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Florida Attempts the Largest Hydraulic Restoration Project In the World To Save the Everglades (vice.com)
New submitter ar2286 shares a report from Motherboard: Florida is defined by its water -- the water flowing around it, through it, increasingly over it. But throughout the twentieth century, its major arteries of fresh water, which flowed from the Kissimmee River south of Orlando to Lake Okeechobee and down to the swampy Everglades, were permanently rerouted by the federal government and landowners to stop flooding, and make room for agriculture and housing in the southern part of the state. Now the state is working with the Army Corps of Engineers -- the government agency partly responsible for rerouting and draining water to begin with -- and the South Florida Water Management District to attempt the largest hydraulic restoration project in the world. And while some say the effort has turned Florida into a battleground, pitting sugar farmers against legislators and environmentalists, others are hoping this will finally right certain man-made wrongs and restore some balance to the state. If the government is able to fully fund the plan, and should dozens of contractors and state forces successfully carry it out, it could permanently change Florida. And set a precedent for inevitable restoration projects around the world, which are becoming increasingly crucial as climate change manifests in stronger storms and sea level rise. The state is embarking on such a massive restoration project because the aging levees and control gates surrounding Lake Okeechobee are at risk of failing during large storms and/or heavy rainfall. "The more rainwater that increases in Lake Okeechobee, the more pressure is on the lake, and that pressure can continue to build up and build up and build up and one day the levee can go," said Tammy Jackson-Moore, a Belle Glade resident who co-founded Guardians of the Glades, a nonprofit focused on community advocacy. "And we're talking about wiping out entire communities here." The rerouting has allowed for bursts of economic growth, but it does have its consequences. "The Everglades, the largest swath of subtropical wilderness in the country, is now half of its size circa 1920, and the ecosystem has deteriorated, losing wildlife and native flora," reports Motherboard. "Without a natural place to flow, stagnant water pushes toxic algae blooms into the rivers, and turns pristine ocean into sludgy waste."
Exactly this. If you like the environment, vote for things like this. Take down things like dikes and dames and allow Nature to return to itself.
I would agree with this to some extent.
Humans can be redisplaced from rural places where they are tearing up the enivronment and moved back into cities where they belong and can be managed.
Uh, OK, this is where you lost me. Move them back where they belong? As if a city is some kind of natural formation of concrete and greed. And we're talking about (rural) farmers here. You also going to vote for higher taxes to subsidize the growth in welfare to sustain farmers when you remove them from the job they know? And please don't attempt to throw a steaming political pile of STEM in my face as the solution here. Natural limitations often define the kind of job people do in life, and not every brain is cut out for a STEM job.
Earth gets to heal Herself and people become less of a plague on Earth. In the long run concentrations of populations is a good thing for efficiency of people, management of people (no one is X miles away from an administrative body), and biodiversity can regain its roots (no pun intended) throughout the rest of the lands and waters.
Ah, so efficiency of people is the goal here? Well, fuck it, let's not stop with all those "greedy" rural land owners. You spoiled bastards in your houses with your half-acre yards need to go too. I say we cram every human into apartment buildings like sardines; you know, for efficiency's sake. That way no one has grass-filled yards to waste water on, tends of thousands of separate air conditioners can be removed from the environment in favor of massive 100-story high-rise living, where everyone gets a standard-issue 750SF of administratively controlled living space. And of course, let's not forget in 10 years when cities are 10-million strong in population, the efforts we'll go through to re-route streams and rivers, once again cutting off natural habitats in order to provide enough water to feed the concrete jungle we insisted on shoving every human into.
I agree there needs to be a balance here, but cities are not where every human belongs. Part of the point of keeping our planet beautiful is to enjoy it, which often means populating areas that are not a fucking cancerous cesspool of concrete wasteland.
You also going to vote for higher taxes to subsidize the growth in welfare to sustain farmers when you remove them from the job they know?
Americans pay more than $3.5B per year to support only about 100 sugar farmers. So unless welfare recipients receive more than $35M each, no tax increases will be needed.
As sea level continues to rise the Everglades (and most of Florida) will disappear under the ocean sometime between 100 and 300 years from now.