35
ble. The obvious common sense solution would be to provide a buffer around headwaters and EAA seepage areas that feed into the Everglades by removing the cause
of phosphorus enrichment, which is due to runoff, seepage, and ground water flow
from agricultural lands. Modern agriculture as practiced today requires the application of soil amendments, fertilizers and pesticides (including algaecides, herbicides,
fungicides, etc.) that are eventually leached into surface and ground waters that seep
into the Everglades. These polluted, nutrient-rich waters are the cause of most problems and a sensible solution would be to focus on the cause rather than the symptoms (Perry 2008). Modern societies studiously avoid causes and focus instead on
symptoms because it is easier to treat symptoms than causes. It is just that simple.
Politicos avoid hard decisions because they are not concerned with providing rational solutions to problems, but to maintaining their status quo (continued term in
office) while appearing to provide viable solutions. It is a gimmick or game, sometimes referred to as the ‘narrative’ which in a sense is really propaganda, that works
every time as the public is generally scientifically illiterate and so it is easy to parlay
solutions that are acceptable to the public. The solutions offered may be scientifically absurd, but they are nevertheless accepted by an ignorant public that does not
want to think about hard decisions or which really does not care about what happens
to the environment until it personally effects them in an adverse way.
1.4.4 Common Sense Approach
A common sense approach to the ‘Everglades problem’ focuses on the obvious fact
that totalitarian agriculture and healthy coastal wetlands are incompatible. Byproducts
from monocultures (e.g., sugar cane farming, citrus groves, cattle ranches, dairy
farms) inadvertently pollute natural systems and if the ecosystem can’t absorb the
environmental insult of nutrient-laden waters, the system will evolve in response to
the new conditions. Proposed and implemented counter measures to clean up polluted waters have little effect when agricultural nutrients continue to have unfettered
ingress. Storm water treatment areas in constructed wetlands (e.g., Guardo et al.
1995) and deep well injection for underground storage of water may be viable methods in some situations but they will not solve the problem in the Everglades because
the cause of the problem has not been removed. These are expensive stopgap
measures that draw public attention to purported cures for what ails the Everglades
ecosystem, polluted and contaminated wastewater from agriculture.
Sadly, the nature of the problem has more far reaching effects than generally
recognized. It is now appreciated that water quality in Florida Bay is affected by
runoff from the Everglades to the extent that the Bay experiences algal blooms and
contains a so-called ecological dead zone as well as mercury contaminants in fish
(e.g., Evans and Crumley 2005). These unwanted ecological responses occur due to
nutrient-laden waters entering the bay from the Everglades. Equally disastrous is
the upwelling of polluted EAA (Everglades Agricultural Area) water along the
Florida Reef Tract. Degradation of coral-algal reef systems result from underground
1 The Florida Everglades: An Overview of Alteration and Restoration
ble. The obvious common sense solution would be to provide a buffer around headwaters and EAA seepage areas that feed into the Everglades by removing the cause
of phosphorus enrichment, which is due to runoff, seepage, and ground water flow
from agricultural lands. Modern agriculture as practiced today requires the application of soil amendments, fertilizers and pesticides (including algaecides, herbicides,
fungicides, etc.) that are eventually leached into surface and ground waters that seep
into the Everglades. These polluted, nutrient-rich waters are the cause of most problems and a sensible solution would be to focus on the cause rather than the symptoms (Perry 2008). Modern societies studiously avoid causes and focus instead on
symptoms because it is easier to treat symptoms than causes. It is just that simple.
Politicos avoid hard decisions because they are not concerned with providing rational solutions to problems, but to maintaining their status quo (continued term in
office) while appearing to provide viable solutions. It is a gimmick or game, sometimes referred to as the ‘narrative’ which in a sense is really propaganda, that works
every time as the public is generally scientifically illiterate and so it is easy to parlay
solutions that are acceptable to the public. The solutions offered may be scientifically absurd, but they are nevertheless accepted by an ignorant public that does not
want to think about hard decisions or which really does not care about what happens
to the environment until it personally effects them in an adverse way.
1.4.4 Common Sense Approach
A common sense approach to the ‘Everglades problem’ focuses on the obvious fact
that totalitarian agriculture and healthy coastal wetlands are incompatible. Byproducts
from monocultures (e.g., sugar cane farming, citrus groves, cattle ranches, dairy
farms) inadvertently pollute natural systems and if the ecosystem can’t absorb the
environmental insult of nutrient-laden waters, the system will evolve in response to
the new conditions. Proposed and implemented counter measures to clean up polluted waters have little effect when agricultural nutrients continue to have unfettered
ingress. Storm water treatment areas in constructed wetlands (e.g., Guardo et al.
1995) and deep well injection for underground storage of water may be viable methods in some situations but they will not solve the problem in the Everglades because
the cause of the problem has not been removed. These are expensive stopgap
measures that draw public attention to purported cures for what ails the Everglades
ecosystem, polluted and contaminated wastewater from agriculture.
Sadly, the nature of the problem has more far reaching effects than generally
recognized. It is now appreciated that water quality in Florida Bay is affected by
runoff from the Everglades to the extent that the Bay experiences algal blooms and
contains a so-called ecological dead zone as well as mercury contaminants in fish
(e.g., Evans and Crumley 2005). These unwanted ecological responses occur due to
nutrient-laden waters entering the bay from the Everglades. Equally disastrous is
the upwelling of polluted EAA (Everglades Agricultural Area) water along the
Florida Reef Tract. Degradation of coral-algal reef systems result from underground
1 The Florida Everglades: An Overview of Alteration and Restoration