Grunwald- Endgame

“Florida conservationists had helped stop plume hunts, preserve millions of acres of wetlands, mandate minimum flows to Everglades National Park, and secure the largest nutrient cleanup in history. But the Everglades was still dying.” (Grunwald 78)

Green Mangroves Source: Everglades Foundation Instagram

 Grunwald’s excerpt in the Colloquium reader showed the some of the struggles that lie behind the politics and the process of getting things prepped to improve our nation & society. When the Bush-Gore election was taking place in 2000, I was in the first grade and unaware that any of these environmental issues were taking place. Its interesting to read about all that was going on, especially in our state of Florida. I felt the quote above was a good translation of the article’s purpose. Conservationists are always working to protect and save the Everglades, and no matter how much they did, or how hard they worked, the Everglades was still dying. The excerpt then discusses the tug of war action taken to preserve this unique landscape. 

“The basic message was that it made no sense for the federal government to green-light a major airport at the edge of the everglades at the same time it wanted taxpayers to spend $8 billion to restore the Everglades.” (Grunwald 82)

Source: Cost to the Environment

When a large airport was going to be built on top of the Everglades in Homestead a controversy occurred. The target of many campaigns was Al Gore, who could kill or approve construction of the airport. He stated that he wanted a “balanced solution that would help the economy without hurting the environment” (Grunwald 83). Later Gore stated: “I didn’t think the airport threatened the survival of the Everglades” (Grunwald 84). This whole section of the excerpt seemed like a hug tug of war, constantly pulling back and forth between big business and money, or preserving the environment. I personally feel that Gore’s statement about not realizing that the airport would threaten the Everglades is illogical. It would be taking away land from natural habitat, creating all sorts of pollution and runoff, and septic systems would be draining into the Everglades’ waters.  For an educated politician to not realize this is senseless.

“As the new millennium dawned, the Everglades was not yet saved. But it was not yet doomed either.” (Grunwald 103)

Everglades Ecosystem Source: Everglades Foundation Instagram

I thought that this final quote was a very powerful statement. I feel it translates to mean that the Everglades is not yet in perfect, pristine condition, however it’s not in peril either. Since this excerpt was written in 2006 large strides have been made in Everglades protection. The Everglades Foundation website states, “During the 2014 session, the Florida Legislature made tremendous strides in the ongoing effort to protect and restore America’s Everglades. The Legislature increased overall funding to $169 million – more than double the previous year’s funding for water quality improvements and restoration.” I bet Grunwald would be happy to see the progress.  

Read more about funding on the Everglades restoration projects Here!