I would just point out that in 2017 the US sugar industry as a whole produced 2.5 Billion USD in goods while it received in that same year 1.6 Billion USD is subsidies making 63.5% of the income from sugar farming tax payer dollars. That is where the problem lies, most could not farm sugar in that region but for the US government paying for over half of the production. The whole sugar program goes back to the Cold War and Cuba falling to Castro. There is no reason, what so ever, for sugar to be subsidized at this level. To put this in perspective, Corn received 2.2 Billion USD in subsidies the same year, however it produced 50.4 Billion USD in revenue, corn sees the most in subsidy payments but those payments only makeup 4.4% of the production. Dollars wise, corn sees the largest subsidy payments overall, but they are just a small percentage of the production. Soybeans are the second most subsidized crop, basically tied with sugar for 1.6 Billion USD in 2017 but its production total was 41.2 Billion USD for a 3.9% of the production being subsidies. Basically, sugar farming in Florida is nothing more than a HUGE welfare system for large landowners paid for by those of us who actually pay taxes. The financial incentive is not there to convert to "truck farming" simply because the tax payer dollar is not there to support it and it would be less income for the land owner. Want to solve much of the problem below the "Big O"? Get rid of sugar subsidies. You get rid of those subsidies for sugar, those land owners will be rushing to the land sale line because they won't be able to make a profit anymore.
In 1996 there was a referendum to tax sugar by 1 cent/pound to help clean up the environment but of course big sugar drummed up a “grassroots campaign” and killed it 🤷🏾♂️
Thank you for your comment it’s not often i read a TH-cam comment and feel smarter 😂 so thank you for that and the great info. Sure dose make sense now on the why just all about that money. Just follow the money they say and it proves to be true over and over again
Sugar cane farming was destined to die when high fructose corn syrup came on the scene. Its a miracle people still can recall real sugar. I will always support real sugar over man made alternatives.
@@Gainsforlife I prefer cane sugar over high fructose corn syrup also, However, other than crystalized sugar the demand simply is not there. We are getting more very small scale cane producers in GA that make syrup or rum onsite but that is about the extent of the small scale producer, the rest is Government welfare for large land owners that would not be able to afford to produce anything else. Sugar can be produced a lot cheaper in places like GA or Louisiana simply because of land cost, south Florida land just costs so much more to have in agriculture.
I rode my bicycle around Florida (~1600 miles of riding) in Jan/Feb this year. I rode around Lake Okeechobee and also through/along many of the areas in this documentary. What a beautiful place, and definitely worth the effort to save or preserve so I'm pulling for Floridians, and our federal government, to do what they can to restore and preserve the environment(s) there. The septic issues are only going to get worse as water tables rise, and as we have more severe flooding events (in FL) due to climate change. Big issues down in FL as climate change is going to make things a lot worse in the coming years unfortunately. I still plan on returning and touring there as some of the best bicycle riding can be done in FL. Great trails and big wilderness management areas abound.
The best and brightest among us aren't going to keep working to our benefit if we don't give them a place to relax, conspire and mate. The trickle down will stop if we don't have golfers.
Kissimmee River, Lake Okeechobee & the Everglades are a big interactive hydrologic system. The nutrients causing the blooms come from many different sources, all of which will have to change.
This is just the beginning of what's happening to all water ways with the increasing human population and the demand for development along with the agricultural industry and water quality. America's practice of dilution is the solution to water waste , which allows 30% to 40% of waste into our ecosystem, which has devastating effects . When we look at other countries as an example, look at New Zealand they only allow 1 or 2% of waste into their water system. America's practice has to change. Very informative documentary well done. Unfortunately I see that the Supreme Court judges have voted now.
@jeromedamian5740 and the Waste" is sooo manageable. New construction- put in sink and clothes wash water into flushing toilets. There's 40% house hold consumption of fresh water in toilet flushing.
@@jeromedamian5740 Storm Water, rain runoff, is even easier. If only the @Cityofsandiego would begin at the tops of the canyons and direct the water appropriately.
Farmland in heavy rain areas are generally tile drained. The tiles should run into a header. At that point the run off needs to be collected, filtered, and recirculated for irrigation with clean excess water only going into Okeechobee.
I remember reading about the pollution in lake Erie and Niagara falls when I was in social studies in 4th grade. It had a tremendous effect on me. The same ones moved here and did the same to Florida.
@wardrobelion Very, very different. Lake Erie pollution was caused by heavy industrial dumping, especially from steel mills, to the point that the Cuyahoga river caught fire. This issue in the Everglades is from excess nutrients and lack of natural water flow due to Army Corps of Engineers redirecting the water flow. The water flow issues are now being corrected so that water will flow through the everglades into Florida Bay as it should.
