Lets talk about the Everglades

If you didn't know it, the Everglades are dying. And it's all our fault. Yeah, I did say it, all OUR fault. People are dumb, I mean dumb. Well, maybe I should use that word ignorant. I mean when you do something without really thinking or knowing what could happen in the future, I guess you can say that's ignorant. Since 1907 the Everglades have been altered, paved, diked, leveed, and channelized all to the detriment of the ENTIRE system. Concerns were raised in the 1920's about the impact we were having on the ecosystem, but then in 1947 there were huge floods and so the response was, drain it, kill it, make it dry. sigh, people are so dumb. Let me explain a little about the 'Glades. It starts at the Kissimmee river, north of Lake Okeechobee, and then SHOULD flow across the ground down to the Gulf of Mexico. The term "river of grass" was coined in Marjorie Stoneman Douglas because that is what it looked like. The Everglades are supposed to be a huge sheet flow of water, a few feet deep, but miles wide. But, people want to live there. Why? Why? Why? Duh, there were huge floods in the 1940's, why would you want to move there? The Seminole lived there for the longest time and didn't worry about the floods, the gators or the panthers. They lived with them, dealt with them. The Army Corps of Engineers came in and put cement walls up all around Lake Okeechobee, so it wouldn't flood anymore, and put rivers into canals and levees up along the side, pretty much trying to keep them in their channels. Which is really stupid, because rivers want to meander, and move. If you try to control them and keep them in one spot, they destroy something else that you weren't planning on. Since they dammed and channeled and leveed the river and lake "to death," and the sugar companies were taking so much water out, the federal government, in 1972, had to regulate a MINUMUM amount of water that would enter the 'Glades. Yes, a minimum. Meaning that there had to be just enough water left to feed the 'Glades, because the sugar companies and agriculture were and are taking it all. And that was back in 1972! Anyway, now everyone wants to fix what we have screwed up. Yeah, okay.... to the tune of over $7.8 billion, oh, wait, that was back in 1999. In 2000 the Federal Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan was passed, along with the State Everglades Forever Act, both saying that yes, the Everglades need to be repaired. So now what? It's been over 6 years and the 'Glades haven't been repaired, and it now is going to cost more money that it did before, obviously. Now that all those people live in Florida, south of Lake Okeechobee, where they really shouldn't live, the scientists have to find some way to restore the 'Glades and get water to millions of people. They also have to control flooding and erosion while they are at it. hahahahahahahaha!! Sometimes I just want to pull my hair out. This would be another time when people really need to THINK about the future of the environment before they move somewhere like southern Florida. jeez. You know what really sucks? Once the 'Glades die, and don't get me wrong, they will, cause people are more worried about our millions dollar homes than they are about where their water comes from, all those animals that are indigenous to the 'Glades, will be gone forever. Just like all the others we have made extinct. We will lose a large amount of biodiveristy that lives in a relatively small area. Currently 68 species that depend on the 'Glades are on the endangered or threatened list. 68!!! nice. I guess that's not TOOO many, since there are hundreds that live there. right? (sarcasm dripping) let's just hope one isn't a cornerstone species. which means, once that species dies, so do MANY others. it's not a good thing. A lot of these species are dying because they are being killed off, they are dying because we are paving their habitat. They have no where to live. Or we have so badly degraded the waters that their food sources can no longer survive. So they die. Many of the bird species come to the 'Glades to mate and resproduce. But if they dont' have enough habitat or food, they can't do that, so there are no new generations to take over for the ones that are dying. Oh, for all those non science geeks :) Indigenous means they can't be found anywhere else, like the Florida panther, which is only found in the Everglades. just something to think about. i think i'll talk about the Chesapeake Bay next time, it's a subject near and dear to me :) And it's sooo messed up.