Love The Everglades Movement
Let's Keep in Touch
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Events
  • Take Action!
  • Donate Now!
  • Native Plants
  • Blog
  • Blog En Espanol
  • Symposium 2017
    • 2017 Speakers
  • Summer Symposium 2016
    • SS16 Speakers
  • Summer Symposium 2015
  • Summer Symposium 2014
  • Newsletter
  • Everglades Awareness Benefit Concert
  • Walk for Mother Earth
  • Videos: Filmgate 2014
  • Music Video: THE RAVEN
  • Board of Directors
  • Friends
  • Contact Us

Message to the River Rally

8/3/2014

7 Comments

 
by Geovanny Perez & Houston R. Cypress,
Coordination Circle, Love The Everglades Movement

Picture
Picture
Hello everyone.  I'd like to thank THE RIVERS COALITION, THE RIVER WARRIORS, AND C4CW for inviting me to speak today; I truly feel honored to do so.  I'm also excited to be able to connect with all of you, even if under such dire circumstances.

As for the matter that brings us here, I have found it necessary to participate in the effort to restore the Everglades because it's where my home (including my clan and Tribe) and heart resides.  In my lifetime I've seen many destructive changes to our lands, such as the disintegration of tree islands, the disappearance of game animals, the increase of pollution in water, and the erosion of the Everglades.  Because our culture is tied to the land (our ceremonies, our medicines, and many other spiritual practices), we are witnessing the gradual disappearance of our culture.   We are losing our roots.

But we know there is hope; we can certainly steer this thing in the right direction, but it will take incredible coordination and resolve to manifest our dreams.

This is where our spirituality comes in.

Personally, I don't believe spirituality to be superstition or hollow, self-promoting, self-serving, self-comforting cliches.

Instead, it is about wisdom, insight, strength, patience, trust, and compassion, and in the face of great uncertainty and potential doom, this is exactly what we need.  There are many great sages that have explored the struggles of the human condition in such a mysterious universe, peering deeply into our very being and place in the universe.  There is much to learn for the sake of our global as well as local ecosystems.

With Love the Everglades Movement, LOVE is central to our cause because we do not want to be ruled by fear or anger.  In fact, we know we cannot afford to be mindlessly distracted given what's at stake and the amount of time we have to make things right.  We know that anger and fear, especially in a crisis situation, may galvanize some, but it can also blind us, divide us, perpetuate the delusion that we are factions bent on defeating one another, and thus undermine these important efforts. 

In getting to know some of you, I've heard from you about other groups involved in this issue, and those comments have been disparaging.  We are supposed to be the SOLUTION to this problem, otherwise our divisions are poison in the water.  We do not have the luxury to bicker, but we can overcome this, in fact, we MUST overcome this.  As someone with an outside perspective, this entrenched rift is off-putting, but it is also all too familiar, so I sympathize with you even as I am critical (our Tribe has been witness to entrenched bickering slowing the Everglades restoration effort to a glacial pace).

So how are we to overcome this bickering? -- this factionalism?  Love & Respect is a good place to start.  We have youngsters here among us and we must set a good example for them.  Let's show them how to have a civil and civilized dialogue with one another.

Let's also continue to have forums for discussion, so we can increase understanding of our concerns and priorities and proposals for action.

Let's also ask for help from our friends, people such as you.

And let's not be afraid to disagree.  Let's welcome disagreements and critiques as opportunities to learn where our proposals can be strengthened and improved.

Let me offer an example of constructive critique within a context of civilized discussion.  Plan 6 and the Southern Flow way -- a very important proposal with definite room for improvement.  The Holey lands are an area designated as O.F.W. -- Outstanding Federal Waters.  From what I've read on Plan 6, there is not enough discussion or information about this important area:  the Holey Lands, an area with very stringent regulations.  Plan 6 would bring MORE WATER at a REDUCED QUALITY than is currently allowed and protected for.  So the question that Plan 6 must answer to move forward with broader support is:  How do you propose to degrade Outstanding Federal Waters with water from Lake Okeechobee?

Picture
I also have a request for my friends:  I need your help to address the L-28 Interceptor Canal.  The failure of CEPP to move forward was very disappointing to all of us.  But CEPP didn't do enough because it failed to address the L-28 Interceptor Canal.  CEPP was concerned with bringing New Water into the system, but the L-28 Interceptor Canal is currently bringing 40% of the waters coming into the area, and it's bringing water in with a disgustingly high concentration of Phosphorus.  By the time the waters pass through the Water Conservation Area 3A, the waters have been naturally filtered out and nearly meet the desired goal of 10 PPB of Phosphorus.  So what this means is that Miccosukee territory becomes a De Facto Stormwater Treatment Area (STA) and that is not right.  So I'm asking for your help to raise awareness and push for action regarding the on-going problem of the L-28 Interceptor Canal.

As for the factionalism within our environmental movements, well those of us from Love The Everglades Movement pledge to work from a place of Love & Respect with each and everyone of you.  WE WILL NOT TAKE SIDES.  We will continue to express our Love and Respect for these waters.

We continue to pray for the purity of the waters flowing from the Kissimmee River Valley, through Lake Okeechobee, over the River of Grass, and out beyond Florida Bay.

We continue to pray that compassion flourishes in the hearts and minds of the decision-makers and stakeholders involved with Everglades Restoration.

We continue to pray for the growth of the community concerned with Everglades Matters -- because the Everglades matters.

And we will continue to stand with you in prayer for the integrity and vitality of the Circle of Life.

These are the challenges we are called to meet -- with hope, grace, and diplomacy.
7 Comments

Knowing the Past to Understand the Present

8/1/2014

2 Comments

 
by Matt Schwartz,
Executive Director, South Florida Wildlands Association (Link).