Stop the excessive building; Stop foreign investors, corporations buying properties, Airbnb. Invest in Resident ownership before 2nd & 3rd home investment; protect & cap senior citizens from increases in rentals or association fees...Stop the Greed 🎉
When you have a government like Florida, the environment is the last thing you think about, unless you can build on it and make money then all bets are off
Funny thing is Disney is as woke as they come and built their empire on fragile swamplands. They devastated the ecosystems many of which will never be seen again…..but they’re Disney, keep smiling! 😂
two words: run off We have run off problems where I live. Much of the agricultural waste is filtered through man made wet land. Just not enough, we have algae blooms, warnings not to eat the fish, areas closed to swimming. We also have a very strong antiregulation sentiment.
Whoa, wait, the beginning of what? Fantastic prosperity from Neutrium Reactors and Ultra-Flexinol super-substance delivering the wildest dreams of 10 billion sexy, creative and entrepreneurial bipeds?
@@DavidRodriguez-gl5pn “Outgassing of the Human Biome, the cascading methane release” is included in Jrk Anoleholee’s Interplanetary Nobel treatise. It’s as eagerly anticipated as Betelgeuse’s supernova.
I went to the West Coast of Florida a few years ago and there were several beaches I couldn't go to on Captiva, Fort Myers Beach, and Naples. So guess where I'm not going to vacation again?
First and foremost, stop the runoff problems. Plant 🪴 nitrate eating plants all over the runoff areas to absorb the nutrients in the water. That's aquaponics 101!!! I'm amazed that no one has thought to plant the entire area with water plants! Also keeping the Everglades stocked with catfish would help.
I would look to the establishment of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (circa 1964) as a blueprint for what needs to be done in the Kissimmee, Okeechobee, Everglades watershed. The watershed is a national treasure that needs to be preserved as a viable wilderness above all else. And yes, that means lots of “eminent domain” over private property; including farmland, homesteads and industrial sites. Florida has gone from under two to twenty two million people in less than 100 years and development has to be limited or the natural environment simply won’t survive.
true and BWCA has been under threat ever since - right now some copper sulfate mine is being pushed through, despite environmental lawsuits being filed. The state government brown-No$es to the corporate elite of course - but hopefully the science will stave off this latest attack.
It's so sad. This place was pristine when I moved up here as a kid from fort Lauderdale back in 89. And actually it wasn't comparable to the last generation
Think about what it looked like 100 years before that!!! Every tree in the Ozarks and Missouri was cut.... Missouri drained a swamp and moved more dirt than Panama canal..... Cut down Oak trees that rival anything out west...
Its in Canada too it is directly tied to fertilizers… In winters they used to spread manure … but environment Canada said no more because of dirty spring run off/ snow melt into rivers and lakes. So they have to fertilize the land and use chemicals… these algae blooms are the result …
A wise person once said do not poop where you eat or drink....... I guess we have not learned our lesson yet as a species. We have the same thing happening up here on the Great Lakes.... Where 20% of the Earth's surface freshwater supply exists..... The people up here are polluting the heck out of it. The algae blooms are terrible and the cyanotoxin is in the water supply.........
@@BigBirdy100 yes in 2016 Hobe sound you couldn't go in the ocean because there was flesh eating bacteria flowing into the lineup from the okechobee runoff polluted waterway..... Yup bad stuff agreed. Up here its farm runoff and municipal storm sewer runoff contributing to the mess.
@@BigBirdy100not true sewage dumped in Lake Okeechobee by traveling boaters is our biggest problem the sugar industry water moves south not north crap flows down hill . I live in Belle Glade those high dollar yachts that eat at your restaurants travel down the st. Lucie canal across the coloosahatchee river dumping their septic tanks in our lake . Why pay a high fee to get rid of these contaminants on your coast ?
It’s been well known for many years that a large percentage of the green algae is a result of high phosphorus fertilizers used for sugar cane fields that cover much of the south shore of Lake Okachobee. Granted, there are other sources as urbanization contributes as well. Restoration of the Everglades south of Lake Okachobee is the best remedy. Land owners should be duly compensated. The sugar cane lady claiming her land is private property needs to understand that what she does on her property may destroy someone else’s property. I sensed a Southern tradition, “don’t tread on me while I’m treading on you.” Just because you own the property doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want on it. That being said, this ecosystem was never equipped to support the number of people living here. But the Army Corps of Engineers, in their infinite wisdom, were convinced they could tame the swamp. Man cannot control nature.
Politicians will always kick the can down the road unless they are held directly responsible. Wake up America our environment equals life for all of us. Let’s protect it.
The worst environmental conditions are typically natural responses to imbalances created by humans. With the exception of geologic and cosmological phenomena, but don't worry we'll get to that one day too I'm sure.
its actually getting insane, lived in st Pete for 4 years now, and it seems people are moving here every week from out of state. no wonder rent is crazy around here
It's the sugar industry runoff that is the MAIN CONTRIBUTOR to the problem, not much the general population or the population growth. BECAUSE, the sugar cane fields are around Lake Okeechobee.
