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www.florida.sierraclub.org 1
THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF SIERRA CLUB FLORIDA
Spring 2013
Inside this issueHelp Gather Signatures Now for Florida 2014 Water Conservation Amendment 2
Your Vote Counts in Nat’l Sierra Election 2
Sierrans in Action 3-4
Sierra Florida honors Dwight Adams 5
Sierra Club Florida Receives MRC Award 6
must do is to let nature resume control of water flow by removing barriers like the Tamiami Trail, the Miami Canal and the L-67 canals, while cleaning up Big Sugar’s effluent to Everglades standards. There has been some progress:• A new federal project seeks to eliminate many barriers to flow in the Central Everglades and restore sheet flow by eliminating canals. It’s not a panacea, but it’s a solid first step.• A federally-funded mile-long bridge over Tamiami Trail to restore water flow is slated to open this spring and another 5.5 miles of bridging is planned. The next 2.6-mile span is now being designed by the National Park Service.• The Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge has a foothold and now can be expanded to protect critical ranch lands surrounding the Kissimmee River.There have also been some setbacks:• Although the state of Florida and the federal government agreed to a plan to clean up Big Sugar’s water, it takes too long and doesn’t use enough land. • The state just issued 30-year sugar lease extensions on land most likely needed for cleanup.• The state has been trying to sell off land needed for Everglades restoration.• The state wants to resume the backpumping of sugar effluent into Lake Okeechobee instead of treating it and sending it south for the Everglades.• Florida Power and Light continues to seek permission for two nuclear reactors (added to two existing reactors) in an area most vulnerable to sea-level rise and requiring towering transmission lines through wetlands.
Everglades continued on page 2
How much time do we have to restore the Everglades? That question has been difficult
to answer until recently. According to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, by the time my 8-year-old daughter sees middle age, at least one-fourth to one-half of Everglades National Park’s land mass will have vanished. Many geoscientists, like Dr. Harold Wanless of the University of Miami, project an even greater rate of sea-level rise this century. Sea-level rise is no joke, and it’s particularly serious for the Everglades with elevation generally measured in the single digits. At the Everglades Coalition conference in January, Ernie Barnett, the South Florida Water Management District’s point person on Everglades Restoration, said that restoring the Everglades fresh water flow would “mitigate the effects of sea-level rise and saltwater intrusion.” But what does mitigation mean? Can we keep the Everglades from sinking into the sea? The answer rests in a complex set of circumstances: maintaining a freshwater aquifer and a hydrological head (the pressure of freshwater flowing south), and reversing soil subsidence (the sinking of the land due to drought), in concert with a world that has reduced carbon emissions. What is clear is that doing nothing or doing it too slowly will result in the loss of the southern Everglades in less than five decades. What we can and
Fighting Water With WaterRestoring the Everglades
PelicanTheSierra Club Florida
2 www.florida.sierraclub.org
The Pelican, Vol. 46, No. 1
Ron Haines, managing editor
The Pelican is published by Sierra Club Florida, 405 Inglewood Dr., Tallahassee FL, and mailed to Sierra Club Florida members. Annual
membership dues include $1 for the Pelican newsletter. Address all inquiries to PO Box 575, Tallahassee FL 32302-0575 or email
[email protected] or [email protected]
Sierra Florida Executive CommitteeMarti Daltry, Calusa, North Fort Myers
Bev Griffiths, Tampa Bay, Tampa Tom Larson, Northeast, Jacksonville Beach
Deborah Longman-Maren, Turtle Coast Stephen Mahoney, Miami, MiamiDebbie Matthews, Miami, Miami
Rudy Scheffer, Suncoast, Safety Harbor
Pelican Editorial TeamLiz Cantarine, Bradenton, [email protected]
Kathy Criscola, Tallahassee, [email protected] Ron Haines, Lantana, [email protected] Hanley, Boynton Beach, [email protected]
Visit www.florida.sierraclub.orgBetsy Grass, Miami, webmaster
Do you know your way around social media and video? The Sierra Club Florida Executive Committee wants to engage more members and activists via social media. The goal is to have more meetings and events videotaped so that we can post on various social media sites. If you are interested in helping us get started, contact Tom Larson at [email protected] or Debbie Matthews at [email protected].