Picture
Dr. Carl Sagan (and many others) said - “You have to know the past to understand the present.”  If you want to understand what's ailing the Everglades - and why every rainy season polluted fresh water gets sent into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie Estuaries west and east of Lake Okeechobee - these two images are a great place to start.

Photo on the left is not real - it's a simulation of the historic "pre-drainage" Everglades.  What a satellite would have seen in the 19th century before the first major drainage canals were dug - if a satellite had existed.  The Everglades is one massive interconnected system - slowly flowing - both above ground and below - from just south of Orlando to Lake Okeechobee and then south over the soggy shoreline of the lake to the River of Grass and Florida Bay.  Photo on the right is what we actually see today.  Drainage canals have allowed about 6 million of us - and many more tourists - to settle on Florida's lower east coast - while millions of acres of natural wetlands surrounding Lake Okeechobee in all directions have been drained for agriculture (sugar, citrus, and other crops) and cattle ranching.  The water is laden with cattle waste, fertilizers, pesticides, urban runoff, and septic discharges.

A restored Everglades will be a system that looks - as much as now possible - like the photo on left.  The more natural wetlands we bring back - the less load we will be putting on the system and the more mother nature can do what she's always done in South Florida.  Want to really stop (or at least significantly diminish) the polluted discharges coming from Lake Okeechobee?  Clean up the water before it gets to the Lake and bring back the wetlands that can receive that water like they did before.  More to come.

For more information on Matt Schwartz and the South Florida Wildlands Association, please visit their website:  http://southfloridawild.org/.
2 Comments

    Author

    So many voices.  So many colors.  So many nations.  One water.

    We are the Movement's many voices -- from the Coordination Circle, from the allies and supporters, and from those who yearn to share their Love of the Everglades.

    Archives

    December 2017
    December 2016
    September 2016
    May 2016
    July 2015
    April 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014

    Categories

    All
    10ppb
    2014
    7th Circuit
    Aboriginal
    ACOE
    Activism
    Activist Art
    Aesthetics
    Alcee Hastings
    Amendment 1
    Andy Bichelbaum
    Applicable Laws
    Aquifer
    Army Corps
    Art
    Art Basel
    Arthur R. Marshall
    Backbone Campaign
    Beautiful Trouble
    Bike Path
    Blessing
    Bobby C. Billie
    BullSugar.org
    C4CW
    Caloosahatchee
    Carl Sagan
    Cempoalli 20
    CEPP
    Ceremony
    CERP
    Chela Sandoval
    Clean Water Initiative
    Climate Change
    Colley Billie
    Community Events
    Concert
    Conference
    Coordination Circle
    CWIFL
    Debbie Wasserman Schultz
    Dennis Wiedman
    Design
    Diane Arrieta
    Diliana Alexander
    Discharges
    Doc Thomas House
    Donate
    Downloads
    Dreaming
    Dropbox
    Earth Ambulance
    EcoArt
    Environmental Justice
    Epyllion Films
    Events
    Everglades
    Everglades Caucus
    Everglades Coalition
    Everglades National Park
    Felipe Marrou
    Filmgate
    First Nations
    Frank Allegro
    FREC
    Frederica Wilson
    Free Downloads
    Ft. Lauderdale
    FWC
    Gas
    Geovanny Perez
    Gitz Crazyboy
    Helene Aylon
    Hip Hop
    Houston Cypress
    Illuminator
    Indigenous
    Intracoastal
    Janeen Mason
    Jared Jacobs
    Jean Sarmiento
    Joe Garcia
    Joe Negron
    John Scott
    Ken Carey
    L 28
    L-28
    L 28 Interceptor Canal
    L-28 Interceptor Canal
    Lake O
    Lake Okeechobee
    Legal
    Light Brigades
    Lois Frankel
    Love
    Loxahatchee
    Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge
    Lucy Keshavarz
    Marcia Moore
    Mario Diaz-Balart
    Marjorie Shropshire
    Martin County
    Mary Jo Aagerstoun
    Masaru Emoto
    Matt Schwartz
    Miami
    Miccosukee
    Miccosukee Simanolee
    Miccosukee Tribe
    Michael Singer
    Miguel Bravo
    Moksha Family
    Moral
    Music
    Music Video
    National Park
    Negron
    Nestor Garcia Canclini
    NoROGG
    Nyla Pipes
    Oil
    Otter Clan
    Painted Intersections
    Painting
    Palm Beach County
    Patrick Murphy
    Pdf
    Phosphorus
    Ploppy Palace
    Prayer
    Prayer Circle
    Prophecy
    Public Art
    Quese IMC
    Racism
    Rebecca Coughlin
    Reggae
    Resistance
    Respect
    Retro
    Rick Ross
    Rick Scott
    River Coalition
    River Of Grass Greenway
    River Rally
    River Warriors
    Robin Haines Merrill
    Robin Merrill
    ROGG
    Sabal Trail Pipeline
    Safety Issues
    Satellite
    Sea Level Rise
    SFWMD
    Sierra Club
    Slow Activism
    Solidarity
    South Florida
    South Miami
    Spiritual
    Spirituality
    Sponsor
    SS14
    Star Gala
    St. Lucie
    Suicide
    Symposium
    Ted Deutch
    Tropical Audubon Society
    Turtle Island
    USACOE
    USFWS
    Vote Yes On 1
    VTM Productions
    Wallace Heim
    War
    Water
    WCA 3A
    Wildlands
    Wildlife Refuge
    WRDA
    Wynwood
    YES MEN

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
✕