14:00 septic tanks add but most definitely are not the problem, I watched the main sewers during hurricane bubble up like geysers my septic didn’t do that, How much she would do those condos pump out right on the beach there’s no pump not pumping that uphill
I'm actually watching this for tips on how to grow algae because my aquarium is covered in duckweed and water Spangles and I can't get any algae to grow. I've tried starting additional aquariums and adding live algae from others, but the algae always dies, even without any plants and with it treated for chlorine.
The problem is our stormwater treatment areas never get treated themselves. We need to dredge these areas, small sections at a time, and put the material back on our farms.
Definitely need that sugarcane for food security. What ever could we do without it? Horses are also native to Florida and known to provide a valuable source of food.
Completely incorrect. Sugar is edible but unless you are truly starving, empty calories are not "food security". There is pretty much 100% unanimity that we in the US should eat way less sugar, in fact, ZERO added sugar. Sugar beet is a perfectly good alternative for "what ever we could do without" cane. If cane plantations had to pay the costs of their environmental damages or compensate others for loss of ecosystem services - including tourism - it would not be economically viable to grow cane in Florida.
@@7phyton I was responding to the fool in the video stating food security is at risk if you go after the farms. You taking me seriously is alarming for your intelligence.
Ron Desantis has does such a good job with land infrastructure. If he can form a solution for our waterway infrastructure too Florida USA will be golden for America future.
Let's not forget about flooding and its effects on water quality. More storms equal more flooding. And more septic tanks overflowing into the Everglades.
Embarrassing that our thousands of years of sewage experience, doesn't get integrated at the Dow Chemicals/Monsanto/Petrochemical companies' level, nor governing geopolitical scales. Even recent vertical farming advancements are being ignored so that the fossil fuels industry continues their genocidal profits #6thMassExtinction
Tell farms to reduce chemical fertilizers and use the natural stuff wood chips poo and leafs to help reduce runoff help hold more nutrients and water add dry out slower. Don’t allow them to over do it like most do when they do use poo and basically nothing else no wood or leafs it’s sad there knowledge has fallen so far grand dad forgot to tell Timmy to feed the land not stomp it dead like they do now.
You can't have a septic tank if you are within a half mile of any coast line like ocean or river. Changing that plus cleaning any runoff would make a huge difference. Problem is that the price tag is tremendous. .... and yes big sugar is another problem, and not a solution.
And when Okeechobee is dumped, all those nutrients end up in the Gulf of Mexico, causing HUGE red tide outbreaks. I've been in Pinellas County since 1970, since the age of 8 and I was shocked when, in 2018 - '19 I couldn't find any fish in the intercostal waters of Pinellas county. I noticed huge swathes of grass flats that also died. One day, when out looking for some fishing 🎣, the only life I found was one lone hermit crab. Sad 😔 😟 All this was in the news for a minute but then it seemed squelched and not heard of when it happened again in 2021, though to a lesser degree. Politicians need to stop being bought off.
@20 minutes - He says the land is critical to production and no more should be taken away. My reply - Do you want to lose some of the land to return it's natural equilibrium , or would you rather risk losing all of it and much more if you refuse to become part of the solution! Come up with another way that alters the needs? If the problem isn't corrected, everyone loses!
this has been happening in upstate ny for decades now. we have it all the time. it is not just from farming. it is from toxic waste dumps and former mining sites and industrial factories and military installations. they all use similar organic chemicals in their processes such as PHOSPHORUS. any industry that uses petrochemicals or chemicals made from petrochemicals in any part of it's process has contaminated the environment. also farmers used to rent out land to people who dumped toxic waste which is often made of organic yet toxic chemicals. things that easily combine and transform in the environment. this is why they work so well in the chemical process, as they are highly reactive. this is also why it causes health issues. because the chemicals are so reactive with simple chemical reactions such as contact with water or air that it actually DOES stay in the land, water, and air. it gets worse over time as chemical reactions continue to occur. these chemicals have effects on the endocrine system that is why they can be used as fertilizers!!!! this is also how they can be used as herbicides and pesticides. because it interrupts the endocrine system of living organisms depending on the levels and which toxin it is. this is also how these chemicals cause cancer! they mess with our endocrine system, mess with our DNA over time, causing mutation of cells and cancer or birth defects...there's also typically dioxins in this waste. its not only phosphorus. so this is basically worse than radioactive waste in a way because it cannot be truly traced. they can blame humans and farms. when in reality its toxic waste from petrochemicals that we dumped all over the place bc we didnt know what else to do with it.
Give up St. Augustine grass for lawns, it needs ridiculous amounts of water and fertilizer. Using native plants requires no fertilizer and once established no irrigation.
i was born in okeechobee in the late 70s. as a little kid, i could bathe in its crystal clear waters, see right down to the bottom. men would spear fish cuz they could see all the way down to the very bottom, it was that clear
I'd like to see the loss payout record for the state of emergency, ranked by wealth of claimant. Also the calculated adjuster loss, and what insurance paid. I'm certainly not saying it is a giant conspiracy to defraud the public. Nope, not sayin' that.
