The Everglades National Park is one of Florida’s most well known features. Well known by some as a sanctuary, yet, for others, it is known for being polluted and drained. It’s water is damaged, it’s ecosystem is not in good shape, and there are many different plans to fix it. America needs to turn The Everglades back to the sanctuary so many people know it for. The water in The Everglades has been tampered with by humans for many decades. First the plan was to “drain to make land more agriculture-ready,” (as stated in Source 3). This was done to help the farmland for the new settlers coming near The Everglades. Yet one of the main problems in replenishing the water supply was the extreme time, cost, and effort into this monumental job. Also, quite a few people had to use the Everglades as there water supply, and even though it was polluted with phosphorous, mercury, and other hazardous …show more content…
“When a fragile ecosystem like the
Everglades undergoes even a small change like a particularly rainy storm or a short term lapse in rainfall, the repercussions can be huge,” (Source 2) meaning the entire ecosystem can be effected much worse, and for the people living there, things could worsen too much to handle. Already, the ecosystem faces less fresh water , since construction stopped the flow. It used to be home to many endangered and exotic species, but now that isn’t there home anymore. The Everglades has been damaged a long time ago, but since then, many people have been trying to preserve the park. “A settlement between Florida’s governor, the Obama Administration, and the sugar industry has led to The Everglades Restoration Act,” (Source 3) and this act is eventually going to help the Everglades recover from such a low point. Many others, such as the U.S. Corps of Engineering, and the South Florida Water Management District, have been pitching in to restore the Everglades into what it was before we got
In the state of Florida majority of its drinking waters comes from these deep layers of limestone that actually stores water. Florida has the most springs and are quite unique to the earth’s ecosystem and is the greatest groundwater system on earth. Furthermore, the water from the Florida aquifer
I live in Houma, Louisiana so I have tons of experience with the bayou region of South Louisiana. Everywhere I look in Houma there is a bayou, which is a good and bad thing. With a bayou comes many great things such as Egrets, Spanish Moss, etc. The bad thing about seeing many bayous is that it is a constant reminder that one day, Houma might be a part of the Gulf of Mexico. Also my dad’s side of the family is from Chauvin and Golden Meadow which is not too far from where the real damage of eroding wetlands is. I go down to Chauvin sometimes to visit my Nanny and her husband. I always see houses on stilts because of possible flooding that could come if a hurricane passes through. One of the issues that Mike Tidwell caught my interest was that the wildlife in bayous will one day be diminished into smaller numbers. That is because the eroding land causes brown shrimp, crabs, and other seafood to die out. Many residents in South Louisiana make a living off of seafood so to have most of that industry die out will hurt the economy of South Louisiana. I just found this issue very interesting.
This is a very critical situation that needs to be fixed urgently. The habitats of the Everglades depend on an annual water cycle which has been hindered by the development construction which was imposed on the farmland. Back in the 19th century, developers were keen on draining all the swamps in the Everglades for developmental purposes. Their intention was to grow sugarcane plantations on the land yet sugarcanes are highly destructive to the Everglades. They too disrupt the water cycle to which the wildlife has adapted. The Florida sugar industry built on the southern Shore of Lake Okeechobee directly clocks the water source for the remaining Everglades hence destroying the habitats of the wildlife existing in the affected areas.
Fifty percent of the original wetlands doesn’t even exist today. The water supply in the Everglades is changing and that has affected the Everglades in many ways. For one, population is decreasing and mankind needs to restore it somehow. Next, the Everglades are in need of some money to do that restoration, but where will they get it from? Last, the water supply is poisoning the humanity around it with much bacteria and many bad and dangerous elements. The Everglades water supply affected it in fixing the Everglades and wildlife.
Nature designed Florida to be one large marine ecosystem. Florida is one big sand peninsula located below the 40th longitudinal North American line. Three bodies of salt water (Gulf of Mexico, Strait of Florida and Atlantic Ocean) surround three out of four directions of Florida. Man-made canals, natural lakes, rivers and estuaries are confined within the State of Florida’s physical boundaries. All of these form an interlocking system of waterways that impact the interconnected marine environment (marine ecosystem). All of Florida’s waterways are connected back to the surrounding bodies of water while passing through Florida’s sub-tropical and temperate zones and impact the delicate marine ecosystem balance. Man and nature are causing a negative impact to this region like never before. Hurricanes, lack of green initiatives, garbage, pollution and the stripping of natural resources for population growth are decimating Florida’s natural ecosystems.