Help us post videos
Help Gather Signatures Now for Florida 2014 Water Conservation Amendment
In the end, the Everglades restoration timetable has to beat the physics of sea-level rise. Rapidly restoring natural, clean fresh water flow will preserve the Everglades as long as possible. Whether we can win the battle or sustain a century-long retreat is not yet clear, but we must do everything possible to let natural processes take over. It’s our only hope. — Jonathan Ullman, South Florida/Everglades Senior Representative, Sierra Club
Protecting our waters, cherished natural areas and wildlife are fundamental to a healthy and vibrant
Florida. Right now, you can help Sierra Club Florida and Florida's Water and Land Legacy Campaign place a critical conservation amendment on the November 2014 ballot. With festivals happening around the state, the coming months offer the most productive signature-gathering opportunities during this campaign. Let’s make sure state lawmakers continue to invest in conservation to protect clean water for people and wildlife, restore important natural areas like the Everglades and safeguard our springs and other magnificent treasures for future generations. Visit Florida's Water and Land Legacy website at floridawaterlandlegacy.org/volunteer to learn more about the campaign and sign up to volunteer today. Florida needs your help — Florida is counting on you! — Debbie Matthews, Sierra Club Florida Executive Committee Chair
The 2013 election for the Club’s Board of Directors is underway. Those eligible to vote in the national
Sierra Club election will receive in the mail (or via email if you chose the electronic delivery option) your national Sierra Club ballot. Visit sierraclub.org/bod/2013election for links to information about candidates, and their views on a variety of issues facing the Club and the environment. Sierra Club is a highly structured organization at all levels. The Club requires the regular flow of views on policy and priorities from its grassroots membership in order to function well. Yearly participation in elections at all Club levels is a major membership obligation. Your Board of Directors is required to stand for election by the membership. This Board sets Club policy and budgets at the national level and works closely with the executive director and staff to operate the Club. Voting for candidates who express your views on how the Club should grow and change is both a privilege and responsibility of membership.
Your Vote Counts in Nat’l Sierra Election
Everglades continued from page 1
Take ActionContact the decision makers below and ask them to:• SupportandfullyfundtheNationalParkService’s 5.5 mile Tamiami Trail bridging project.• Supportfurthersugarlandacquisitionandspeed up clean up.• SupporttheCentralEvergladesPlanningProject. U.S.Sen.BillNelson,202.224.5274,[email protected] U.S.Sen.MarcoRubio,202.224.3041,gotowebpage rubio.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact Gov.RickScott,850.488.7146,[email protected]. Find your U.S representative at house.gov/representatives/find/
Want to save a tree and receive the Pelican electronically?
Send your request via email to [email protected]
www.florida.sierraclub.org 3
Slime Crime Campaign Sarasota staffer Cris Costello, head of the Slime Crimes campaign, educates attendees at the Sarasota Bay Water Festival Nov. 17. The new bright green banners were real eye-catchers at the event, which included many Sarasota and Manatee county environmental organizations.
Sierrans in Action!
Tampa Bay Group Outings Chair Gail Parsons
(third from right) leads a group of volunteers on a paddle
cleanup of the Hillsborough River. Other participants are,
from left, Bob Nixon, Bev Conrad, Ed Spindle, and Frank
and JoAnn Crawford.
Sierra Club Florida Staff Manager Frank Jackalone, center, held court over the the recent opening of the club’s Florida headquarters in St. Petersburg. The day included a powerful speech by Mary Anne Hitt (third from left), national director of Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign. Mayor Bill Foster (left) thanked the Sierra Club for bringing the Net Zero building to downtown St. Pete and urged the community to continue supporting clean, green energy. The building promises to create more energy than it consumes through solar panels, geothermal heat and air conditioning and tankless water heaters.
Marcia Biggs
Loxahatchee Group Participants in the West Palm Beach Inner City Outings two-day
camping trip to Collier-Seminole State Park and Big Cypress National Preserve show what it’s like to make a big splash in a swamp. The youngsters
are from the Jay Ministries in Riviera Beach.
Alyssa Cadwalader
Marcia Biggs
4 www.florida.sierraclub.org
Sierrans in
Action!
Miami Group “Sierra Club Loves Global Warming!” was the tongue-in-cheek message that the Miami Group, together with volunteers from Broward, imparted to thousands of spectators at the 31st annual King Mango Strut, a zany parade in which nothing is sacred. The 47 participants (the largest group in the parade) made everyone laugh, as they strutted down the streets of Coconut Grove with canoeists, surfers, snorkelers, scuba divers, beach ball players and swimmers, all enjoying the “advantages” of having their city covered with water as a result of climate change.
Miami and Broward groups Assistant leader Kaatje Bernabei, in the bow, and her guests, Katya and Ilya Zaichkina, participated in a recent joint Miami and Broward group outing on the Turner River near Everglades City.
Tampa Bay Group Led by Dave Varrieur, Stash Your Cans volunteers have been recycling cans and bottles at Tampa Bay Buccaneers and USF Bulls games for 22 years (that’s “pirate” staffer Phil Compton in the middle). Volunteers are rewarded with seats to Bucs and Bulls games and the group is supported with funding from Tampa Sports Authority. This motley crew was photographed last fall at the Bucs vs. Saints game.
Broward Group Volunteers helped the Florida panther during Animal Day at Fort Lauderdale’s Museum of Discovery and Science, and that included enlisting Stanley, the Florida Panther Hockey Team Mascot, seen here with Group Conservation Chair Matt Schwartz, to help children color pictures of panthers, sign their names and write a sentence about saving the Florida panther if they could. Volunteers spent the day at the event collecting over 300 signatures to send to Washington D.C., in hopes of convincing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to designate critical habitat for the Florida Panther.