I have seen what LaPointe is explaining for over 35 yrs of camping hiking canoeing in Jonathan Dickenson -- where the govnor Absolutely does Not wanna build golf complexes for the ultra rich-- : the rich people's house's dump septic waters feet away from waterways. Btw in that park there are trees that three men could barely put their arms around. If it has any disuse, it's solely due to tallyhassle abandonment. Move #1. The river has had to be Closed due to pollution: system overwhelmed
It’s both farmers and cities but at least the farmers take care of their land and they want to keep it land, but the cities pump their pollution directly into the Gulf of Mexico unlike the farmers not giving it time to break down, so it’s extra concentrated from the cities and a lot of it.
500k plus acres of fertilizer mining just north of the Everglades. Plus if you give 6 million a year to marine scientists, do you think they are going to fix it or get more funding next year?
Florida has a chance to pioneer the stewardship of water like no other place in the world. I hope they are successful in creating an effective solution
First time I have heard someone complain about too much fresh water. The rest of the world is lacking. Why can't they use it? I welcome you to comment.
Florida causes all kinds of problems! So sorry that God’s beautiful creation has been so spoiled by greedy action. -The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. 1 Timothy 6:10
Very ignorant comment! Big sugar is 100% protected by Democrats! Ron DeSantis fired the water board who was backdoor supporting this. Join Captains for clean water if you really want to know the truth.
Interesting they didn’t mention the runoff from Mosaic mining phosphorus in the center of the state
I would just point out that in 2017 the US sugar industry as a whole produced 2.5 Billion USD in goods while it received in that same year 1.6 Billion USD is subsidies making 63.5% of the income from sugar farming tax payer dollars. That is where the problem lies, most could not farm sugar in that region but for the US government paying for over half of the production. The whole sugar program goes back to the Cold War and Cuba falling to Castro. There is no reason, what so ever, for sugar to be subsidized at this level. To put this in perspective, Corn received 2.2 Billion USD in subsidies the same year, however it produced 50.4 Billion USD in revenue, corn sees the most in subsidy payments but those payments only makeup 4.4% of the production. Dollars wise, corn sees the largest subsidy payments overall, but they are just a small percentage of the production. Soybeans are the second most subsidized crop, basically tied with sugar for 1.6 Billion USD in 2017 but its production total was 41.2 Billion USD for a 3.9% of the production being subsidies. Basically, sugar farming in Florida is nothing more than a HUGE welfare system for large landowners paid for by those of us who actually pay taxes. The financial incentive is not there to convert to "truck farming" simply because the tax payer dollar is not there to support it and it would be less income for the land owner. Want to solve much of the problem below the "Big O"? Get rid of sugar subsidies. You get rid of those subsidies for sugar, those land owners will be rushing to the land sale line because they won't be able to make a profit anymore.
In 1996 there was a referendum to tax sugar by 1 cent/pound to help clean up the environment but of course big sugar drummed up a “grassroots campaign” and killed it 🤷🏾♂️
Exactly!
Thank you for your comment it’s not often i read a TH-cam comment and feel smarter 😂 so thank you for that and the great info. Sure dose make sense now on the why just all about that money. Just follow the money they say and it proves to be true over and over again
Sugar cane farming was destined to die when high fructose corn syrup came on the scene. Its a miracle people still can recall real sugar. I will always support real sugar over man made alternatives.
@@Gainsforlife I prefer cane sugar over high fructose corn syrup also, However, other than crystalized sugar the demand simply is not there. We are getting more very small scale cane producers in GA that make syrup or rum onsite but that is about the extent of the small scale producer, the rest is Government welfare for large land owners that would not be able to afford to produce anything else. Sugar can be produced a lot cheaper in places like GA or Louisiana simply because of land cost, south Florida land just costs so much more to have in agriculture.
Big sugar, phosphate mining, sewage dumping... where do we start!?
I rode my bicycle around Florida (~1600 miles of riding) in Jan/Feb this year. I rode around Lake Okeechobee and also through/along many of the areas in this documentary. What a beautiful place, and definitely worth the effort to save or preserve so I'm pulling for Floridians, and our federal government, to do what they can to restore and preserve the environment(s) there.
The septic issues are only going to get worse as water tables rise, and as we have more severe flooding events (in FL) due to climate change.
Big issues down in FL as climate change is going to make things a lot worse in the coming years unfortunately. I still plan on returning and touring there as some of the best bicycle riding can be done in FL. Great trails and big wilderness management areas abound.
