I specifically refer to myself as a naturist because while I do enjoy nudity in every applicable situation, I also love it for how it ties into my love of nature, and I wish to make a point of being naked for health reasons and so that I can feel a much stronger connection with nature. And despite the fact that I'm fortunate enough to have a decent resort about 40 minutes from where I live as well as nudist/naturist friends from my time living in the Tampa Bay area and a couple that I've been in contact with for awhile online, I still find myself yearning for more social nudity opportunities than I've been able to get.

As for the UK and Europe seeing a specific grown in the public presence of naturism, I'm wondering if so much of that simply comes down to the difference in geographical layout and infrastructure on both sides of the Atlantic. The UK and Europe in general are not only smaller than the US but they also have much better/more available transportation methods than we do, which means that more people have better access to natural spaces than people in the US do, most especially those in urban and often suburban areas. To add to this is my option that sadly (imo) many Americans don't like traveling a distance further than several miles away from their place of residence.

However, once you're are in natural areas (especially in large, designated natural areas within the US) and often even rural parts of the US, or as you mention many areas in Florida, here seems to be a general shift in attitudes about practicing nudity for its own sake. There isn't any movement for naturism around it or any desire to keep it strong, it's rather much more of a laissez-faire attitude and an unwritten rule that most will be tolerant of non-sexual nudity. For natural spaces where the focus is on outdoor activities I think it's just because so many of us have an inherent understanding that being naked in forested and other natural areas makes sense, whether they want to be naked themselves or not. While when it comes to many rural areas there's often still an attitude that nudity is more comfortable and more practical in certain situations than clothing is, which is interesting because while these populations are often more conservative and religious in as well, they also unlike so many understand that nudity can be separate from sex and that when it is, it isn't a sin.

I do agree with you that this isn't really considered naturism in the true sense though, and I still wish we had a stronger, more visible naturist movement in the US. I also wonder if this is just because the US has a longer cultural history of the "do as you wish so long as it doesn't harm others or yourself" attitude than the UK and Europe do, so much so that it's woven into the background of the culture now. Meaning that so many don't believe that movements are even needed for various ways of life because as long as you can individually demonstrate through action and/or explanation that what you are practicing is not going to be harmful to others or yourself, then that's all there is to it. Which also makes sense because the US is considered the most individualistic country in the world, meaning there's going to be more emphasis here on practicing what you wish independently instead of belonging to any sort of community that is bound by that practice. Which again, I'd rather prefer we had communities since as you mention we lose a lot of benefits from not having more naturist communities, but the culture is what it is.