The Everglades Future in the Hands of Politicians
When I was 17 years old, there was an Everglades Coalition Conference in Naples, but I did not know of its importance until later in life. The main focus of the conference was a restoration project and building an airport in Homestead. At that time, just as today, conservationists were helping to preserve the wetlands by focusing on the water flow, cleaning it up, and getting the Everglades' ecosystem back in balance. Many people of Florida have a long history with the Everglades and would not want to see it destroyed. Other Floridians looked forward to an economic impact they thought would be good for Florida. Because of politics and the greed of money, an airport in Homestead was on the agenda. Some politicians thought it would bring more money to the area, developers were paying over $1 million to a top Washington lobbying law firm, and some people were saying that anyone who opposed the airport was a racist and wanted minorities in poverty. Florida tourists and residents $2 million to the campaign to keep an airport out of the Everglades. Al Gore was one of the politicians faced with the decision to approve or not approve the airport. Research was done showing the airport would not cause any disturbance to the Everglades, but it would cause a noise nuisance to surrounding areas. Al Gore was on the fence about the issue- he wanted a boost in the economy but wanted to make sure the environment was not hurt because of it. Environmentalists did not like this and actually created a group called Environmentalists Against Gore. Eventually, after much debate and more research, they decided not to construct the airport. I agree with the decision made. We have enough airports and vehicles to help us travel around. We don't need to destroy the precious Everglades.
~Max G.
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