So ? Why do we want golfcourses built in our parks .. so they too can contribute to runoff
Protect the Watersheds. Protect the Water
The best and brightest among us aren't going to keep working to our benefit if we don't give them a place to relax, conspire and mate. The trickle down will stop if we don't have golfers.
$$$$$$$
@chesterfinecat7588 oh sorry , i never considered individual greed . How ignorant could I be??ssshhhh 3rd world mentality 🤔
Golf courses are natural grasses it does not create runoff
Kissimmee River, Lake Okeechobee & the Everglades are a big interactive hydrologic system. The nutrients causing the blooms come from many different sources, all of which will have to change.
Finally someone that knows that polluted water already comes into the lake and it's not only faming.
It starts with Disneyworld
How?
It's the nitrogen in our efluent. Compost toilets and less nitrogen onto the golf greens would go a long way to resolve the problem.
This is just the beginning of what's happening to all water ways with the increasing human population and the demand for development along with the agricultural industry and water quality. America's practice of dilution is the solution to water waste , which allows 30% to 40% of waste into our ecosystem, which has devastating effects . When we look at other countries as an example, look at New Zealand they only allow 1 or 2% of waste into their water system. America's practice has to change. Very informative documentary well done. Unfortunately I see that the Supreme Court judges have voted now.
@jeromedamian5740 and the Waste" is sooo manageable. New construction- put in sink and clothes wash water into flushing toilets. There's 40% house hold consumption of fresh water in toilet flushing.
@@jeromedamian5740 Storm Water, rain runoff, is even easier. If only the @Cityofsandiego would begin at the tops of the canyons and direct the water appropriately.
Farmland in heavy rain areas are generally tile drained.
The tiles should run into a header.
At that point the run off needs to be collected, filtered, and recirculated for irrigation with clean excess water only going into Okeechobee.
The Fanjul family has run Everglades politics for decades
I remember reading about the pollution in lake Erie and Niagara falls when I was in social studies in 4th grade. It had a tremendous effect on me. The same ones moved here and did the same to Florida.
And we Know Better.
@wardrobelion Very, very different. Lake Erie pollution was caused by heavy industrial dumping, especially from steel mills, to the point that the Cuyahoga river caught fire. This issue in the Everglades is from excess nutrients and lack of natural water flow due to Army Corps of Engineers redirecting the water flow. The water flow issues are now being corrected so that water will flow through the everglades into Florida Bay as it should.
Stop the excessive building; Stop foreign investors, corporations buying properties, Airbnb. Invest in Resident ownership before 2nd & 3rd home investment; protect & cap senior citizens from increases in rentals or association fees...Stop the Greed 🎉
When you have a government like Florida, the environment is the last thing you think about, unless you can build on it and make money then all bets are off
Government or the common sheep??? The US has been at war with the environment for over a 100 years and most don't care.
Funny thing is Disney is as woke as they come and built their empire on fragile swamplands. They devastated the ecosystems many of which will never be seen again…..but they’re Disney, keep smiling! 😂
@@scottburgle2169 You okay grandpa? The person you were responding to was talking about the Florida government, not Disney. Try to stay on topic.
Only someone that knows nothing about Florida conservation efforts would say that. Ignorance
@@CHMichaelbet you’ll be voting for Kamala. 😅
Stop Big Sugar!
If they stop sugar then they'll just put more houses in
Fructose in sugar is poison to the mitrocindria in the cell that starts causing obisity gain and early death by age 35 yesrs old.
Why don't you stop putting sugar in your coffee
@@fishydubs7964Florida sugar is really good. Don't buy anything else.... but them selling that land that was promised would have made a difference
30 some years ago, I learned that people of my generation eat 100 times the amount of sugar our grandparents ate.
Yes, it is addictive, very.
Great reporting!
sugar cane is NOT FOOD...
It is for me 😋
FWC
Florida
Worst
Criminals
Stop spray shit in the water.
We have been saying it for years!!!!
exactly.. FWC is paying independent contractors unsupervised to dump millions of gallons of glyphosate directly onto the water in all the freshwater
Cattle farming is ruining the Amazon basis as well. Just because it started here don't make it justifiable to continue on a huge scale.
Two words: agricultural runoff.
Not just farms. Sewage and fertilizers on yards and golf courses as well as development
two words: run off
We have run off problems where I live. Much of the agricultural waste is filtered through man made wet land. Just not enough, we have algae blooms, warnings not to eat the fish, areas closed to swimming. We also have a very strong antiregulation sentiment.
@@edcapp7654Yes but it's mostly the sugar industry runoff.
We already lose over 100 acres of farmland in Florida everyday
This is just the beginning...
What will 100 years bring..... ...
Whoa, wait, the beginning of what? Fantastic prosperity from Neutrium Reactors and Ultra-Flexinol super-substance delivering the wildest dreams of 10 billion sexy, creative and entrepreneurial bipeds?
@@chesterfinecat7588more like 10 billion bodies. When the earth dies, so do we
@@DavidRodriguez-gl5pn “Outgassing of the Human Biome, the cascading methane release” is included in Jrk Anoleholee’s Interplanetary Nobel treatise. It’s as eagerly anticipated as Betelgeuse’s supernova.
