The Environment

Robert P. Watson

Along with nuclear war and international terrorism, the quality of the natural environment stands as an issue capable of dominating the public agenda and threatening our security.

The 20^th century was given many labels, from "the American century" to the bloodiest century, but it can also be remembered as the environmental century, for better or for worse. No other century in human history witnessed anything close to the rate of human population growth and both the rate and sheer magnitude of loss of wetlands, forests, topsoil, agricultural lands, and species of flora and fauna. Moreover, advances in technology made possible the wholesale degradation of nature on a scale heretofore unimaginable, as human recklessness has been linked to global warming, the melting of the polar ice caps, gaping holes in the protective ozone layer, and declining fish populations in the great oceans.

At the same time, however, scientific progress has helped unlock many of the deepest mysteries of the earth and its varied ecosystems and habitats. Armed with this knowledge, we are now better equipped to understand, prevent, and repair damage to the natural world. But, perhaps most important, the previous century gave birth to an awakened environmental consciousness.

This new awareness of nature produced environmental education programs, conservation, an appreciation of biodiversity, earth-centered philosophies, eco-friendly consumerism and commerce, and even the greening of politics. Perhaps the foremost environmental challenge is the recognition that the nature around us depends on the nature within us.

Coal miners in an earlier era adopted the practice of taking a canary in a cage with them down into the mines where they worked. In addition to the threat of a mine collapsing, a fear of every miner was pockets of underground gases released during the mining process, gases which typically were odorless and invisible to the human senses until it was too late. These gases were lethal when inhaled for extended periods or, if a miner's axe struck a rock causing a spark, they proved combustible. The canary, however, with smaller, more sensitive lungs would succumb to the gases before the miners. In effect, the canary served as an early warning system. When the canary fell off the perch, it meant gases were present. It was time to get out of the mine.

Just as is the case of the canary, the earth has many early warning signals indicating threats to the health of the planet. Such signals provide a barometer for gauging the health of the planet and a report card of human relationships with nature. But they also offer an early warning system that something is wrong.

The key is to recognize and act on the warnings which are apparent all around us, including: the rapid loss of virgin rainforest in Amazonia; the increased pace at which the polar icecaps are melting; the record numbers of species going extinct (a rate higher than anytime since the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago); the rate of human population growth; worldwide bleaching of our coral reefs; the discovery by NASA scientists of gaping holes in the ozone layer above the polar regions; the energy crisis of the 1970s and continued dependence on fossil fuels; dying forests in southeast Canada and northern New England; and so on.

It is not only a "values question," but it is also an economic reality. From sport fishing to beaches, Florida's' natural environment drives tourism and is one of the reasons we Floridians love our state. But, Florida's agricultural lands are at risk from the pressures of unmitigated development. We don't want to face the prospect of awakening one day to find ourselves completely dependent on imported vegetables and citrus. As citizens who love our pristine natural environment and recognize that our health and economic vitality are dependent on making clean air and clean water a fundamental right, we must act as stewards of the land and our state's 1,300 mile coastline. As a state tied to the sea economically and physically more than nearly any other state, we have a vested interest in preventing the deterioration of the world's oceans and threat of rising sea levels because of global warming.

We should be rightly alarmed by the fact that U.S. oceans and lakes beaches - including many in Florida - are closed or posted roughly 20,000 times a year because of bacteria, sewage spills, and other health threats. So too should we be alarmed that the Pew Charitable Trusts identified dead zones in our oceans, the World Resources Institute documented the dying of roughly 38% of the coral in the Florida Keys in a recent three-year period, and the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute in Fort Pierce has warned about the devastating threat looming to Florida's $180 million dollar per year seafood industry as well as recreational fishing and boating.

President Bush declared war on the environment and on our health. Without question, his administration and the previous Congress were the most environmentally irresponsible in modern times. Bush's so-called Clear Skies and Healthy Forests initiatives were, frankly, neither. They sought to allow more arsenic to legally enter the water supply, allowed clear cutting in our forests, and permitted drilling and mining near national parks and other natural treasures. Vice President Dick Cheney and congressional leaders even went so far as to invite the energy industry to the table to actually weaken our nation's air, water, and forest protections.

Enough is Enough! We need a fundamental reorientation of air, water, pollution, solid waste, and even population policies.