By Dave Bulloch
Stories
of a troubled marine world appear almost daily in leading newspapers and
journals. In Florida, it’s the
increasing rates of deaths of manatees. In western Long Island it’s a complete
wipeout of the lobster population by causes unknown (blame has been laid to a
parameoba parasite, toxins in dredge spoils recently dumped there and pesticides
used against mosquitoes in an effort to stop the spread of West Nile
encephalitis.) In Virginia ,
catches of blue crab have declined so drastically that the state has imposed a
moratorium on taking crabs within a 665 square mile area of lower Chesapeake
Bay. National Resources Defense
Council released a report stating that beach closing due to pollution at all
U.S. beaches has jumped 50 percent since 1997. (Most of this is not new
pollution but the result of increased testing). And on it goes.
There
is only so much an environmental organization can do.
We can enlighten members on what’s going wrong.
We can write letters to officials pointing out what’s happening and
what they might do to alleviate a situation, we can write letters to the editor,
and we can try our best to rouse the
public. Relative to the population
only a handful of activists exist to carry out these tasks.
Treatment
of most problems requires some form of governmental action; Congressional law
and funding, State regulation and County ordinances and implementation. Thus
part of the key to a sustainable world lies with elected officials.
As an old saying goes, we often get the kind of government we deserve.
What we get is a reflection of what and whom we vote for.
We often concentrate on those in Washington but local and state elections
are at least as significant as national races.
In
November we will elect a sea of new faces to the Florida state legislature. If
there is any lesson to be learned from the Spring 2000 Florida legislative
session it is we had better be careful about whom we choose to represent us.
(The six week session in Tallahassee is awash in lobbyists and special
interests. If it had not been for
the efforts of the Senate majority leader Jack Latvala and Senate president Toni
Jennings, reams of bad legislation might have been pushed through. (
Unfortunately both will be missing from the 2001 session).
It is
up to you who is voted into office. Find out the candidates stances on
environmental issues. If you can,
spend some time helping in their campaigns especially those seeking to become state representatives , senators or local
commissioners. You can get
information directly from the candidate, the
League
of Women Voters, the League of Conservation
Voters, Your local newspaper and other sources
available at your local library. And
lastly, vote.