@chesterfinecat7588 By all means, explain what you're talking about
I remember taking the family fishing in the lake and that water was pristine and clear clear. Went back last year same spot and is no longer clear.
I went to the West Coast of Florida a few years ago and there were several beaches I couldn't go to on Captiva, Fort Myers Beach, and Naples. So guess where I'm not going to vacation again?
Try the lakes region of New Hampshire.
Just keep on being Florida
Ya all!
First and foremost, stop the runoff problems. Plant 🪴 nitrate eating plants all over the runoff areas to absorb the nutrients in the water. That's aquaponics 101!!! I'm amazed that no one has thought to plant the entire area with water plants! Also keeping the Everglades stocked with catfish would help.
Right! Tell that to Mosaic and their money. Use more compost.
I would look to the establishment of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (circa 1964) as a blueprint for what needs to be done in the Kissimmee, Okeechobee, Everglades watershed. The watershed is a national treasure that needs to be preserved as a viable wilderness above all else. And yes, that means lots of “eminent domain” over private property; including farmland, homesteads and industrial sites. Florida has gone from under two to twenty two million people in less than 100 years and development has to be limited or the natural environment simply won’t survive.
true and BWCA has been under threat ever since - right now some copper sulfate mine is being pushed through, despite environmental lawsuits being filed. The state government brown-No$es to the corporate elite of course - but hopefully the science will stave off this latest attack.
“Societies in decline have no use for visionaries.” ― Anaïs Nin
i feel like people in Florida don't look at Florida as a doomed sacrifice zone to rising tides and climate change. but most others do.
Fifty percent of the developed parcels having septic tanks equals how many exactly?
It's so sad. This place was pristine when I moved up here as a kid from fort Lauderdale back in 89. And actually it wasn't comparable to the last generation
Think about what it looked like 100 years before that!!!
Every tree in the Ozarks and Missouri was cut.... Missouri drained a swamp and moved more dirt than Panama canal..... Cut down Oak trees that rival anything out west...
@@Idrinklight44that’s right. I whole world was completely destroyed, and still no one cares
Its in Canada too it is directly tied to fertilizers…
In winters they used to spread manure … but environment Canada said no more because of dirty spring run off/ snow melt into rivers and lakes.
So they have to fertilize the land and use chemicals… these algae blooms are the result …
Evil people leaders are destroying Florida leave peace 🕊️❤
Overdevelopment from GREED.
A wise person once said do not poop where you eat or drink.......
I guess we have not learned our lesson yet as a species.
We have the same thing happening up here on the Great Lakes.... Where 20% of the Earth's surface freshwater supply exists..... The people up here are polluting the heck out of it.
The algae blooms are terrible and the cyanotoxin is in the water supply.........
That was a saying but you can't do it unsafely because it's going to affect someone. This is mainly a sugar industry runoff problem.
@@BigBirdy100 yes in 2016 Hobe sound you couldn't go in the ocean because there was flesh eating bacteria flowing into the lineup from the okechobee runoff polluted waterway..... Yup bad stuff agreed.
Up here its farm runoff and municipal storm sewer runoff contributing to the mess.
@@BigBirdy100not true sewage dumped in Lake Okeechobee by traveling boaters is our biggest problem the sugar industry water moves south not north crap flows down hill . I live in Belle Glade those high dollar yachts that eat at your restaurants travel down the st. Lucie canal across the coloosahatchee river dumping their septic tanks in our lake . Why pay a high fee to get rid of these contaminants on your coast ?
It’s been well known for many years that a large percentage of the green algae is a result of high phosphorus fertilizers used for sugar cane fields that cover much of the south shore of Lake Okachobee. Granted, there are other sources as urbanization contributes as well. Restoration of the Everglades south of Lake Okachobee is the best remedy. Land owners should be duly compensated. The sugar cane lady claiming her land is private property needs to understand that what she does on her property may destroy someone else’s property. I sensed a Southern tradition, “don’t tread on me while I’m treading on you.” Just because you own the property doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want on it. That being said, this ecosystem was never equipped to support the number of people living here. But the Army Corps of Engineers, in their infinite wisdom, were convinced they could tame the swamp. Man cannot control nature.
Politicians will always kick the can down the road unless they are held directly responsible. Wake up America our environment equals life for all of us. Let’s protect it.
The problem is PEOPLE
😮😂
Excellent
Thanks pbs, you tha channel doggie
What idiot(s) approved septic tanks for homes on the coast? And why aren't they mandating them be connected to sewage lines?
Urban low density sprawl makes sewage lines super expensive
The population of Florida is growing massively. Anyone pre-bet that was the case?
The worst environmental conditions are typically natural responses to imbalances created by humans. With the exception of geologic and cosmological phenomena, but don't worry we'll get to that one day too I'm sure.
its actually getting insane, lived in st Pete for 4 years now, and it seems people are moving here every week from out of state. no wonder rent is crazy around here
It's the sugar industry runoff that is the MAIN CONTRIBUTOR to the problem, not much the general population or the population growth. BECAUSE, the sugar cane fields are around Lake Okeechobee.
