Going Green Has Never Been Easier!
Apr 2, 2009 9:44 pm US/Eastern
Trying To Save Our Wetlands One Port At A Time
PORT EVERGLADES (CBS4) ―
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An alligator sits in partially burned sawgrass along a canal 20 April 1999 near Interstate I-95, also known as Alligator Alley, in the Everglades in Southwestern Broward County, Florida.
Robert Sullivan/Getty Images
It was a small sendoff with a big message: Two men departed from their New River stop in Fort Lauderdale Thursday for a two month boat trip, with the goal to focus attention at 15 ports of call from South Florida to New Orleans on the need to push back against the erosion of our wetlands and coastlines.
Wetlands—think about the Everglades—are, or used to be, rich habitats for wildlife and natural reservoirs for drinking water. Vegetation once covered our barrier islands, creating the perfect erosion barrier against wind and tide.
Val Marmillion and Juan Pisani are members of a group called America's Wetland Foundation. Marmillion said, "We call it sustainable development. You can have development and protect the wetlands and coastal areas. You can do both."
Florida, indeed much of the Gulf Coast, is not exactly a shining example of that conviction. Wetlands continue to disappear under cement along with our barrier islands. That erases protection between man and Mother Nature, especially during hurricane season. We have seen the devastating results of that shortsightedness time and again.
The America's Wetland Foundation is just the latest environmental voice making the case that what is good for the environment is good for us as well.
That's a tough sell in places where high-rise projects have been welcomed with open arms for decades. The clock cannot be turned back. Moving forward, though, activists hope awareness might at least slow the disappearance of natural treasures that, once gone, can never be reclaimed.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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