South Florida's Gloomy Present, Gloomier Future Part 3 — EATING THE EVERGLADES

          If we fail to care or learn from what is happening in Homestead, Miami-Dade, Immokalee, or Palm Beach County then we freely consent to the conversion of fragile wetlands and sensitive environments throughout the State to agricultural uses and then to urban development. As a critical aside, the growth dynamic we’re talking about does not affect only south Florida. For example, in early 2006, planning officials in St. Lucie County in central coastal Florida revealed that recently proposed development in and adjacent to the City of Port St. Lucie would add nearly 43,000 houses and almost 19 million square feet of business space.

          What those places tell us is that the greed-intoxicated powerbrokers and their fat political buds have ruled the roost for many decades and have so controlled Florida’s history that buckets of money have wound up in their pockets. What is occurring on the ground today is what is in store for Florida in the future unless people take the bit between their teeth and initiate actions that ensure change. Thinking vague, romantic thoughts about how important the environment is to America’s future simply won’t cut it. Neither will visiting the Everglades once every five or ten years and then telling everyone how much you enjoyed it. Directed, targeted action is the only solution.

          Let me ask my Readers a question. Do you think that the opinions expressed in this blog about out-of-control Florida growth are only held by me? Not bloody likely. St. Petersburg Times columnist Bill Maxwell wrote in 2003: “The Sunshine State, one of the nation’s great treasures, is fast becoming the Asphalt State. What we are doing to our paradise is criminal and, well, stupid.” In a similar vein, Joe Newman of the Orlando Sentinel reported in 2003: “When it comes down to it, no matter how much lip service state and local planners offer against sprawl, they rarely do anything to stop it.” Or as Carl Hiaasen wrote in the Miami Herald on 2-27-05: “It will take a few years before all those projects [converting vast tracts of farmland in southwest Miami-Dade to residential use] are finished and sold out, but the greedheads want more. So they’ve targeted the last green ribbon of privately owned mainland.” Only the money and influence of the powerbrokers explains why Florida’s shameless politicians have not stopped the growth blitzkrieg.

          Just in case you might think that I’ve ignored the disastrous financial collapse in 2008 and 2009, here’s information on continued growth in the 2011 Miami Market: “The Beacon Lakes Business Park, a joint venture of Flagler [Development Company] and AMB Property Corporation (now known as Prologis), reached 100 percent occupancy on all of its leasable space at the end of 2010 and is part of an Airport West submarket that is driving Miami's already-strong industrial market.”[1] Do you Readers remember Beacon Lakes from Part 2? The one developed by Armando Codina, none other than Jeb Bush’s former business partner? Well, it’s doing very nicely as a commercial property developer, thank you, despite the financial downturn.

          The addition of more and more people to south Florida translates directly into greater negative effects on increasingly scarce land-water resources. That’s non-debatable by all except the most closed-minded, non-rational anti-environmentalists and the powerbrokers who are determined not to let the truth be known. The maintenance of the present trend of ever increasing population pressure on south Florida ensures the continued alteration of landscapes that run the gamut from resilient to incredibly fragile, from commonplace to World Heritage uniqueness. As Joni Mitchell wrote and sang so well in the hit 1970 song, Big Yellow Taxi:

“They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”

          The big question concerning land-water use that has been posed for many decades is straightforward. In the near future, how will Floridians protect their fragile environments at the same time as the State is actively working 24-7 to attract enormous growth? As far as any honest person is concerned, those goals can never be accomplished simultaneously. If doable solutions are to be found they remain hidden in the fog of uncertainty and in the quicksand of the political decision-making process. But hey, here’s a solid clue. We’re talking about Florida. A State that historically has given no indication of willingly changing its spots in terms of how it treats the environment, which is as a banquet for getting fatter and fatter. Burrrrp.

          I’ve posed a few rhetorical questions below and have been thoughtful enough to answer for my patient Readers.

Question: Can the five or six million people who now live on or near south Florida’s Atlantic Coastal Ridge do so in balance with the environment?

Response: Absolutely not. Controls are needed in the form of critical compromises between human occupance and the environment. Or the result will be unsustainable socioeconomic and environmental conditions. And that is precisely the nature of the shotgun barrels south Florida is staring into at present. And, unless you a right-wing idiot incapable of ratiocination, you must know which side has compromised the most and which the least.

Question: Will near- and mid-term future population growth in Florida cause even more severe environmental stress?

Response: Absolutely. Just look at what is happening today in the western Miami metropolitan area, southwest Florida, Orlando and the adjacent Green Swamp counties, Palm Beach County, and in the coastal areas of the Panhandle and multiply that by more than several hundred percent. Then imagine a couple million more people lining the east coast from Homestead to Palm Beach forty years from now. That vision requires the Everglades to get smaller even as a marginally functioning, Disneyesque ecosystem.

Question: Does Florida have the legal-organizational mechanisms in place to manage existing population growth and resource usage?

Response: Not at this time and don’t bother wondering what the future holds because it’s right in front of us after the Florida’s State Republican representatives eviscerated the 1985 Growth Management Law.

Question: Are Florida politicians likely to address these critical problems by passing effective statewide land use/growth management restrictions?

Response: No chance in Hell unless the current political campaign contribution trends change. Fat chance of that happening in my lifetime. However, there’s one serious caveat to that response: If all the models and projections demonstrate that growth management must become a necessity to achieve a minimal level of sustainability then my guess is that even the politicians and developers will eventually jump on the bandwagon so they can sharply limit the ability of whatever regulations are proposed to control growth in a meaningful way. Because that’s the only way to keep growing fatter and fatter. But always at the expense of wetlands. Burrrrp.

          If the past is prologue to the future, natural or partially natural environments in Florida are in deep, deep trouble with problems looming on the horizon that are much more serious than anything we have today. With no way to address them effectively. Remember the coming tidal wave. Once that hits reality will have changed permanently. But one critical lesson we must avoid is poor Hamilton Disston contemplating the end of his Florida misadventures staring into the muzzle of his pistol in his rapidly cooling bath water. Shades of Richard Cory.

          The consequences of human use of the land detailed above are not figments of the imaginations of deranged environmentalists. They have been carefully documented by such well respected agencies and organizations as the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Science Coordination Team, U.S. Geological Survey, the National Academy of Sciences, and by many dozens of independent university institutes and by individual researchers. The critical issue is not what happened to the south Florida environment in the past but what we will allow to happen to the land in the future. Land, remember? It’s the land that counts. And how we use it.

          The truth is, all is not necessarily lost. Hope for the future of Florida’s few remaining natural places may be a viable strategy if people are willing to act now to save what’s left. But what’s the reality of that happening? My answer: Slim to none and Slim rode out of town a couple months ago.

          So, my honest advice is to saddle up the car and the kids for a road trip to the Everglades or the Fakahatchee in the winter (the mosquitoes will drive you mad in the summer) to view what’s left. Because it’s not going to get a hell of a lot better than the severely human-altered and damaged landscape you see today.

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[1] Alexander Britell, February 01, 2011 08:00 A.M.; Beacon Lakes drives Miami industrial market; see http://therealdeal.com/miami/articles/beacon-lakes-drives-up-miami-industrial-market