Everglades Reveal Fragility of Ecosystem and Livelihoods
Episcopal News Service. March 27, 1996 [96-1430]
Jerry Hames, Editor of Episcopal Life
(ENS) When Vice President Al Gore recently announced a $1.5 billion project to restore natural water flow to the Everglades, members of Executive Council had a good idea of the issues involved.
At the conclusion of their February meeting in Miami council members visited Everglades National Park and heard Episcopal voices expressing opposing concerns.
For some residents of the Keys, a string of islands that stretches 150 miles southwest toward Cuba, Florida's environment is being threatened by "big sugar" and its fertilizers. However, for those in Clewiston, on Lake Okeechobee north of the Everglades, sugar is their livelihood.
Harold and Susan Nugent, who escorted council members on their tour, support a ministry to protect the environment, beaches, Key deer endangered by road traffic and native wild plants threatened by extinction.
The Everglades -- a sheet of shallow fresh water about 50 to 75 miles wide that flows from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay -- is threatened, they say, by years of drainage by sugar cane farmers, from farm runoffs and pesticides.
On the other hand, the Rev. James Towner of St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Clewiston said many of his parishioners who work for sugar growers depend on the industry for their livelihood, but are also pro-environment. Farmers are containing their fertilizers and have developed many environmentally compatible nutrients, Towner said.
Council members who toured the Everglades said they discovered the fragility and interdependence of the plant, animal and marine life. They saw alligators, ospreys and great egrets, the "river of grass" and groves of mangrove trees that have adapted themselves to grow in either fresh or salt water.
Bishop Calvin Schofield of the Diocese of Southeast Florida, said he proposed the trip because he thought that council members, who had seen Hispanic ministries, homeless shelters and soup kitchens in other dioceses, would benefit from learning about his diocese's environmental ministry.
"We received information on how delicate the ecosystem is, how we are supposed to be stewards of God's creation," said the Rev. Fran Toy of Oakland, Calif. "We've not been very good stewards. "Dean Earl Cavanaugh of Kansas City, Mo., agreed. "We saw how all the life forms dovetail... it's a powerful thing."
Council members also discovered that Episcopalians have divergent views. "Shaming and blaming doesn't help," said the Rev. Frederick J. Masterman, chair of the diocesan environmental committee. "You have to watch the broader picture."
Shortly after council's visit, Gore announced the seven-year initiative at the national park to restore the Everglades' natural water flow. Some funds would come from a reduction in the 18-cents-per-pound subsidy now paid to sugar cane workers in the area.