14:00 septic tanks add but most definitely are not the problem, I watched the main sewers during hurricane bubble up like geysers my septic didn’t do that, How much she would do those condos pump out right on the beach there’s no pump not pumping that uphill
I'm actually watching this for tips on how to grow algae because my aquarium is covered in duckweed and water Spangles and I can't get any algae to grow. I've tried starting additional aquariums and adding live algae from others, but the algae always dies, even without any plants and with it treated for chlorine.
The problem is our stormwater treatment areas never get treated themselves. We need to dredge these areas, small sections at a time, and put the material back on our farms.
is this old footage?
Definitely need that sugarcane for food security. What ever could we do without it? Horses are also native to Florida and known to provide a valuable source of food.
Completely incorrect. Sugar is edible but unless you are truly starving, empty calories are not "food security". There is pretty much 100% unanimity that we in the US should eat way less sugar, in fact, ZERO added sugar. Sugar beet is a perfectly good alternative for "what ever we could do without" cane. If cane plantations had to pay the costs of their environmental damages or compensate others for loss of ecosystem services - including tourism - it would not be economically viable to grow cane in Florida.
@@7phyton I was responding to the fool in the video stating food security is at risk if you go after the farms. You taking me seriously is alarming for your intelligence.
Ron Desantis has does such a good job with land infrastructure. If he can form a solution for our waterway infrastructure too Florida USA will be golden for America future.
A similar catastrophe happens in Spain at the "Mar Menor", Murcia province.
Let's not forget about flooding and its effects on water quality. More storms equal more flooding. And more septic tanks overflowing into the Everglades.
Unfortunately, the CC/subtitles are not activated.
Therefore hearing impaired people, like I am one, can't follow your publication.
CC/Subtitles are now enabled
@@SouthFloridaPBS Thank you.
Embarrassing that our thousands of years of sewage experience, doesn't get integrated at the Dow Chemicals/Monsanto/Petrochemical companies' level, nor governing geopolitical scales. Even recent vertical farming advancements are being ignored so that the fossil fuels industry continues their genocidal profits #6thMassExtinction
Tell farms to reduce chemical fertilizers and use the natural stuff wood chips poo and leafs to help reduce runoff help hold more nutrients and water add dry out slower.
Don’t allow them to over do it like most do when they do use poo and basically nothing else no wood or leafs it’s sad there knowledge has fallen so far grand dad forgot to tell Timmy to feed the land not stomp it dead like they do now.
Why can't a treatment plant be built instead from state taxes?
You can't have a septic tank if you are within a half mile of any coast line like ocean or river. Changing that plus cleaning any runoff would make a huge difference.
Problem is that the price tag is tremendous.
.... and yes big sugar is another problem, and not a solution.
Simple make it mandatory for all the farmers to purify the water before pumping back into the system.
Land may be important, but so is WATER!!!!
And when Okeechobee is dumped, all those nutrients end up in the Gulf of Mexico, causing HUGE red tide outbreaks.
I've been in Pinellas County since 1970, since the age of 8 and I was shocked when, in 2018 - '19 I couldn't find any fish in the intercostal waters of Pinellas county. I noticed huge swathes of grass flats that also died. One day, when out looking for some fishing 🎣, the only life I found was one lone hermit crab. Sad 😔 😟 All this was in the news for a minute but then it seemed squelched and not heard of when it happened again in 2021, though to a lesser degree. Politicians need to stop being bought off.
Wow I had no idea 😢
@20 minutes - He says the land is critical to production and no more should be taken away. My reply - Do you want to lose some of the land to return it's natural equilibrium , or would you rather risk losing all of it and much more if you refuse to become part of the solution! Come up with another way that alters the needs? If the problem isn't corrected, everyone loses!
this has been happening in upstate ny for decades now. we have it all the time. it is not just from farming. it is from toxic waste dumps and former mining sites and industrial factories and military installations. they all use similar organic chemicals in their processes such as PHOSPHORUS. any industry that uses petrochemicals or chemicals made from petrochemicals in any part of it's process has contaminated the environment. also farmers used to rent out land to people who dumped toxic waste which is often made of organic yet toxic chemicals. things that easily combine and transform in the environment. this is why they work so well in the chemical process, as they are highly reactive. this is also why it causes health issues. because the chemicals are so reactive with simple chemical reactions such as contact with water or air that it actually DOES stay in the land, water, and air. it gets worse over time as chemical reactions continue to occur. these chemicals have effects on the endocrine system that is why they can be used as fertilizers!!!! this is also how they can be used as herbicides and pesticides. because it interrupts the endocrine system of living organisms depending on the levels and which toxin it is. this is also how these chemicals cause cancer! they mess with our endocrine system, mess with our DNA over time, causing mutation of cells and cancer or birth defects...there's also typically dioxins in this waste. its not only phosphorus. so this is basically worse than radioactive waste in a way because it cannot be truly traced. they can blame humans and farms. when in reality its toxic waste from petrochemicals that we dumped all over the place bc we didnt know what else to do with it.
