Letter To Rick Scott and Adam Putnam

I am writing you because I have a love for our State of Florida, and all of her ecosystems, and we are witnessing what appears to be a collapse of many of them. Not only am I saddened for the suffering that our wildlife friends are enduring, I am also saddened that my family can not enjoy the things we love most about our beautiful state… pristine beaches and waterways. I am concerned about what kind of damage we are causing, and what kind of environment we are creating and leaving for our children. “We have not inherited the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” (Ancient Native American proverb)

What we are witnessing right now is our beaches covered with Red Tide and decaying fish. Our water ways are covered in toxic blue green algae. We are witnessing sea turtles die off in numbers that have surpassed previous years. There are manatee’s being found floating dead in waterways they once thrived in. We of course know that both Cyanobacteria and Karenia brevis are naturally occurring, but are we seeing the severity of both of these because of human activity? Both Cyanobacteria and Karenia brevis feed off of nutrient rich waters, nutrients which are being added to our waterways from several different sources of human activity.

With this said I feel it would behoove us to greatly limit the amount of nitrogen, phosphorus, and toxins such as glyphosate, allowed our waterways. In July of 2016, Florida regulators lessened the regulations, which may be a contributing factor to our current water crisis. I ask that you immediately impose new water standards to decrease the amount of fertilizers, herbicides and toxins allowed into Florida’s water. I also would urge that the Department of Environmental protection reevaluates the scientific method in which they used to decide the new standard that’s allowing dangerous amounts of chemicals in high concentrations into Florida waterways.

I am also asking that you consult with Garrett Stuart, a marine scientist out of Key West about his proposed solution of using Duckweed to control the blue green algae coming out of Lake Okeechobee. Duckweed doubles in mass every twenty-four hours and will take the excess nitrogen and phosphorus out of freshwater ways. From there we can then work on creating legislation that promotes environmental sustainability, because we need to be treating the root of the problem, not just applying band aids.

I urge you to ask your constituents what they love most about living in Florida, and to truly listen. What I hear when I listen to both residents and tourist is they love the natural world Florida has to offer. They love the beautiful clear waters of the gulf, the beautiful waterways to kayak in, and all the wildlife Florida has to offer. I do not hear how much people love phosphate mining, large sugar farms and contaminated lake Okeechobee, or the over development of land.

References

Natures Academy. (2018) Red Tide in Florida, Karenia brevis is back. Retrieved from: https://www.naturesacademy.org/uncategorized/red-tide-florida-karenia-brevis-back/

Pelley, J ( 6.21.16) Scientists debate the best way to tame toxic algal blooms. C&EN, Volume 94(12) pp.21–23. Retrieved from https://cen.acs.org/articles/94/i12/Scientists-debate-best-way-tame.html