1. Alden, Peter, Rich Cech, and Gil Nelson. 1998. National Audubon Society Field Guide to Florida. New York: Knopf.
Maintaining ecological diversity is necessary for the survival of a biological community. In the United States, American citizens are on the verge of irrevocably damaging one of the country's most unique and diverse treasures - the Florida Everglades. This national park is now the only remaining patch of a river that used to span 120 miles from Lake Okeechobee to the Florida Bay. Dikes and levees created by the Army Corps of Engineers in the late 1940's drained this river to reduce flooding and increase useable water for the development of the region. This major diversion of water lead to a trickle down effect causing the continual decline of the environmental state of the Everglades. Since then, debates over the Everglades' future have silently raged on for years about how, why, and when the restoration will begin. This ongoing, but virtually unproductive effort has cost taxpayers a great deal without any apparent benefits. Recently, this debate has been amplified by the voices of the sugar industry in Florida, which was attacked for its major contribution to pollution of the Everglades. Now debates rage on with a new effort called the Restudy. Backed by the Army Corps of Engineers, this effort would change the flow of the Everglades, potentially restoring it into the viable community of life that it used to be. The question now is, will this latest attempt to restore the Everglades ever be realized (thus ending the cyclic Everglades debate) or will it simply add up to one more notch on the bedpost of inadequate and failed attempts to save this national treasure. The world is watching to see how the United States will handle this unprecedented cleanup.
The Florida Everglades have been slowly and steadily diminishing in size for over many decades. Throughout the years, the Everglades have had an abundant, healthy environment. The massive swamps were once rich with marshland, and had ecosystems chock-full of wildlife. However, due to large corporations, natural disasters and most importantly, the growth of the human population, the Everglades are 50% smaller than they were hundreds of years ago. The destruction of the Florida Everglades includes not only a diminishing number of the marshland, but also the lessening of wild life, such as alligators, herons, and exotic plants. While there is a government plan set for the restoration of the everglades, it will take many years to make up for the
Due to the large flooding and high wind speeds, much of southern Florida was left in ruin and many years were spent trying to clean the rubble and restore buildings. Hurricane Andrew also destroyed many precious ecosystems on top of all of that. Leading up to the hurricane, many scientists expected the storm to dissipate over the ocean and cause little to no harm (Rappaport). The scientists were relying on faulty equipment that said that due to slow air speed and low temperatures, the storm did not have a realistic chance of making landfall in Florida, let alone Louisiana.... ...
After the drainage, the Everglades began losing soil at approximately 1 inch per year. Now, however, it is only losing 0.56 inches per year. In the Everglades, there are a variety of different animals and species that seem to be able to thrive in the same habitat. The truth is that due to elevation differences, and therefore differences in the water level, the Everglades is really an area of interconnecting, but different habitats. One of the more important habitat areas is actually created by one of the Everglades most famous inhabitants – the alligator.
Florida became a state in 1845 and almost immediately people began proposing to drain the Everglades. In 1848, a government report said that draining the Everglades would be easy, and there would be no bad effect. Canals and dams were dug to control seasonal flooding. Farmers grew vegetables in the rich soil of the drained land, Ranchers had their cattle graze on the dry land, and new railways lines were constructed to connect communities throughout south Florida; but the ecosystem of the Everglades was not suited for either farming or ranching. The natural cycle of dry and wet seasons brought a devastating series of droughts and floods. These had always been a p...
...n, the Louisiana wetlands are an extremely valuable asset to the State of Louisiana and the United States. The continual loss of Louisiana wetlands has the potential to have an immensely negative effect on the economy at a state and national level. Over 2 million people live in the Louisiana coastal parishes (Field et al., 1991). The majority of people living on the Louisiana coast make their living from things that are directly related to the wetlands. The Louisiana wetlands make up the largest wetland community in America and is being lost at a rate greater than the other wetland communities in the country. The suggested strategies that are being taken into consideration could be helpful but it seems that the State of Louisiana is not as concerned as it should be given the future consequences and much like climate change coastal erosion is not being taken serious.
...d. Although there is not much to prevent a sinkhole from forming, the ways to warn and prevent harm are possible. With the help of geologist, research teams, constructors, contractors, architects, and many more, there are numerous resources available to residents, home and business owners in case of sinkhole incident. There are sinkhole repair services such as LRE Ground Services that will educate on sinkhole formation, give a free estimate of a price to repair a sinkhole, and then finish the job by repairing the sinkhole with one of many of their methods. These methods of stabilizing a sinkhole consist of compaction grouting, underpinning, and many more. Living in Central Florida, one should be aware of their surroundings. Educate yourself in the case of such an incident arising, so you can be prepared to face the challenges instead of being swallowed up by them.
The potential impacts of climate change on wetlands are of great concern. Increasing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases released by human activities are generally expected to warm the Earth a few degrees (C) in the next century by a mechanism known as the "greenhouse effect." Such warming could raise sea level by expanding ocean water, melting mountain glaciers, and eventually causing polar ice sheets to side into the oceans. Among the coastal areas of greatest risk in the United States are those low-lying coastal habitats that are easily eroded and which occur along the northern Gulf of Mexico and southern Atlantic coasts of the U.S. These coastal wetlands are especially vulnerable to direct, large-scale impacts of climate change, primarily because of their sensitivity to sea-level rise.
People from all over the world go to beautiful beaches that are filled with water as clear as ice or as beautiful as diamonds. But, what will happen if we do not conserve the appealing sites that draw attraction to the public? Contaminated beaches has become a controversial issue to the public because of the causal problem, the harm to the people and marine animals, the government agencies supporting or opposing pollution, and the industries involved in creating such unlawful decisions. To create and find a solution, we must first find the core to the problem.