Give up St. Augustine grass for lawns, it needs ridiculous amounts of water and fertilizer. Using native plants requires no fertilizer and once established no irrigation.
The conditions are the result of meeting the goals set forth in the plans.
i was born in okeechobee in the late 70s. as a little kid, i could bathe in its crystal clear waters, see right down to the bottom. men would spear fish cuz they could see all the way down to the very bottom, it was that clear
I agree no one should be able to just take their land, but they have to acknowledge that their land was once a marsh land that cleaned the water.
This stuff must affect the brain. Like that Forensic episode of the guy in Texas with mold in the house.
Florida is really blowing it when it comes to the environment.
I'd like to see the loss payout record for the state of emergency, ranked by wealth of claimant. Also the calculated adjuster loss, and what insurance paid.
I'm certainly not saying it is a giant conspiracy to defraud the public. Nope, not sayin' that.
Lake Do.Not Flushable. People.knew decades ago what damaging the mangroves would do. Many decades ago.
Yup, DEP and EPA are doing an awesome job in regulating how much waste and fertilizer goes into the everglades.. Yup, awesome job!
8:52😂🎉 they just translated nerd for us
I have seen what LaPointe is explaining for over 35 yrs of camping hiking canoeing in Jonathan Dickenson -- where the govnor Absolutely does Not wanna build golf complexes for the ultra rich-- : the rich people's house's dump septic waters feet away from waterways.
Btw in that park there are trees that three men could barely put their arms around. If it has any disuse, it's solely due to tallyhassle abandonment. Move #1.
The river has had to be Closed due to pollution: system overwhelmed
It's not the sugar it's not the farmers or commercial fisherman.. IT'S THE POPULATION!!!! WE NEED TO CLEAN OUR RUNOFFS...
No doubt the sewage and urban run-off plays a role, but the massive nutrient dumps by agriculture plays a major role.
NO, it's mainly a sugar industry runoff problem.
YOU MUST BE A PAID LOBBYIST/ STUMPER.
@@BigBirdy100 The sugar industry falls under the category of agriculture.
Well then stop putting sugar in your coffee
Look what I own damn the ecosystem look how much money I have
Lol
Need to keep the water moving.
It’s both farmers and cities but at least the farmers take care of their land and they want to keep it land, but the cities pump their pollution directly into the Gulf of Mexico unlike the farmers not giving it time to break down, so it’s extra concentrated from the cities and a lot of it.
It's live SEWAGE!!!!!!! IT'S NOT ALL FERTILIZER
Looks like Seneca lake ny
500k plus acres of fertilizer mining just north of the Everglades. Plus if you give 6 million a year to marine scientists, do you think they are going to fix it or get more funding next year?
Dixie crystal plantation sugar cane hillards
Florida has a chance to pioneer the stewardship of water like no other place in the world. I hope they are successful in creating an effective solution
Ammonium nitrate from geoengineering
Keeps dumping raw sewage into the water. your state he don't care.
what's more important pretty golf course grass or mother earth get rid of it
And they get tax right offs calling them preserve areas! How the heck is a gulf course a preserve!😅
Was that a trick question?
First time I have heard someone complain about too much fresh water. The rest of the world is lacking. Why can't they use it? I welcome you to comment.
Like all of the oceans and lakes in the world, the PH has gone up, and that promotes elgy growth. If only ocean acidification was real.
Lake O is biggest facultative anerobic lagoon in the world.
Big sugar and the army core of dumb engineers
Humans destroys all good things eventually..And a Nuisance to this planet..
Which humans?? Let’s narrow our margins
Sewage from Belle Glade
Sewage from Stuart
Cattle belong in Texas, not in Florida.
Ok dude do some research. Cattle farming began in Florida!
As if runoff doesn't happens in Texas.
No super porous ground there to cause such a widespread problem.
Just rely on the city to dump it for you right into the bay
Flow is the secret. Everybody knows that.
Florida causes all kinds of problems! So sorry that God’s beautiful creation has been so spoiled by greedy action. -The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. 1 Timothy 6:10
Export the algae to Martha’s Vineyard.
DEATH COMES AND YOU CANT RUN
Get the big money out of it it can be fixed
Trumps Deregulation.
Is your loss of brain function temporary or are you always this stupid! It was happening long before Trump! 😮
Very ignorant comment! Big sugar is 100% protected by Democrats! Ron DeSantis fired the water board who was backdoor supporting this. Join Captains for clean water if you really want to know the truth.
No it's no d ass. This been going on for half a century. This isn't new.
Are cattle helping dude? No.