36
transport of nutrient-rich groundwater from the EAA to the coastal ocean (e.g.,
Finkl and Charlier 2003a, b; Finkl and Krupa 2003; Finkl and Makowski 2013a, b;
Finkl et al. 2005).
This means that side effects of totalitarian agriculture adversely affect a wide
range of protected areas ranging from Gulf and Atlantic cost estuaries, the Everglades
National Park, to Florida Bay, and also to the Florida Reef Tract. Pulsed releases of
contaminated fresh water from Lake Okeechobee adversely affect estuaries leading
to both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean via the Caloosahatchee Estuary
on the west coast and the St. Lucie Canal to the Indian River Lagoon on the east
coast. The degree of environmental degradation is legion and it is hard to believe
that extant problems can be remediated until buffer zones can be established that
remove agriculture from the perimeters of protected areas.
Humans live in alternative realities, which means that they perceive themselves
as not part of Nature but apart from it and in control of it. What is required is a paradigm shift where humans go through a cognitive process so that they perceive themselves as part of Nature. This notion of separate identity, which is deliberately
contrived via the education system (Gatto 2015) that stifles common sense and
ratiocinative powers, leads to manifold environmental problems that seem unsolvable because it is inconceivable to consider attending to the cause of degradation of
Everglades ecosystems. Preposterous as the suggestion may seem to those government officials and members of the general public who are recalcitrant and intractable, the suggestion of removal of surrounding agricultural lands needs to be
considered as a possibility, or perhaps some kind of meaningful curtailment or amelioration of present activities to those that might be more environmentally (ecologically) benign. Consideration of possibilities based on sound scientific principles
offers potential solutions in a real sense where there are ranges or degrees of limiting agricultural lands. In the real world there are always opportunities and possibilities for interventions, but in alternative realities there are always roadblocks or
impossibilities. The latter are imposed by special interest groups and lobbyists who
do their best to thwart perceived threats to the status quo, no matter what downstream environmental damage their special interest activities may induce. A paradigm shift is thus needed in the politico-socioeconomic system and government that
allows all possibilities to be on the table and open for discussion and real-world
action. Until that change occurs as a true intention and not a smoke screen, there
will be no meaningful change in the course of human action that results in a cleaner
Everglades environment.
1.4.5 Need for a Change in Perception
In order for a paradigm shift to take place to produce more acceptable ecoscenarios,
that is a change in attitude towards what can be accomplished with a modicum of
common sense, there must be a serious reality check. The realities of the Everglades
ecosystem as it now stands is that the environment is severely degraded not only in
C.W. Finkl and C. Makowski
transport of nutrient-rich groundwater from the EAA to the coastal ocean (e.g.,
Finkl and Charlier 2003a, b; Finkl and Krupa 2003; Finkl and Makowski 2013a, b;
Finkl et al. 2005).
This means that side effects of totalitarian agriculture adversely affect a wide
range of protected areas ranging from Gulf and Atlantic cost estuaries, the Everglades
National Park, to Florida Bay, and also to the Florida Reef Tract. Pulsed releases of
contaminated fresh water from Lake Okeechobee adversely affect estuaries leading
to both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean via the Caloosahatchee Estuary
on the west coast and the St. Lucie Canal to the Indian River Lagoon on the east
coast. The degree of environmental degradation is legion and it is hard to believe
that extant problems can be remediated until buffer zones can be established that
remove agriculture from the perimeters of protected areas.
Humans live in alternative realities, which means that they perceive themselves
as not part of Nature but apart from it and in control of it. What is required is a paradigm shift where humans go through a cognitive process so that they perceive themselves as part of Nature. This notion of separate identity, which is deliberately
contrived via the education system (Gatto 2015) that stifles common sense and
ratiocinative powers, leads to manifold environmental problems that seem unsolvable because it is inconceivable to consider attending to the cause of degradation of
Everglades ecosystems. Preposterous as the suggestion may seem to those government officials and members of the general public who are recalcitrant and intractable, the suggestion of removal of surrounding agricultural lands needs to be
considered as a possibility, or perhaps some kind of meaningful curtailment or amelioration of present activities to those that might be more environmentally (ecologically) benign. Consideration of possibilities based on sound scientific principles
offers potential solutions in a real sense where there are ranges or degrees of limiting agricultural lands. In the real world there are always opportunities and possibilities for interventions, but in alternative realities there are always roadblocks or
impossibilities. The latter are imposed by special interest groups and lobbyists who
do their best to thwart perceived threats to the status quo, no matter what downstream environmental damage their special interest activities may induce. A paradigm shift is thus needed in the politico-socioeconomic system and government that
allows all possibilities to be on the table and open for discussion and real-world
action. Until that change occurs as a true intention and not a smoke screen, there
will be no meaningful change in the course of human action that results in a cleaner
Everglades environment.
1.4.5 Need for a Change in Perception
In order for a paradigm shift to take place to produce more acceptable ecoscenarios,
that is a change in attitude towards what can be accomplished with a modicum of
common sense, there must be a serious reality check. The realities of the Everglades
ecosystem as it now stands is that the environment is severely degraded not only in
C.W. Finkl and C. Makowski