Here’s what to do about Florida’s top environmental problems
The toxic algae blooms tainting waterways across Florida — killing aquatic life, fouling the air and devastating businesses that depend on tourism and healthy fisheries — might be the most visible problem afflicting our state’s environment, but sadly there are many others. Any candidate for state or federal office in this year’s elections who sincerely cares about Florida’s future must make a commitment to tackle the array of threats confronting our state’s greatest asset.
Discharges of polluted water east and west from rain-swollen Lake Okeechobee are only partly to blame for this summer’s algae blooms. So are longer-term culprits, including poorly managed urban and agricultural runoff and leaking septic tanks. Those same culprits are degrading water quality throughout the state. The Everglades and fragile coastal estuaries also are at risk, deprived of the natural flow of clean, fresh water that sustains their unique ecosystems.
Meanwhile, a growing demand for drinking water from Florida’s rapidly rising population is depleting the state’s underground supply and reducing the flows that nourish lakes, rivers and springs. Sprawling development is consuming open land, eliminating areas for animal habitat and groundwater recharge, and increasing pollution from runoff. It also is adding to the burden on taxpayers to extend public services and crowding roads and schools. South Florida coastal communities are routinely experiencing flooding during high tides from sea-level rise, threatening salt-water intrusion in their water supplies and forcing them to face the huge cost of retrofitting their infrastructure.
This morass awaits the men and women now running to represent their fellow Floridians in the Legislature, the Cabinet, the Governor’s Mansion and Congress. With the goal of ensuring that each of these wouldbe leaders understands the scope of the challenges facing our environment and the imperative for decisive action in response, legendary Florida conservationist Nathaniel Reed came up with a powerful idea: a report on the subject with a series of essays drafted by conservationists and addressed to all candidates for state and federal office.
Reed asked the organization he co-founded, 1000 Friends of Florida, to take the lead in editing and producing the report. Tragically, Reed did not live to see this project come to fruition. He passed away July 11 following an accident while fishing in Canada. But the report he envisioned, entitled “Trouble in Paradise,” is being presented this month just as he planned to all this year’s candidates. 1000 Friends and eight conservation groups have signed on as partners.
After outlining the daunting environmental challenges facing Florida, the report identifies six priorities for the state’s next set of leaders: conserving natural lands; safeguarding the water supply; promoting water conservation; protecting and restoring water quality; managing growth; and addressing climate change and community resilience. There are specific, practical recommendations for meeting each of these priorities.
The report also highlights four, at-risk resource areas: the Apalachicola River and Bay, Florida’s springs and springsheds, the Greater Everglades ecosystem and the Indian River Lagoon. Each requires its own special mix of policies, programs and funding to meet its unique needs; there is no one size fits all solution. There are additional recommendations in the report for each of these areas, too.
The environment is Florida’s greatest asset because our state’s magnificent beaches, rivers, springs, unspoiled open lands, wildlife and other precious natural resources are at the core of our coveted quality of life. They are a magnet for more than 1,000 new Florida residents a day and more than 100 million visitors a year. They are the signature feature for communities throughout the state. They’re a key selling point in luring top employers. An array of multibillion-dollar industries in Florida, from tourism to agriculture to fishing, directly depends on a healthy environment.
To better protect this asset, Florida’s next set of leaders don’t have to start from scratch. Previous generations of farsighted leaders in both parties created and refined effective programs for solving environmental problems. But over the years, a number of those programs were weakened or outright eliminated. Florida lawmakers dismantled the state’s growth management agency and slashed funding for the five regional water management districts in 2011. They rolled back enforcement actions against polluters. They reduced support for local efforts to address water quality. They gutted funding for the state’s nationally recognized land conservation program, Florida Forever.
Florida’s leaders can meet the state’s environmental challenges by restoring and enhancing the successful programs their predecessors developed. Doing so will require enforcing policies, rules and laws already in place. It will take appointing strong and effective leaders in the agencies, and providing sufficient funding for them to carry out their mandates. Once that foundation is re-established, new legislation may be needed to update and upgrade the state’s efforts.
The future of Florida’s environment – and therefore its quality of life and its economy – will be in the hands of the leaders elected in November. If they act with the urgency that today’s dire situation demands, they can honor their responsibility to their constituents, and fulfill the fondest hopes of Nathaniel Reed.