profits; and his Republican opponent, Ron DeSantis, says he will stand up to the politically powerful sugar industry and curtail Lake Okeechobee discharges.

Meanwhile, the state's Visit Florida site continues to tout Florida's beaches — including those where death has washed ashore:

"Aside from the stunningly gorgeous sunsets, the best Gulf Coast beaches are said to have the softest sand, the clearest waters, the most fun nature trails and the best fishing."

No mention of the epic red tide bloom.

That head-in-the-soiled-sand attitude is not sitting well with voters.

No politician can claim they didn't see this coming.

But every voter I've talked to sees it clearly now.

Eve Samples is opinion/audience engagement editor at TCPalm/Treasure Coast Newspapers, which is part of the USA TODAY Network-Florida.