Adair Reeve
Marcia Biggs
Joaquin Rodriquez
Phil Bus
ey
Explore! Enjoy!Protect the
Planet!
www.florida.sierraclub.org 5
Sierra Florida Honors Dwight Adams
Dwight Adams of the Suwannee-St. Johns Group in Gainesville has been awarded the Florida Chapter Medal. This is the highest
award Sierra Club Florida bestows and it was last awarded in 2000.In 1985, Dwight proposed a plan for waste management — what was essentially “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” — long before the concept was well known. At that time, few Florida municipalities had any policy for dealing with solid waste and the state had none at all. Many cities were looking toward incinerators to relieve waste problems, but Dwight was determined not to let that happen. He set to work changing the way Floridians view and manage items they dispose of daily. Creating and chairing the Chapter Solid Waste Issue Committee, Dwight wrote articles opposing the burning of waste and pointed out all the environmental and economic benefits of recycling and composting, educating the citizens of Florida with this new perspective. Dwight extensively lobbied officials at local, state and national levels, participated in task force studies and helped design and create a trial program to prove the feasibility of recycling. In 1988, the State of Florida passed its Solid Waste Minimization Act, which required that each county reduce its solid waste disposal by 30 percent through waste reduction and recycling programs by the end of 1994. Dwight declared the Act “did not solve the problem” and predicted the state would have to address the issue again. He listed many practical steps the state and individual counties needed to take in order to really reduce waste and eliminate the “need” for incineration. Dwight continued his campaign at all levels. He founded the Sierra Club National Solid Waste Committee and wrote the National Sierra Club solid waste policy. It took 20 more years, until 2008, for Florida to pass a bill with a recycling goal rate of 75 percent. As chair of Chapter’s Waste Minimization Campaign, Dwight once again had to speak out against the bill as not having “what it takes to get there,” including not enough emphasis on composting or curtailing the use of plastic, and too much emphasis on burning. For more than 27 years, Dwight has offered an ambitious but completely possible plan to “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” our way out of the “waste problem.” He has worked persistently to change Floridians’ perception of waste. He has been committed to the cause and is convinced that we can and must do better. According to Rudy Scheffer, chair of the Sierra Club of Florida, “Dwight has detailed the science and economics to prove recycling is the best alternative to waste problems. Florida Sierra Club and National
Sierra Club have greatly benefitted from his dedication. Due to Dwight’s work on behalf of Florida’s environment, from the Keys to the Panhandle, we now
Other Chapter AwardsIndigo Award for Journalism Brad Rogers, editorial page editor, Ocala Star-Banner. Brad Rogers has written tenaciously for a decade about the state of the water and springs in Marion and surrounding counties. He has boldly pushed politicians and bureaucrats to get involved in the environmental issues, especially land use and the water. His editorials helped protect Silver Springs from a proposed 5,000-unit development, Avatar, which was five miles from Silver Springs. His writing also helped in bringing the public to the “Speak Out on the Springs” event that was organized by the Florida Conservation Coalition.Pine Tree Award for Group Leadership Roberta Gastmeyer, Suwannee-St. Johns Group, for her work as treasurer and membership chair. Roberta also often helps on the nominating committee and volunteers to help arrange group social events.Otter Award for Group Outings Leadership Maryvonne Devensky, Suwanee/St Johns Group, for her work with the group’s Inner City Outings program. She consistently takes the initiative to plan outings and follows through by figuring out the details and making these events happen. Many inner city children have participated in a wide array of outings that show them the value of being involved with the natural world and open their minds to experiences that would not have been possible without her dedicated leadership.
Dwight Adams receives the Florida Chapter Medal at a recent chapter executive committee meeting.
6 www.florida.sierraclub.org
Sierra Club FloridaThe PelicanPO Box 575Tallahassee FL 32302-0575
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Explore, Enjoy and Protect the Planet
Sierra Club florida Receives MRC Award
The Sierra Club Florida Chapter received “Project of the Year” award from the Marine Resources Council
(MRC). The award recognizes the continuing efforts of Sierra Florida and staff member Cris Costello in alerting statewide volunteers and environmental groups about the Florida Legislature's attempts to pre-empt strong city and county fertilizer ordinances. By encouraging grass roots efforts to contact and persuade elected officials from allowing this pre-emption, we have thus far been successful in preventing the state from passing these pro-pollution bills. With 10 scientists and over 800 volunteers who are active every week, MRC restores over 8 million square feet of fish habitat and plants over 50,000 native plants every year. The MRC uses scientists and volunteers to help restore and protect the Indian River Lagoon. It helped establish the lagoon as an Estuary of National Significance and helps to bring millions of dollars for restoration of the lagoon through federal and private grants. The Indian River Lagoon encompasses six Florida counties and more than 33 cities.
Florida Executive Committee Member Deborah Longman-Marien, far left, Turtle Coast Group Chair Linda Behret, second from left, and Turtle Coast Group Executive Committee Member Bud Long, far right, accept the Project of the Year Award from Marine Resources Council Chair Walt Stieglitz.
State and county fertilizer ordinance work recognized
