Los Angeles Times

The Caring Middle can save the environmen­t

- By Cynthia Barnett Cynthia Barnett, the author of three books on water, first described the Caring Middle in a commenceme­nt address for Unity College. She teaches environmen­tal journalism and environmen­tal leadership at the University of Florida.

At the populous edges of the nation, red, color of danger, billows through forest and sea. The uncontroll­ed wildfires in California and red tide in Florida have darkened summer in the states named for gold and sunshine. Burned-up homes and bellyup marine life stretch for miles in some of America’s most famous respites, emptying the white-canvas tents of Yosemite and the whitesand beaches of southwest Florida.

Wildfires and toxic algae burn the lungs, leave a stomach-churning stench and share much more in common: Both occur naturally, but their effects worsen the more we encroach upon the wild. Both proliferat­e in high temperatur­es. And both are among the political sleepers of this election season.

President Trump weighed in on the wildfires in a series of tweets that blamed “bad environmen­tal laws which aren’t allowing massive amount of readily available water to be properly utilized.” The statement mystified fire and water officials, who stressed that California has more than enough water to fight fires. Contra Trump, the immediate challenges have been the record size of the blazes (visible from space, as are Florida’s harmful algal blooms), and a searing heat wave. July was the hottest month ever recorded in California, the National Oceanic and Atmospheri­c Administra­tion reported this month.

Trump’s attention to water and wildfire was atypical. Though these phenomena reflect the most urgent environmen­tal issues of our time, and are intimately tied to climate change, the administra­tion has scorned Earth science in general, including water and wildfire research. The White House budget proposal for 2019 would slash science investment at the Interior Department and NOAA by more than 20% each. It seeks to eliminate federal partnershi­ps with local communitie­s and universiti­es, such as Interior’s Joint Fire Science Program and NOAA’s Sea Grant, which works on harmful algal blooms from coast to coast and in the Great Lakes.

Axing wildfire and algae research during wildfire and algae emergencie­s is unpopular, and election-seekers are hearing as much. If there is one whiff of promise from the scorched landscapes in California and wrack lines of dead fish in Florida, it is this rising voice of America’s Caring Middle.

The Caring Middle is the supermajor­ity — too often, the silent majority — of Americans who care deeply about the environmen­t. The more they know, the more they care. Seventy-four percent of Americans feel strongly about environmen­tal protection, according to the Pew Research Center. Seventy-three percent now believe the scientific evidence for climate change, according to the spring 2018 National Survey on Energy and the Environmen­t.

No doubt, the polls also ref lect a wide political divide on environmen­tal regulation; Pew reports that 6 in 10 Republican­s say it costs too many jobs and hurts the economy. But in GOP-dominated southwest Florida, where toxic algae have clogged inland waterways and shuttered water-based businesses this summer, voters of all stripes are clamoring for solutions, including stricter pollution controls.

The red tide stretching 100 miles up the Gulf Coast is only part of the algae crisis fouling Florida. Agricultur­al and urban nutrient pollution has turned Lake Okeechobee into a cauldron of blue-green goo. Federal f lood control sends the water out both sides of the peninsula through rivers, sliming coastal estuaries and the waters in between.

In Florida’s closely watched Republican primary for governor, the algae emergency has led front-runner U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, a Fox News darling with a consistent anti-environmen­t voting record, to declare support for “smart, targeted regulation” of the pollution that fuels the toxic blooms. In fact, fixing the algae crisis is DeSantis’ only fully articulate­d Florida policy proposal in a primary campaign built around Trump’s endorsemen­t and illegal immigratio­n.

To see one of Florida’s most conservati­ve congressme­n calling for environmen­tal regulation is a powerful reminder of the strength of the Caring Middle when it finally raises its voice. In both Florida and California, residents have packed town hall meetings to learn about the once-arcane topics of phosphorus and flood control, fuel breaks and U.S. Forest Service budgets.

Like DeSantis, Florida Republican Gov. Rick Scott has made fighting toxic algae a centerpiec­e of his bid for the U.S. Senate despite his eight-year record of aggressive cuts to environmen­tal agencies, enforcemen­t and regulation. In Northern California’s fire-prone 4th Congressio­nal District, U.S. Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Elk Grove), one of the state’s outspoken climate change skeptics, moderated his message at last week’s annual Lake Tahoe Summit when he asked: “Doesn’t a warming epoch make active forest management all the more important?”

Given the increasing numbers of Americans whose lives will be affected by climate change, this movement of the pendulum from anti-environmen­t extreme to Caring Middle looks likely to continue beyond the midterm election.

Half a century ago, President Nixon created the Environmen­tal Protection Agency in response to broad public outcry over the industrial pollution fouling America’s rivers, bays and coastlines. Grandmothe­rs in pearl necklaces joined the protests over rivers that burst into flames.

Nixon was not a fan of regulation or even nature; he famously walked California’s beaches in black wingtips. But he was moved by disasters like the Santa Barbara oil spill because it “touched the conscience of the American people.” He was baffled that so many Floridians wanted to preserve a vast swamp, but he had the political intelligen­ce to help save the Everglades from a proposed jetport.

Nixon declared clean water and air “a cause beyond party and beyond factions. It has become a common cause of all the people of this country.”

Our common home is still our common cause, particular­ly when it’s under threat. Keeping our families and businesses safe from worsening wildfires, harmful algal blooms and the other fast-spreading perils of a warming world is not Republican or Democrat, too much government or too little. It’s good government. In a time of unpreceden­ted efforts to divide us, the unifying conscience of the American people can prevail.

Particular­ly when the Caring Middle is seeing red.

 ?? Noah Berger Associated Press ?? YOSEMITE VALLEY finally reopened last week. It was closed for three weeks during peak tourist season because of the Ferguson fire, still not fully contained.
Noah Berger Associated Press YOSEMITE VALLEY finally reopened last week. It was closed for three weeks during peak tourist season because of the Ferguson fire, still not fully contained.
 ?? Chris O’Meara Associated Press ?? DEAD fish in Bradenton Beach, Fla., one of many Gulf Coast communitie­s plagued by red tide.
Chris O’Meara Associated Press DEAD fish in Bradenton Beach, Fla., one of many Gulf Coast communitie­s plagued by red tide.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States